Happy Monday - 6 New Things

Jack gets to go home today. Sunday morning his IV fell out and the doctor opted to give him once a day shots instead of restarting an IV (very difficult when the patient has tiny veins.) Since the shot is good for 36 hours his last dose is today and after that I can bust Jack outta this joint. That gets me home in time to get Ella off the school bus. I wasn't sure what I was going to do today, Dan couldn't leave work early because it's his first day at his new job. Yes, amidst the chaos of Jack being sick Dan switched jobs and bought a car. On the Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale we are off the charts this week, I'm sure.

Dan accepted the new job a little more than a week ago and Friday he had to turn in his work truck. We thought about managing with just one car, but this week posed a problem and we suspected every week would pose a problem. We bought a used car and because it's just for me to run to the grocery or whatever place we tool around during the day we had the luxury of getting something totally unreasonable. We looked at convertibles, we thought about a Mustang but in the end we decided it needed to fit car seats so we went all out and got the luxury ride - 2005 Mercury Grand Marquis with leather bench seats, tinted windows, automatic everything and a trunk I could fit a gangster in. I named it Marquis Mark, and sure - I think we will be the funky bunch riding around in there. I get to drive it the first time today home from the hospital.

So this few months is a plethora of new things:

New Baby for us

New Health for Jack

New School for Ella

New Job for Dan

New Car for us

New Roller Derby Regime for me

Dear Universe, Thank You.

Also

ouch

Accepting

The fat, lazy triage nurse moved really fast.

His doctor dodged the questions because she didn't know.

I traded tight smiles in the elevator after we both pushed #6.

I heard the finale for another mother in the hallway that night,

Among cribs that looked like cages so the toddlers couldn't escape.

And I didn't mind anymore that people prayed for us.

Getting Well Soon

Jack is doing so well, they may move us to a regular room today. This is good news, it means 4 less cords three feet long that chain us to a tiny invisible cell surrounding the machinery. We are on day 4/10 today, they started day one later than I thought, (it's day one from the first negative blood culture.) Next Wednesday we hope to bring our baby home from the hospital for the second time.

Adventurer Jack

Day 4/10 on the IV

3:12 Update

It's late onset Group B Strep. We'll be here for at least ten more days getting antibiotics. We caught it early and dodged a bullet. I was tested for it during my pregnancy but must've got it after they tested, I passed it to Jack and it sat around in his body for 30 days building up an army. Penicillin would kick it's ass but Jack is going to get some good stuff just to make sure. We are limiting new germs so Ella will get to wear a mask when she comes up. We are hoping for a very boring ten days.

Getting Better

They are done trying to pinpoint a cause or a specific infection and ruled out some serious things (meningitis, blood infection,) they are treating it like a staph infection that could have some from a mosquito, a scratch, anywhere. He's getting broad band super antibiotics still and will continue to get that for a few more days. His body is doing what it needs to do. He's also getting something for the nausea as well as regular blood test to make sure his kidneys can handle the super antibiotics.

He is happier and fussier and more alert today. Still nursing great. The hard red swelling on his neck is almost gone and some of the rash is back but this time it's different, smaller, more like little milk pimples. We may be able to go home and take oral antibiotics in a few days instead of the projected two weeks we originally thought. We are relieved and still tense waiting to make sure his body and the antibiotics keep doing what they should.

Thank you everyone for the well wishes, prayers, thoughts, rosaries, offers to babysit and or bring food, and in general all the good juju. We feel blessed to have such a great community surrounding us both online and in three states.

Ella went to her BFFs last night and the first day of school is tomorrow. Dan will go to work late and get her on the bus, I'll leave here and get her off the bus and bring her up here until Dan gets off work. We can do that for this next week if needed and hopefully we'll all be home after that.

My cousin Kelly said a nurse once told her when her son was ill "little babies get sick very quickly but they also bounce back very quickly." Luckily that seems to be the case for us. And yes Kelly, I think I have three years of grey hairs in these three days.

Jack is Sick

We took the big trip back to IL and while we were there Jack developed an acne like rash all over his head and shoulders. After a call to the pediatrician we thought is was just baby acne. Two days after our return home he wouldn't eat and wouldn't stop whimpering with every breath. After about 40 minutes of listening to him whimper on my shoulder and waiting for a burp I called Dan and then the doctor. I took his temp it was 99.2 by the time we got to the doctor's office an hour later it was 102. They sent us straight to the emergency room.

After a blood culture, a urinalysis, a spinal tap, and an x-ray they called it sepsis and started pumping him full of antibiotics. His neck swelled up, they did two ultrasounds to make sure it wasn't closing off any airway or blood flow then they could decide if he needed to go to the bigger hospital and have surgery. They didn't find anything, just swollen tissue, so no surgery. We are on hour 30 in the intensive care unit and his fever is down, he's nursing well, his color is no longer a waxy yellow. He's still clearly in pain, and occasionally throwing up. We don't know where the infection is coming from , though the doctor asked if he'd been bitten by any mosquitoes. It's a possibility. We have the best nurse in the world. That's all I know.

On Parenting - Part II

More events for the Parentolypics, in the newborn category:

• The pee dodge
• Marathon infant holding - extra points for eating with one hand
• Speed showering
• 20 Sit-up burping at 2am & 5am
• Sleep deprivation vocabulary use - extra points for knowing what that thingamajig is

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I am taking the kids to Illinois on Wednesday for two weeks. I am planning to fly up, bringing only one suitcase, a diaper bag, a car seat and a stroller. Yes, one suitcase for the three of us, for two weeks. It will contain;

For me:

• One dress
• One pair of jeans
• Two skirts
• Four shirts
• One long sleeve sweater (it gets down in the low 70s up there!)
• Sandals
• Tennis shoes & socks

For Ella:

• Two dresses
• Two shorts
• One skirt
• Four shirts
• One pair of pants
• One sweatshirt
• Flip Flops
• Tennis shoes & socks
• Swimming suit
• Crayons and a coloring book

For Jack:

• Three blankets
• Four t-shirts
• Four pants
• Two sleepers
• Sun hat
• Booties

General junk:

• Bathroom stuff
• Baby monitor
• Mosquito net
• Two slings
• Chargers for phone, camera etc.

I plan to do laundry often and buy what I don't bring. I'll let you know if it's a total debacle or if I finally didn't over-pack.

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My son is outgrowing everything. He's wearing an outfit marked 3 months today. He's 26 days old. I think the next pack of diapers I buy will have to be size 2, to prevent leaking right out the side where his chubby little thigh sticks out. I guess they do make everything bigger in Texas.

Pranking the Baby