there was a visit from my mom, complete with a fun overnight trip to the charlotte, nc area.
then a day trip at the north carolina zoo where we met up with my college friend, natalia and her lovely family (hi natalia!). we hadn't seen each other in years and had never met each others' husbands or children. it was an enjoyable day of catching up, reconnecting, and picking up right where we left off.
then jeremy's dad arrived for a visit. we did a two-night overnight to atlanta, ga and had a great time. he stayed through halloween.
and then there were the last two weeks, where jobot made his second and third trips to the emergency room and was finally admitted to the hospital for two nights. it was a mini-crisis in our lives, one that we are thankful to have in the past now.
it all started a little over two weeks ago. jeremy was working all night, so i was home alone with the kids. jobot had been dealing with a mild cold all week, but that night he woke in the middle of the night (a rare occurrence for him) and was wheezing and breathing fast. i sat with him for awhile and he finally went back to sleep for about an hour, but was up for the day at 5:30. he was feeling uncomfortable and walking around the house crying...very much not like himself. i was concerned because he was using accessory muscles to breathe and retracting (sometimes it comes in handy to be an RN and a mom). i tried calling our doctor's office when they opened for weekend hours, but since we were new patients and had not yet been in to see a doctor, they couldn't do anything to help on the weekend.
we picked jeremy up when he was done working in the morning and headed to the ER. turns out our little man had RSV and an ear infection. five hours, a few breathing treatments, an inhaler, and a prescription for antibiotics later we were back home with a much happier baby.
we headed to our doctor's office on thursday for a follow-up. it was our first time there and our new pediatrician wasn't available, so we saw someone else. he said that everything looked good and jobot was having a good recovery.
then came sunday night. jobot was restless and woke up repeatedly. on monday morning i noticed that he had a few spots on his legs, but there weren't very many and i wasn't sure if it was a rash or bug bites. he played happily all morning. around noon he developed a fever of 101.5 and became very lethargic. i changed his diaper and realized that he definitely had a rash. he just wanted to be held and i actually put him in the baby carrier (he still fits!) while i got lunch ready. he fell asleep. i called our doctor's office and left a message on the nurse triage line. two hours later i still had not heard back from the doctor's office (!), so i called the front desk and let them know i was still waiting for a return call. they said a nurse would call me back shortly. jobot was napping on me and just wanted to be held and had a fever of 103. an hour later i finally spoke with a nurse who said that she needed to talk to the doctor and would call me back after she did so. an hour later (this is FOUR hours after my initial call) she called me back to say that the doctor would like to see jobot, but it would be fine to wait until tomorrow and that i would have to call when they opened in the morning to get an appointment time. i was not happy.
after we picked jeremy up at work we stopped at the store to get some more baby tylenol. i was feeling so badly for jobot that i bought him a little toy ambulance that lights up and makes several different noises just to cheer him up. and of course, love had to get a little toy too...she chose a little excavator that lights up and makes noises. this is totally not normal...me buying the kids toys on a whim! much less, toys that make noise and light up!?! jeremy laughed at me, and now i can laugh at myself. i was so desperate to see some smiles from the little guy. (it worked too, by the way).
monday night jobot seemed very uncomfortable and not like himself and the rash had gotten worse. this did not just seem like a normal rash and jeremy and i were both feeling anxious about waiting until the next day to see a doctor. finally, we decided to just take him in to the ER to at least ease our minds. i took him in. our hospital has a special children's ER and it was packed with people...including several kids who were vomiting in the waiting room. ew. once the vomiting began i was seriously debating just leaving, but then jobot's name was called and we got out of the waiting room.
we finally saw a doctor who said that he didn't exactly know what was going on but it was a skin rash and could possibly be a reaction to the antibiotics jobot was on for his ear infection. i doubted that, but we stopped the anitbiotics (he only had one day left anyway).
jobot was up on and off all night. he was so uncomfortable and irritable. we both felt so bad for him, but we were also exhausted. i called our doctor's office on tuesday morning and got an appointment for 2 pm. it felt like forever away! he wouldn't eat or drink and was walking around pointing at his mouth and crying. i finally looked in his mouth and saw that the rash was in his mouth and throat.
finally the appointment came and we got in to see our new pediatrician. at this point, i wasn't having the best feelings towards our pediatrician's office after waiting so long for a call back on monday. i was eager to meet our pediatrician so that i could decide if we wanted to stay with that practice or go somewhere else.
she walked in the room and i knew immediately that i liked her. she took one look at jobot and became very concerned. she said that she thought he had something called "eczema herpeticum"...a rare and severe skin infection that people with eczema can get. she said she wanted us to go right to a dermatologist to get a second opinion and that she would likely be putting jobot in the hospital for a day or two. at this point, i was relieved to have someone else taking this seriously because we knew that it wasn't just a simple rash. however, seeing how concerned she was made me feel anxious too!
