Thursday, July 27, 2006

Home Again!!!!

We're safe and sound and tucked back into our own home. Little Bug is content as can be and when I just left him he was nustled into his daddy's arms.....Yup, that's right, Daddy!!! When we got home a little after 8pm I walked into the kitchen to find a letter on the table from Randy and a fresh rose from our rose garden. The note took me on 8 different clues until I finally found Daddy hiding in our guest room closet. What a surprise. The military trip was cut short because of the humanitarian efforts out of Cyprus and we get the great blessing of having Randy home with us. Praise the Lord for answered prayers. It has been an encouraging day for me and so we will all go to bed tonight with a sweet spirit of peace as we rest as family in the safe and loving arms of home.

Goodnight & Lovebug Hugs,
Lori
this is an audio post - click to play

IT'S A MIRACLE.......4 POOPS & NO PAIN!!!!!!!

WOW, Little Bug is doing considerably better today. He is totally back to his normal little self with happy sounds and coos and cute little looks. What they attribute all of this "stuff" to, we'll pprobably never know. The biggest thing is that he has had 4 poops today and no screaming and writhing in pain. What could be different today? Nobody knows. The GI doc is having us to an ultrasound of his abdomen to see if there is any possibility that he has gall stones. They don't think it's probable, but we've all heard that before. We will go for an ultrasound at 4pm and then the big news is..................we're headed home!!!!! Praise the Lord we can rest in the comfort of our own home tonight!!! We are going to continue to be followed by the GI docs on an outpatient basis so we can really find the source of all of this pain. If they find nothing through testing and Little Bug improves they say it was just an issue of Connor needing to grow. I say, "nonsense"!! When Connor improves it's because the hand of God has reached in and healed his body. Dear Lord, "Let it be so!!" Amen!!!

Randy contacted me just a couple of hours ago from McGuire AFB in New Jersey. He was ecstatic to hear the Connor was doing so much better. He can't wait to be on his way home soon and back in our arms!!!! Be safe honey. We will see you soon!!!!

As always, with another admission here at Children's, I have made many new friends. Would you say special prayers for our new friend Ben who is 6 years old and dealing with swelling in his brain. Also, our little roomie Simon. He is the absolute most adorable baby. He has a heart difficulty that makes his little heart beat extremely fast. His family is from Bremerton and would really appreciate the prayer support. We made more friends in the family room just moments ago and they are awaiting results from a physician consultation regarding their son, Chase. He is a kiddo with a major heart defect that has been repaired, but now he is 6 years old and is dealing with a very rare type of bronchitis. It sounds like it is so rare, they have no treatment. Needless to say, these parents and Chase's sister are worried and scared. They need to know you Lord in a special way. Please give wisdom to the docs and peace for this sweet family. Thanks for all the extra prayers for our new friends.

Lovebug Hugs,
Lori

PS ~ I will hopefully blog from home this evening with good news regarding the ultrasound!!!!

Rest, rest, sweet rest!!!!

Thank you for your prayers for rest!! We both had a great night of sleep last night. Despite the beeps and alarms and crys from our little roomie, we both surrendered to sleep and feel rested this morning. At 7am today we had a consultation with one of the main GI specialists. He did have some new insight for Little Bug, but nothing really huge. They will be stopping one of his reflux meds and upping the dose of another one of the reflux meds. They will try to add fiber to his formula to see if that will help his bowels release easier!! He also believes that Connor may have a spastic bowel response which can be common in some children. There is nothing you can do about it, but we all know that we can petition the Lord and He will hear our prayer and heal Connor of this pain. They will make small changes today and then we will see how he responds to the medication change. Hopefully we are close to heading home since he has gone 24 hours without a fever. He is sounding clear in his lungs and he has been keeping up his oxygen all on his own without the help of blowby or canula oxygen. Today we hope to get him unplugged from all his wires and go for a walk. We just need to get back to normal. It was splendid to wake up to his usual coos and sounds this morning. I think I'm getting my baby back. Wow, it's wonderful that he turned the corner and is acting more like himself.

I will post more when I can. Continue to pray, Connor still needs healing from his pain. Thank you for your faithful prayers.

Lovebug Hugs,
Lori

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Moved to the 4th floor with no answers....

It was frustrating today to get moved out of the ICU and onto the floor with no answers for anything Little Bug is experiencing. He is still fevering, still crying uncontrolably with GI issues and just downright not himself. We are tired and we are hoping for something tomorrow. We were supposed to meet with a GI doc today, but he never came. We are told we are first on the list for tomorrow morning so we shall see. We are bunking in with a 2 week old baby that doesn't have parents that are able to be with him at the moment and he needs consoling. I have a feeling it is going to be another LONG night!!! I trust that the Lord has heard our prayers and our cries for answers and rest so we await answers and new hope tomorrow.

Lovebug Hugs,
Lori

Sooooooooooo Tired!!!!!!!

Whoever said that children's roughest hours were at night when they are sick was definately right. After such a good late afternoon and early evening yesterday, Connor went back to the fever, fussiness and screaming the majority of the night. It was disappointing to have a nurse that wasn't supportive during these hours so needless to say, mama didn't get any sleep again. I am exhausted today. I just splashed some cold water on my face at 7am hoping that would help, but it did not. We have got to get to the bottom of these problems for Little Bug. We are all suffering because he is not at peace. Oh Lord, Please find it in your heart to bring us all relief today. Shower over us with incomprehendable peace and rest. May your insurmountable wisdom pour out of our doctors today. With a fresh wind of knowledge and discovery may they find something they have not seen before. Please dear God, let Connor be healed from his pain. Amen.

