Friday, September 23, 2011

Prayers are answered!

Early this morning, Ivy's doctor came to tell us that all Ivy's cultures were negative for bacteria. They are going to watch them for another 24 hours and if they are still negative we will be going home. We were pretty pleased. I even left for an hour to go home and shower.

A few hours later, the doctor came back in to tell us that one of Ivy's cultures tested positive for Parechovirus. This is what is causing her fever. Hurray for an answer!! Since it was just a virus, we can stop the antibiotics and were free to go home today! The doctor said she would call us with the test results tomorrow but the chance of her having a bacterial infection on top of this is very rare.

Shortly later, the nurses unhooked Ivy from all of her tubes and wires and we were on our way home. Pretty awesome.

Ivy is still super crabby. Her fever is lower (99ish) but I think her back is very sore (she had 4 needles in her spine yesterday). Every time I move her, she cries. It breaks my heart. Hopefully she'll be back to her happy self soon!

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Scary, scary stuff...

Yesterday, Ivy had a very routine one month check-up. She has gained so much weight and is up to 10 lbs. 3 oz!!! Considering she was only weighing 7 lbs. 6 oz three weeks before, I was super excited! After a quick exam, the doctor gave her his stamp of approval, she got her second Hep. B vaccine, and we were on our way.
That afternoon, Ivy was a bit more fussy than usual and I just shrugged it off thinking her leg was sore from the injection. That night she continued to be super fussy and right before bedtime she felt a bit warm. I took her temp (99.6) and decided to call the after-hours nurse to see if I should do anything. The nurse reassured us that most babies don't have reactions to Hep. B shots and since her fever was below 100.2, we shouldn't worry.
Well, Ivy did not sleep well at all that night. She cried and cried. She wasn't even interested in nursing which is usually the cure-all for everything. Finally around 4 am, I took her temp again. I was interrupted at 101.1 due to being pooped on! Oh the joys of motherhood and nurses insisting on rectal temps! Yuck! I knew I needed to take her in. Adam decided to stay at home and get a few more hours of sleep so he could go to work on Thursday. After all, wouldn't they just give us antibiotics and send us home?
Within 5 minutes of our arrival at Children's Mercy, I was informed that because she is only 5 weeks old, we would be admitted and staying for at least 48 hours. She would have a full work-up done: blood, urine, chest x-ray and spinal tap. A spinal tap for a newborn! Not what I wanted to hear at all. I tried to call Adam but he was sleeping and not answering his phone. Frustrating.
The nurses worked fast! Just a few minutes later she had a her blood drawn and a catheter to get a urine sample. Ivy was not enjoying this so far. Then it came time for the IV to be put in. The nurse tried so hard to find her little veins. After a few tries and enough digging in her arm, they decided to put her IV in her head. Ugh. Poor thing. Next came the spinal tap. The doctor numbed up her back and when she inserted the needle, hit a blood vessel. Blood was everywhere! I'm really not sure how I was holding up so well watching my baby being tortured. She was screaming so loud. The doctor tried again twice more and quit. Ivy was done. They would try again later.
We were moved upstairs and admitted to the hospital. Around this time, Adam arrived...nice and rested. Once upstairs, we met the doctor assigned to our case and she took Ivy to a procedure room to retry the spinal tap. It was super quick and successful! Yes! Then she took Adam and I to view the x-ray from earlier. She explained everything in the picture: face, ribs, lungs, heart, and then she pointed to another blob that was the thymus. The doctor explained that it was much bigger than most babies. Most babies are usually half the size of Ivy's. She thought that there was a tumor in it. We would need to go for a CT Scan to find out more.
Less that an hour later, we were taken to radiology. I helped while they swaddled my little girl and strapped her to the table. Ivy was totally zonked out and slept thru the entire thing. I, of course, was totally freaking out thinking my daughter has cancer. The tech told us it would take an hour to find out the results. This was 9:10 am. The waiting game begins. 10:10 am comes and goes. 11:00 am comes and goes. The longer we waited, the worse my fears became. Finally around 2:00 pm, the doctor comes in to tell us that there is NO mass! NO tumor. NO cancer! She couldn't believe it. She said in 20 years of practicing medicine she has never seen a thymus this large. We are so lucky.
Other good news is her blood, urine, and spinal fluid are all clear of bacteria. Yeah!
Ivy's not completely out of the woods yet. She still has a high fever (102ish) that we are managing with tylenol and she is on two different antibiotics to fight off any viruses that may be lurking in her body. We will be staying until Saturday so they can observe her cultures and rule out other scary diagnoses like meningitis.
It's been a pretty eventful and terrifying day. I made a list of firsts that Ivy encountered on our adventure. (Hopefully a lot of these will be a first and ONLY)