jeremy's work day was almost over and i called him and asked if he could leave early to come with us. we picked him up and headed straight to the dermatologist. as soon as the dermatologist walked in, i got a bad feeling. she had quite an attitude and acted as if we were the most annoying thing she had encountered that day. she glanced at jobot, didn't really listen to what we had to say, and announced that he had fever blisters and eczema. she started rattling off a list of things she was going to prescribe...diluted bleach baths (what?!?!), creams and ointments, etc... i tried to ask questions..."really? fever blisters from a fever of 103?" and "what are we supposed to do about the fact that he isn't eating or drinking?" dermatologist lady was dismissive and rude and finally...tactful but assertive and annoyed mama bear came out. "i'm sorry, but are we inconveniencing you? you seem like you are annoyed that we are here. this is our child you are talking about and all these things that you are prescribing are not what he needs. you are dismissing us. this is something serious and we are only here to find out if you think that he has what our pediatrician thinks he has." cue my voice rising. "and seriously...what are we supposed to do about him not eating and drinking?" it went on. i asked her to please call our pediatrician and let me speak to her. she left the room to call and then i cried.
she called our pediatrician and talked with her...yes, she agreed that he had eczema herpeticum. then i talked with our doctor who said that we needed to take jobot to the children's hospital where he would be admitted. we stopped at home to grab a few things and headed to the hospital. once we were at the hospital, we were so relieved to have jobot being cared for by professionals who knew what they were doing, so we felt less anxious.
they placed an IV (they did great, but it was still terrible to watch!) and started him on fluids and IV antiviral medication. they weren't 100% sure what he had and two different doctors took photos of his rash to send to their doctor friends to see what they thought he had. (in the end it turned out that he did have eczema herpeticum.) the floor he was on in the hospital was actually one that jeremy worked on over the summer, so he knew some of the staff.
our hospital stay went as well as could be expected and we are thankful for that. the children's hospital here is really nice and only two miles from our house. we were blessed with kind and attentive caregivers, and friends who brought us food and coffee and watched love while we were at the hospital. i stayed with jobot the whole time and jeremy and love spent time with us as well. jeremy was super husband and tried to keep up with things at home in the midst of everything else...doing laundry and caring for love. our kids missed each other so much, it was actually quite adorable. love cried when we told her that jobot was going to have to stay at the hospital. one of my favorite moments of all time was on wednesday afternoon when jeremy brought love to the hospital. i was pulling jobot around the halls in a wagon and love and jeremy turned the corner and the kids saw each other. both squealed with delight and yelled each other's names. love ran over to the wagon and they just looked at each other and giggled. they were SO happy to be reunited and it melted our hearts. at one point, love even announced that when jobot got to come home, she was going to let him play with all of her toys (that didn't happen, but it was a nice thought anyway - ha!).
i think that every single person who cared for jobot commented on what a cute little man he is and how cooperative he was. he was a great little patient - even leaving his IV in the entire time we were there! he was visited by a great dane and given a teddy bear and several other little gifts. i think we set a record for the number of pastors and chaplains who visited us in such a short stay - we counted 11 of them - a steady stream of chaplains (8 total - jeremy's coworkers), and 3 pastors from two different churches. a few of them even visited twice and our doctor joined us for a little prayer time one morning. we were well cared for and prayed for and are so thankful for such caring people, especially living in a new place. having that community around us made all of this so much less scary.
hurray - eating a popsicle!
by wednesday morning jobot seemed to be feeling better and even ate a little. and by thursday morning we were happy to see that he was back to himself (though his rash still looked terrible!). we quickly learned that it is not easy to manage an active one year old who is clueless that he is attached to an IV pole. the doctor asked us if we like hospital food or if we wanted to head home that day - you can bet we jumped at the chance to get out of there! more than getting away from the hospital food, i was eager to sleep in my own bed without nurses waking me up, IVs beeping all night, and voices yelling "can i help you?" out of the speaker when i pushed the nurse call button.
waiting to go home!
jobot's rash on thursday night after we came home from the hospital - yikes!
on friday we followed up with our pediatrician who said everything looks great. we will go back to see her again in about a week. i am so thankful that she took this seriously, realized what it was, and got jobot the care he needed. it wasn't the ideal circumstances for meeting a new pediatrician, so i'm so thankful that we got a good one.
and of course, we are most thankful for jobot's recovery and his precious little self. we are thankful to God for putting him in our family and for bringing healing to his body. this illness was a good reminder that these children are not ours, but they belong to God.
to quote from the heidelberg catechism, which echoes our hope and prayer for their lives...
"they belong, body and soul, in life and death to their faithful savior Jesus Christ...he has fully paid for all their sins with his precious blood and has set them free from the tyranny of the devil. he watches over them in such a way that not a hair can fall from their head without the will of their Father in heaven. in fact, all things must work together for their salvation. because they belong to him, Christ, by his Holy Spirit, assures them of eternal life and makes them wholeheartedly willing and ready to live for Him."
that is our prayer for these precious children of ours.
we have much to be thankful for this thanksgiving!
