Easter, Birthday and hospital stay

For Palm Sunday, Micah sang with the kids' choir at church. He did great. They sang at 2 services on Saturday night and 3 services on Sunday morning. I was singing on the worship team the same weekend, so it was fun to be able to sing together.

We love this picture of cousin Justin.

A rare moment with all three kids sitting still.

One evening I needed to get homework done so I rigged up this little system and decided to see if Brody liked "baby einstein." He sure did.

Amelia turned 4 on April 15th. Our week was so packed with different activities that we decided to have a little party for Amelia on Sunday night the 11th. This was my attempt to make a princess cake. Ryan made the cake and frosted it and I plopped a princess on top. Genius, huh?

Last Wednesday (April 14th) Brody started vomiting after he ate his bottle. We thought maybe his tummy was upset or something, but didn't think much of it. The next day he vomited a few more times. And started eating less. By Friday he was about the same. You see, Brody is so smiley and happy that he rarely looks sick. We had planned to visit my parents' new house in Black Butte and I was determined to go... even with a sick baby. Ryan had stayed home in the morning and wasn't so sure that we should go. He had been in contact with a triage nurse throughout the morning who wasn't too concerned, but wanted us to watch his intake. While we were debating, Ryan picked up the kids from school and I stayed home with Brody. I noticed that he seemed a bit lethargic and when they came home, we decided that we wanted him to be seen. Meanwhile we called my parents and arranged to meet half-way for them to spend the weekend with the two older kids. It was a pure God-thing that it all worked out like this.

I took Brody in to the Dr. at 4:30PM. The doctor took one look at him and was immediately concerned. He checked his pulse/oxygen levels and Brody was at 86% oxygen saturation (should be at 100). He told me that Brody needed to be admitted to the hospital. He typed it all in to the computer and told me how to check in at the hospital. I think at one point I said, "I'm going to drive him?" I had never been so scared in my life. By the grace of God alone, we made it to the hospital without getting in an accident. I waited at the admitting desk with my legs shaking. Ryan arrived. Brody was admitted and we were taken up to pediatrics. They checked his oxygen again and then sent us down for a chest x-ray (Ever seen one of those? That is a whole post in itself). We returned and got settled in his room. He tested negative for RSV and the Flu and his chest xray came back saying he had bronchiolitis. Basically, throughout the weekend, they monitored his oxygen levels, gave him more when he needed it. He had 3 doses of sterroids and many nebulizer treatments. On Monday morning he was cleared to be discharged. His levels were back up, we were sent home with two inhalers and antibiotics since he developed an ear infection while there.

We were home a total of 3 hours when Ryan asked me to look at Brody's chest and listen to him. He was clearly struggling to breathe and was making a funny grunting sound with each breath. We took the kids to my sister's house and headed back to the doctor's office. His oxygen was back down to the high 80s and he was retracting (ribs were showing while he was trying to breathe) more than I had ever seen him. So, we headed back to the hospital and back into our same room. They took another chest xray and this time they could see that he had pnemonia.

Long story longer, it is day 5 of our hospital stay and Brody seems 100% better. He's still on oxygen, but he had a lot of awake time and seemed so much more like himself. The doctor felt horrible that he sent us home before Brody was ready.

While the kids were at my parents' house, Micah developed a fever and a cough. I took him into the clinic yesterday and found out he has strep throat again (he just finished antibiotics for strep less than two weeks ago).

Throughout this process, so many people have been praying for us and i have felt supernatural strength. Ryan and I have averaged about 4 hours of sleep in each 24 hour period. If you know me, you know that I don't function with less than 8 hours of sleep. Ideally I need about 10. The only reason I am still sane is because of God's grace.

As of Wednesday morning at 4:55AM we are still in the hospital. I will update the blog when we know more. (At least, I'll think about blogging, I'll feel guilty that I didn't and then maybe I'll blog to clear my consience.)