Poor Mr. Grant

So while we were camping at the sand dunes over spring break Mr. Grant got a cold. He wasn't quite his happy self but I didn't think much of it because he still slept OK. Then on Thursday night, once we were home he was up all night. So I finally decided to take him to the Dr on Friday. I was thinking it must be an ear infection. Once at the Dr office Mr. Grant got progressively worse and because of how sick he looked, his fever was 103, his oxygen levels were dropping and he showed "discomfort in his neck." So they sent us to the ER to have a full work up. I called Justin to see if he wanted to join us, as I knew they would need to draw blood and possibly do an IV and I didn't want to be there by myself with sweet Mr. Grant during all that. Justin rushed to the hospital and made it just in time to be the one to hold Mr. Grant down as they gave them his IV. It took them 4 times and it was so sad. The nurses felt so bad and just kept apologizing. I don't know how they can find a vein in such a chubby baby. Heather Mack was our main nurse and she was wonderful! The chest x-ray came back clear, the RSV, flu, and strep tests all came back clear. The blood work showed a elevated white blood count. Further blood work showed what they called "bands." Mr. Grant's body was working so hard to fight the infection it was sending out baby cells to do mature cells job. The Dr said this meant it was a bacteria infection and because of what the Dr from the clinic saw as "discomfort in his neck" they wanted to do a spinal tap. They were thinking he might have bacterial meningitis. I was so scared for Sweet Mr. Grant to have to go through the ordeal of having a spinal tap done but felt the Dr needed to rule it out. I told Heather to love on Mr. Grant for me during the procedure as they do not allow parents in the room while they do it. I felt better knowing Heather was there and would give him kisses for me and tell Mr. Grant I loved him. They had to hold him down for about 10 minutes while they prep ed everything and did the procedure. Heather said he of course didn't like being held down, but that he tired himself out and fell asleep before they actually did the spinal tap. He made a few whimpers when they stuck him but remained asleep. Once we got back to the room which was only like 15 minutes he was sound asleep. What a trooper! All the nurses said what a happy baby he was especially for being as sick as he was. Every when he was super lethargic he would give those nurses a smile! We were so grateful the meningitis results were negative. But because he did have some type of bacterial infection we were admitted to the hospital. This wasn't exactly what I had planned as the older kids have all invited two friends over for a "Where The Wild Things Are" Movie Party. Those plans went out the window. Isn't he the sweetest thing! OK whoever invented these tent like cribs couldn't have been a woman. At least not a woman that had a baby that would have to stay in one. The first night they had to check Mr. Grant's IV every hour and they insisted that the tent had to be zipped up except for a tiny space for the IV tube to fit through. It was a nightmare!!! Unzipping that tent usually woke Mr. Grant up and then when I got him back to sleep and trying very carefully to layed him down and zipped that tent back up..........................he was once again awake. After about 4 attempts at this I decided we would be better off to sleep in the recliner. It was just me and Mr. Grant as Justin had gone home to get some sleep. There was no reason two people should have to get a crummy nights sleep. My nurse that first night was so nice to go find me a Super Nice Lazy boy Recliner! Man in the middle of the night I could have kisses her for it since it was the only way we got even a little sleep.

Saturday night Mr. Grant's IV had blown, so they needed to start a new one. I was so sad because he had already been poked so much and there weren't a lot of options as where to put the IV. They were going to put it in his head and I just had to leave the room. I was so grateful Justin was there to be with Mr. Grant. When I got back in the room the nurses were still there and they were just talking with Justin. Justin said he had asked them why Grant needed the IV since he was doing much better. He asked them couldn't Grant get the antibiotics he needed another way. After consulting with the Dr they decided Grant would be OK to just have two injections each day for the next two days and wouldn't need a new IV. I was so grateful that Justin spoke up and asked why it was they needed to start a new IV.

What first seemed like another hit ended up being a blessing. Since the IV blew, Mr. Grant was able to get unhooked from everything. Anyone who has stayed in the hospital with their child knows being hooked up to all the IVs, monitors etc. makes it hard to hold and tend to your baby. I was so excited that he didn't have to get a new IV! It made the next two days much, much better. That meant that they didn't have to check his IV every hour anymore.................YIPPEE!

Mr. Grant was so happy to be free! Although he thought the IV tube was a toy. No matter what they did he found a way to get a hold of it and chew on it. After 24 hours of fluids and antibiotics, Mr. Grant was feeling much better.

I just LOVE Mr. Grant! He is the cutest chubby baby ever!

I have to admit I said a few cuss words that first night trying to zip this crazy tent crib up!

Saturday I had to go take Hunter to the Urgent Care because his throat was hurting him. The kids were at my moms and Hunter had been up during the night crying about his throat. So we go and sure enough he had strep throat!

The kids were so cute though they wanted to see Mr. Grant so bad so we went to the hospital and let them see him through the window. Mr. Grant got so excited and kept hitting the window. The kids even used some of their chore money to buy him a little toy! Kiersten was the instigator of buying the toy and they insisted on paying for it themselves. It was sweet to see the kids so concerned from Grant.

It was Sunday and originally they said we would be released Monday night at the earliest. But because Grant had not had a fever for over 24 hours and Dr. Christensen knew we'd bring him right back if anything went wrong..............we were able to be released Sunday night after Grant got 2 injections.

We were all so excited about the good news!

So we spent Sunday just playing and trying to nap. Mr. Grant did sleep a lot. I think his body was still fighting the infection.

This was the recliner that made the stay much, much better. It was so comfy. We were so grateful for the nurse that brought it to us that first night!

Man Mr. Grant was so happy it's hard to believe 2 days before he was so lethargic and sick. This is the toy that the Moore's brought him along with some bubbles, which he loved. We feel so blessed that things workout so well and that we have wonderful family and great friends that helped us that weekend. Friends came by to see Mr. Grant, brought us dinner from Casa..............we truly are blessed. Most of all our sweet baby boy got to feeling better quickly.