Hospital visit

A tired daddy, and a tired baby.

Our almost 7th month old sweet Sutton gave us a scare on Thursday. Nathan was playing with Sutton on the floor, when he said "Erica, what is this lump on Sutton's neck?" it was pretty big. I looked like someone had put a golf ball under his neck, on the right side. We called the clinic, and they said to wait until Friday morning to come in because it was 4:30 in the afternoon. We waited until morning, our appointment was at 10:45 am. Nathan, of course, was scheduled to be off work, but a lovely safety meeting was scheduled for his day off, from 8-12. I asked my Mom to come with, to help me with both boys. As our luck would have it, our usual PA, Shelly, who is my second Mom, and Sutton's Godparent, was in Mexico on vacation!! So, I didn't care who I saw, but God was certainly watching over us that day, because he gave us the next best thing to Shelly, a PA named Michelle. She was wonderful, and did not like the look of Sutton's lump. She scheduled a blood draw at the hospital in Ida Grove for Sutton, and then got us into a Pediatric office in Sioux City, for 2:00. Phone calls to Nathan's work were made, and he got on the road home right away. The blood draw experience was terrible. I was so strong, and am very proud of myself, but it was tough! To see your baby in pain, and know how bad he is hurting, is hard. :(

Gunnar went to my parents, and we hit the road. Lab results came in and Sutton's white blood count was high, very high. We were glad to have an appointment to see a Pediatrician. We got to the clinic, and boy was it busy! We weren't used to so many people, kids, and loudness. Poor S was so tired, and that's when our journey began...

This pediatrician diagnosed him with an ear infection, and said the lump is from an ear infection. We settled on that answer knowing that we know nothing about ear infections, and that was that. Well, Michelle, the PA from Ida Grove, wanted updates. So I texted her "ear infection and antibiotics for 2 weeks" she was not happy with that answer (thankfully). She told us that if this was her babe, that she would take him to the ER (in Sioux City). She got it arranged for us to go to the ER. It was not fun. Lots of waiting, no answers, a very tired baby, blood draws and lots of pokes, screaming baby, and a bad headache! His temperature spiked at 103.5, and that was scary. An ultrasound was scheduled, and that was bad too. She had to push so hard on that lump, while trying to keep screaming Sutton still to get decent pictures. UGH!! I just wanted to scoop him up and leave. I just wanted to come home, take him to his room and cuddle him. THIS was not fun. I just wanted it over. Got through the ultrasound, got admitted into our room on the pediatrics floor, and got settled. To make a LOONNGG story short, we had lots of doctors, blood draws, pokes, and opinions. All in which came to this: He was on a strong antibiotic every 8 hrs, which went through his IV. The IV was hooked in him the whole time, so that made it hard. We had went to the City with nothing but the clothes on our back, so Nathan ran to Walmart and grabbed us some comfy clothes, while we waited for answers. Anyway, this lump was from some sort of infection. It could've came from my strep throat a few weeks ago, or Sutton's teething, or from the boys both having those terrible colds, when I had strep. Doesn't matter, the infection was bad and settled in his lymph node. After 24 hrs of antibiotics, his white count was down, and his lump was getting smaller. Things kept improving, and when we heard we got to go home Sunday afternoon, we were ecstatic! Saturday night around 7ish, my parents and Gunnar came to visit and bring us things, like toothbrushes and shower stuff! YES! I had held together good this whole time, until I saw Gunnar and heard his little voice say "Miss Me Mama!" that was hard. Around 9 they left, after eating Arby's in the hospital with us! :) Sunday at 4 we pulled into our driveway, and it felt great! Now we're on to 10 days of antibiotics, and a checkup in a week. On Friday Sutton will be 7 months old! He was in such wonderful spirits, giving everyone smiles the minute they walked in. He is such a happy happy baby! We are so thankful for him, and Gunnar. Our wonderful family, we are so blessed.

                                             Happy and Sweet Sutton Roan, we LOVE you!

This is on Sunday, after finding out he had one more time of antibiotics. We look pretty sleepy, but boy were we happy! We pray that his infection stays away from here on out and that we ALL stay healthy!!