1. first fever
2. first hospital visit
3. first hospital stay
4. first IV
5. first antibiotic
6. first x-ray
7. first spinal tap
8. first cat scan

We are thankful for  all the prayers Ivy received today. We are so grateful to have such great friends and family.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Finally!

Harrison has slept in his toddler bed for the past 5 nights!!!

We finally purchased this baby gate for his doorway so he can't escape and fight us all night to get out of his room. This is why we have given up in the past. The first few nights were a bit rough but last night was perfect. We tucked him in, said "good night" and he went to sleep! I have to remind you he is only 23 months old, its going too fast! :( Kind of bitter sweet for me. Good thing I have another baby!

We continued to use the baby crib for naps this week but today Harrison told me he wanted to sleep in the "robot bed" so I let him. I checked on him a few minutes after I laid him down and he was sitting in his room reading books (proud mama here!) but I told him to lay back down and he went to sleep! I may have had to fight back a few tears but am so proud of my little guy! Way to go Harrison!!!

Monday, September 12, 2011

40 bags in 40 days

I have decided to clear out our house!

I feel like we accumulate so much stuff! Even though I think I do a pretty good job of hiding our junk, I know its still there... Its hiding in closets, under beds, inside pretty decorative boxes, etc. Well, I'm on the hunt to find it all and get rid of all the stuff we no longer need or want. The goal is to stop bringing excess stuff into our house and reducing our waste. Seriously, I am embarrassed by our trash can sitting on the curb each week!

I recently read about the Johnson family. They have a blog teaching about their zero-waste life. This family is remarkable (and way more extreme that I will ever be!) but they are very inspiring.The have so many tips to go "no-waste" but I love their moto: Refuse, Refuse, Refuse. Then reduce, reuse, recycle (and only in that order). You should read about them, okay?

Anyways, back to clearing out our nooks and crannys. I made a list of 40 areas I want to clean, organize and purge and my goal is 40 days. I figure we could probably get rid of 40 bags of stuff. Hopefully most of it will go the Catholic charities thrift store but I'm sure some of it is just trash that needs to be thrown away. How embarrassing, right?

Here is the list:

1.       Junk drawer in kitchen
2.       Under kitchen sink
3.       Kitchen drawers/ towels/ baggies
4.       Silverware drawers
5.       Mudroom shelves
6.       Shoes
7.       Pantry and entry bench
8.       Refrigerator
9.       Spice cabinet
10.   Cabinet above fridge
11.   hutch
12.   Office desk
13.   Hallway closet upstairs
14.   Hallway closet downstairs
15.   Magazines
16.   My closet
17.   My closet again!
18.   Adams closet
19.   My dresser and underwear drawer
20.   Adam’s dressers and underwear
21.   Maternity clothes
22.   Under our bed
23.   Dvds and video games
24.   Jewelry
25.   Makeup bag
26.   Bathroom cabinet/drawers
27.   Medicine cabinet
28.   Harrison’s clothes
29.   Harrison’s toy boxes
30.   Harrison’s closet
31.   Ivy’s closet
32.   Playroom shelves and dvds
33.   Sewing materials
34.   crafting/scrapbook materials
35.   Garage (general)
36.   Garage (shelves)
37.   Car
38.   Truck
39.   Laundry room 
40. recipe books

Have you spent any time purging lately?