There's No Place Like Home

It's hard to find the words to describe the roller coaster we've been on lately. Justin had been sick recently (congested, slight cough, etc.) and last Friday morning spiked a fever. I almost never take my kids to the doctor immediately when they get a fever, preferring to give them Tylenol for a least a day to see if they improve or not. But I took Justin in and the doctor almost immediately said Justin needed to be taken to an emergency room because he was VERY sick. He needed a chest x-ray, and several other tests, according to the doctor. Then almost as an afterthought, he asked if the nurse has gotten an oxygen reading on Justin. When I said no, he had the nurse come back in. The second the nurse said his reading was an 87 my heart sank. The doctor came running back in and said he had called an ambulance, and Justin was immediately put on oxygen while we were waiting. It still felt a little surreal. But the moment the EMTs came storming in the door it became all too real and I lost it. They placed Justin in his car seat and strapped that to the gurney, while stabilizing him with more oxygen.

We were rushed to the new pediatric hospital attached to Banner Desert that Jessica had just been at the weekend before when she broke her arm. Andy came straight from work and pulled up in front of the hospital at the same time we did. We are so grateful that his oxygen levels stabilized quickly once he was placed on oxygen. The hospital admitted us and began a long series of tests on Justin. The chest x-ray quickly showed that he had an infection in his lungs called bronchiolitis. They also did a spinal tap, took blood samples, put him on a catheter, swabbed for RSV, and started him on an IV with antibiotics. The doctors were mostly concerned with how young Justin was, and making sure he did not have a secondary infection (such as meningitis) that they were missing because they were treating his lung infection.

I had uploaded a photo showing the IV in Justin's hand, but somehow it got deleted. This next photo is a VERY tired momma holding Justin. You can just barely see the splint for his IV sticking out from behind his face. You don't get much sleep in a hospital when you're sleeping on a bench and your baby's oxygen alarm is screaming every ten minutes or so.

Here's Andy holding Justin. You can see the bruise on his right hand from where his first IV was. While we were there they had to re-start his IV line three times, with countless pokes during each attempt.

In this picture, you can see the IV line dangling down on the left. (Obviously) we were allowed to hold him a lot, but the IV line and the pulse/ox monitor acted as leashes. We had to sit or stand very close to his crib and be very careful with the lines.


This picture shows the crib Justin slept in while we were at the hospital. Both sides could be raised and lowered all the way.


Here's Andy grinning after we got the great news that there was no other infections and after the next antibiotic drip we would be able to take Justin home! Yea!!


All dressed, out of his hospital gown, and with the IV removed.

The nurse snapped a quick pic of us just outside of our room on the way home. Each room was decorated to look like an individual cottage from the outside.


Our emotions were pretty happy and relieved while getting ready to go home. I was teasing Andy that I needed a picture of HIM bringing home a baby from the hospital because after having four babies all the pictures are of ME bringing home a baby. Here's Andy bringing home our baby and waiting for the elevator. The elevator with buttons. Buttons that our nurse strongly warned us about. Apparently, they are the dirtiest thing in the hospital, and we were warned to wash our hands repeatedly if we touched them, especially before we touched Justin.


Jessica was very excited to snuggle up with Daddy for a bedtime story when we got home Sunday night.

I have some pics ready to post about her arm and cast, but because everything went crazy I haven't posted them yet. Here she is the next morning after we got home. She has adjusted very well to having the cast on.

It was like Christmas morning at our house to have Justin home again. Deja Vu anyone? This picture is very similar to all the pics we took when we first brought Justin home from the hospital 2 months ago. Jessica just loves him to death and is always happy to see her baby brother.

We are so happy and blessed to report that he is healing wonderfully. We took him back to the doctor a couple of days after being released and he said he could hardly believe Justin was the same baby that was seen on Friday. The power of prayer is a miraculous thing. Many, many thanks to all who helped us with the power of their prayers.

At this season of Thanksgiving we have an infinite number of blessings to be thankful for. Especially for family.

Here's Justin, looking very happy, healthy, and chubby at home. There's no place like home! We are so happy to be home.
We want to wish all our friends and family a wonderful Thanksgiving!