Unlucky #14

Unlucky #14. That is what we experienced these past few days. The fourteenth time I have had to have one of my kids in the hospital. Hallie has had 2 surgeries, and 3 hospitalizations. Gavin has had 1 surgery and 3 hospitalizations. Kayler has had 1 surgery and 4 hospitalizations as of Friday.
I posted earlier about him having croup. He had the croup shot and was doing well as of Thursday. Well, Friday morning he slept in much longer than usual, so I went to check on him. He was just laying there, eyes open, but not moving much. I picked him up and he was burning hot to the touch. I took his temp, and it was 104.4. I thought it was an error so I took mine and then took his again, and still 104.4. My friend Kim works at the pediatrician’s office, so I gave her a call. She said we better come in at 10:30 that morning. Well, I though it was like only 8 in the morning….nope, it was 10 and so I had to hurry and get us all in the car. I dropped Gavin off at my 85 and 82 year old grandparents house, because they were the only ones home or not busy at the time. We headed to the Dr. and she put him right in the hospital. Luckily my friend Kim was so sweet to help us get admitted and make sure the nurses did exactly what I wanted.
She said that it was croup and what she thought may be the flu as well. The Dr. told me that people everywhere get sick and say, “I have the flu.” When in reality 99% of the time, it is not the flu, just a nasty virus. She told me she would check for the flu (I didn’t know there was an actual test for it, but there is) and hopefully that would explain him being so sick. The nurse that did the swab said she would be shocked if it came back positive. So an hour passes, and by this time I realized we were going to be there awhile so I called my trusty friend Mandy. She lives very close to the hospital, and she is so sweet and good to help me whenever I need her. So I called her…like I had many times in the past in our stroke of bad luck at the hospital and asked her to bring a couple toys. I had left the house in such a hurry all Kayler had was his binky and the jammies on his back. Just as she was walking in the door, the nurse practically tackled her and said, “No visitors allowed, this baby just tested positive for the flu.” So I took the sack thanked her and she had to leave. The nurse put up a quarantined sign and shut our door and we were pretty much trapped.
Kayler was sooooo sad. Not only did he not feel well, but they had to put the IV in the crease of his ankle and so every time he moved his little foot he just shuddered in pain. Every time a Dr. or nurse came in he was so scared because they were all masked up to protect themselves and other patients and they looked pretty scary. Thank goodness Mandy had went to Wal-Mart and got him some chips, fruit snacks, a book, balls, and some cute trucks. He would be sobbing and then all the sudden get a little happy face and say, “ball…want dat ball.” We just sit there watching cartoons alllllll day long. They came in what seemed like every 30 minutes to poke or prod or do something to make him cry. Then just when I would get him calmed down, here they came again.
I knew they were wanting to keep him overnight, which is a nightmare. That means absolutely no sleep for me, and a very restless night for him. I just prayed that he would get better and start drinking and eating, which he didn’t. I just had a calming reassurance that if I could get him home, everything would be better. When the Dr. came in, she started talking about staying the night and I told her that we were going home. She in a sense told me that I must be crazy if I thought that taking home a baby who hadn’t been eating or drinking was a good idea. I just told her that I was following my motherly intuition and she agreed to let him go. She wanted to leave the IV in his foot because I think she was secretly convinced that we would be coming back and then they could just plug the IV back in. I told her to just unplug him from everything.
We went home, and he was much happier. He started drinking immediately. I just prayed so hard as I put him to bed that he would wake up well. Well, he DID! He woke up with rosy cheeks and was walking around (or limping I should say because his foot hurt from the IV) He ate a pretty good breakfast and had a wonderful nap, and now today he is almost back to himself. I was talking to my grandma last night, and she said that she prayed every few minutes for him the day he was in the hospital because she was so worried and felt helpless because they wouldn’t let anyone around him so she couldn’t help.
I know that through the power of prayer he was healed much quicker than if we would have stayed at the hospital. Not to undermine the help that hospitals provide, because I know the IV fluids he received helped a ton. I had never felt such a calm as I went against medical advice and trusted the feeling I had to just bring him home. I was talking to the Dr. about what a failure I felt like having my kids get so sick all the time. She told me that she knew there is an immune disorder that all 3 of my kids have, but there isn’t one single test that can determine what it is. After looking at Hallie and Gavin’s chart, she pointed out that all the hospitalizations and surgeries occurred before they were 3 or 4. After that, they were very healthy. Which after I thought about it was exactly right. I couldn’t even tell you the last time Hallie or Gavin was sick, so that is such a blessing. The Dr. told me that studies of babies and toddlers who have several major illnesses at a young age show that as they grow older their immune systems are much stronger and they are much healthier.
I know that there are soooo many worse life threatening things that my kids could be going through. This is just my trial, and it sure has been a trial. There is nothing I hate worse than having sick kids. I feel like I walk on eggshells just hoping that they will wake up healthy and happy every day. This time, some people close to me said some very mean things about me and how my kids get so sick all the time. They will never read my blog, so I figure I can complain without them ever knowing. It hurt my feelings so bad, and that is hard to do for me. I never get offended or have my feelings hurt all that easily. What mother in her right mind would want their kids to suffer. Surely not me. It has been so hard to go through, and it makes it even harder when people are criticizing instead of helping or sympathizing. It costs so much money to have them be in the hospital, so there goes our tax refund. Most of all, it disrupts our life and it seems like days or weeks that we get back in order.
So, sorry for the super long post. Sorry for my complaining. I just want to record this so that in a year or so (hopefully less), when all 3 of my kids are completely healthy and happy, this will be a distant memory very happily forgotten. Thanks to G.J. for helping with Hallie and Gavin while I was at the hospital. Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa B. for helping with Gavin and for the prayers that I am sure made his recovery so quick. Thanks to Kim for helping at the Dr.’s office. Thanks to Mandy for all the treats and toys and for being so sweet to me. And thanks to everyone else who isn’t critical or judgmental of me and my family. Have a good and healthy day and week!

p.s. In case you were wondering, our whole family had the flu shot this year. Last night on the news, it had a story on actual Flu cases that have to be reported to the Health Dept. in Utah. They said that the flu shot was only protecting about 40% of actual flu bugs. They said that the state had seen a increase this last week of people hospitalized for the flu, and almost half of those cases were children under 4 years old. I think we will still get the flu shot every year, but I sure wish it protected better.