Lovebug hugs & yawns too,
Lori

Monday, July 24, 2006

Monday Evening Update

This is day number 3 of this admission to Children's Hospital and we are making slow progress. Little Bug struggled again last night and had a very difficult time finding rest and peace in the midst of spiking fever after fever and fighting the c-pap machine. This morning was equally as hard for him and finally a little after 9am he surrendered to sleep. After waking from his morning nap he had a busy afternoon of tests and blood draw attempts and an echo-cardiogram. He tolerated all of these intrutions fairly well except for the afternoon spike of 104.7 with his temp. Dr. Badden (our favorite ICU cardiac doc) was finally able to get blood from Connor around 5pm. They sent it all to the lab for many tests and we should know preliminary results sometime tomorrow. They are still stumped as to what is going on both with the fever and with the GI complications. Late this afternoon I requested that they give Little Bug a trial off of the c-pap to see how he would do. That was around 3:45pm and he is currently still off and very comfortable with his breathing and oxygen saturations. Praise the Lord for this, I know God is answering our prayers for Connor. Since his spike in temp this afternoon he hasn't gone up again so he is quite happy at the moment with no drugs on board to help him settle down. We are hoping for a positive night for him with much rest (and for mama too!!). Tomorrow we should hear from the GI specialist to find out what to do next and how to proceed with this particular problem. After they decide what is making him spike the fevers we should be able to treat him and hopefully go back home.

Thank you to Dad and Mom M. for helping with Abbey over the weekend. She is now in the very capable hands of our sweet neighbor's Dave & Lisa. Thanks guys for being willing to help out while we are up here and Randy is gone. Abbey says thanks too and so do the flowers!!! You guys are great!!!!

It was nice this evening to be able to hold Connor for the first time since very early Saturday AM. I realize when I can't snuggle him how very much I need him in my arms to love and protect. While we were snuggling tonight we got another call from Daddy in Germany. He was so glad to hear that Little Bug was off the c-pap and in my arms. He is scheduled to be home around this time next week and we hope he finds us back at home and not still here at the hospital.

I will post more tomorrow evening with an update and hopefully we will know a better plan for heading toward home. As always, if anything happens before that I will post an update so you can be praying more specifically.

Thanks once agian for all the love and prayers. Our Lord is hearing and answering and Connor is looking some better as of this evening!!!!

Lovebug Hugs,
Lori

Sunday, July 23, 2006

Sunday Evening.........

Little Bug is holding his own at the moment. He is still on c-pap because he needs the help with his breathing. Today he was more content than he has been for days. He has fallen asleep now and I am hoping to do the same. There weren't any significant changes for him today and the docs did start him on a mild antibiotic. There's a possibility that he may have pnemonia in his right lung. They are watching him carefully. We think his fever finally broke this afternoon because he is cool and comfortable now. This week will hold many tests and consultations to hopefully get to the bottom of the problem.

Today was a wonderful day of support for me. Dad and Mom M. came this morning with some changes of clothes for me, which is great and they took me out to lunch with Uncle Larry, Aunt Maureen and cousin Derek. Dad and Mom R. came this afternoon with Aunt Kathy and Auntie Teresa too. It's always so wonderful to have supporting family around at these critical times when Little Bug is struggling and Randy is away. We also received an encouraging visit from our pastor and friend from church. What a wonderful time of prayer we had over Little Bug. He listened so intently to the reading of scripture and the prayers that were spoken over him, it was just precious.

Thanks for all the loving support today. I will update more tomorrow when we will hopefully start to make some headway on what is going on with Little Bug.

All our Lovebug Hugs,
Lori

PS ~ It was great to hear from Randy from Germany. I love this blog because he can stay connected even when he cannot call. I love you honey. Be safe and know that Little Bug is fighting his way back to better health. We both love you so much and are so proud of you!!!

Very Long Night!!!!!!!!

Good Morning Family & Friends ~

After much poking and proding, Connor still hasn't given up enough blood for the docs to send it to the lab. He is so stingy with his blood and they have been trying to spare him from going to the Operating Room and getting a central line. I've put my foot down on that one because last time we were here he got an infection each time he had central line access. Little Bug is just in a fretful state. He is thrashing around and wiggly and he just can't seem to find comfort. Throughout the night he received many different sleeping agents to help him get some zzzz's but he fought through each and every one of them. I finally broke down and allowed them to give him Ativan a little bit ago and so now he is sleeping and still. After talking with the ICU docs this morning in rounds they are fairly certain that Connor has a respitory infection that is causing the labored breathing and fever. His lung X-ray showed some "gunky" hazziness on the right side. Since they are unable to get blood at the moment, they don't know if it is a virus or a bacteria based infection. He is in significant GI distress as well, but this is not new. It does, however, seem to be worsened by whatever else is currently going on.

The goal for today is to keep him comfortable and allow him to sleep. Now that he is bigger and more active, it is very difficult for him not to fight the c-pap machine and try to pull it off. They've talked about restraining him, but at the moment he just has little white socks on his hands so he can't pull the c-pap off. As hard as it is to be here, we have reconected with friends and nurses and docs that love us and Little Bug so much!! I was able to get through to Randy late yesterday afternoon so he does know what is going on. He is worried and concerned but glad that he knows so he can pray!!

Thanks for praying troops!!!! You are all the army of God and we depend on your every mention of Little Bug our ever-caring Lord. Thank you Thank you Thank you!!!!!!!

Lovebug Hugs,
Lori