Home Sweet Home

Sweet The Hulk is home tonight! What a blessing! Last night The Hulk made huge improvements! He slept for a good 6 hours which was a big improvement and woke up this morning with bright eyes. His lab work this morning showed no signs of infection. He does continue to have some respitory problems but they are treating that as asthma. So the doctors agreed to release him if I would follow there specific instructions for his care and administor the 7 yes 7 medications they sent him home with!

I of course agreed! So after his last round of iv medications we broke out of the hospital and came on home. As soon as we walked in the house he got so excited. He and Lena played and he was all over the house getting his toys and checking things out. He also ate a good dinner which is a big improvement as he wasn't eating much at the hospital. And now he is resting in his own bed. Hopefully he will get a long night of sleep. I think that would help him a lot.

So he is still on several types of steroids, an antibiotic just to be on the safe side, and some other meds for his lungs. He gets breathing treatments administered by me every four hours, and lots of hugs and kisses. I would think all of that would help him tremendously in the next few days. He will stay on the breathing treatments for at least three weeks and then we will reassess and see if he needs to remain on asthma meds or if we can move forward without them.

I have some pics below that show him the first few days in the hospital and then some from this evening. You can tell the improvement just in his eyes. You can also tell that he is a little puffy from the steriods. That is pretty common and he may get a little puffier in the coming days. But he was already pretty puffy to start with so that's nothing new.

Thanks again for the prayers you have already prayed and the ones you continue to pray for my sweet boy. I really do believe that all the prayers and the hand of God brought us home so quickly!

Clickin Mama

Please Pray

The Hulk is being admitted to the hospital. They still don't know what is wrong with him. He continues to struggle to breath! Please pray for him!!! I'll update via twitter as I can.

Thank you so much!

Clickin Mama

The Hulk Update

Oh sweet The Hulk baby! He is still so very sick. But I think we are making progress in the right direction. Let's pray for that anyways. Here is what I know.

Yesterday his breathing really deteriorated. He was breathing very fast 70-85 resperations a minute and very gaspy/wheezy. When we got to the ER they immediately started breathing treatments and monitoring. After several breathing treatments and no improvement they decided to admit him.

We have a lovely room. There is a crib for The Hulk that I also call baby prision. He will bang things on the side of it when he wants out. And I have a chair bed that honestly isn't that uncomfortable. He has cute little hospital gowns with whales on them and he gets breathing treatments every 4 hours which he is starting to like. I think he has figured out they make him feel better.

He did have a tough time with the IV process. I really fought getting the IV at first but they can give him much stronger medications through it and I think that is best for him. He doesn't have to get any fluids through it and is allowed to have bottles and now some soft food. He hasn't been real interested in either. Every once in awhile he gets real hungry and then eats just a bit and is satisfied or worn out.

The tests for RSV and Flu came back negative but the lab work shows a big elevation in white blood cells. The docs just think he is fighting a nasty respitory infection. He does have a strong family history of asthma so that could also be complicating the situation. They are treating him for both.

This has been very difficult and scary. When his stats dropped today I was terrified. But he is a strong boy and we have a strong Lord. People everywhere are praying for him and that gives me so much peace. What a blessing faith is! Regardless you hate to see your child suffer. I just continue to thank God that this is temporary and something that is very treatable. And I encourage all of you to pray for all sick children. There are so many parents in hospital rooms tonight with babies much sicker than mine and I pray for them. God comfort them all!

I will say that our medical care has been excellent. Our doctors have been very meticulous and kind. They have answered all of my million questions. We have had great nurses with the exception of one grumpy nurse. But honestly the student nurses have been the best! These young guys and gals have given us the best care, have been the most patient with us, and have loved on my little guy the most. I love that we are at a teaching hospital with such great students!!!

We are all hopeful that The Hulk will turn the corner tonight and show great improvement tomorrow! He did rest this afternoon for 2 hours and woke up with a smile. Hopefully he can sleep a little tonight too. Again thank you for all of your prayers! We sure appreciate them!!!

Clickin Mama

Sick Baby

Well I do have one sick little boy. He had to stay home today from daycare to go to the doctor. Since I had to be in court for work and can't get out of that my step dad Monte stayed home with The Hulk and even took him to the doc. I'm sure he had his hands full but he acted like all was well whenever I called to check in.

They doctor did prescribe an antibiotic and some steroids. The antibiotic is no big deal but those steroids are created by the devil. Some of the side effects listed are difficulty sleeping, nervousness, increased appetite, and nausea. So what that really means is very limited sleeping to moments of crying then sleeping then crying then sleeping. Nervousness is really a nice way to say fussy, crying, meltdowns. And the whole increased appetite thing is just splendid mixed with nausea. All that means is there is 2 times the amount of puke to clean up! SUPER STEROIDS!!!!

So if this evening is any indication then we will have a long few days on those steroids!

Clickin Mama

Not Me Monday

Thank goodness Monday has arrived! It's time to confess all my imperfections. It's time to let the cat out of the bag. It's time to get the weights off my chest and share the secrets. So here we go!

This week I did NOT return three packages of diapers to Wal-Mart. I am NOT testing out each brand of diaper trying to find one that works. I am NOT returning the packages with a few missing diapers. I have NOT turned into that person. I am NOT taking them serious when they say satisfaction gauranteed.

I did NOT let The Hulk have scrambled eggs for breakfast with me the other day. He isn't a year yet so he shouldn't be eating the whole egg. I did NOT justify this by using the excuse that if you count weeks he already is a year old.

I did NOT consider putting baby Kerrington in the closet when I baby sat her for my brother and sister-in-law the other night. She did NOT cry and cry and cry and about make me want to pull my hair out. I did NOT pray that God only sends me sons since girls seem so high maintence.

I did NOT trip walking through my garage over piles of CRAP that are taking up the entire garage. I do NOT have so much stuff in my garage that I park in the driveway. I do NOT have a four car shop building and an attached garage and still park on the driveway. I would NOT allow so much stuff to accumulate around these parts.

I did NOT call my sister after tripping over crap in the garage and beg her to come home next weekend and help me get some projects taken care of and stuff sorted and stuff hauled to the dump.

I did NOT clean The Hulk' high chair by tipping it over and letting the dog eat all the dropped food out of the seat. If I did do that I also wiped it down after the dog at the food.

I did NOT have to clean up dog puke because apparently dogs aren't supposed to eat lima beans and bananas.

So that's what I didn't do this week. What about you????

Clickin Mama

Wilson

The Hulk is having a sick day today. He has a horrible little seal cough. He sounds like he is barking. Poor baby! If he isn't better tomorrow then he is gonna have to go to the doctor. Since he isn't feeling well we have been snuggling on the couch most of the day. And while we were snuggling I put in the movie Cast Away. He was starting to doze off so I thought I'd watch that while he slept. I got it at Wal-Mart yesterday for $4!

So I popped in the movie and The Hulk slept for the first 30 minutes or so. When he woke up we just snuggled some more and then the part of the movie with Wilson came on. If you haven't seen the movie this is Wilson! Wilson is a volleyball that the main character treats as a person. Well The Hulk loves Wilson! That kid laughed everytime Wilson was on the screen. He loves balls and thought that the bouncing silly Wilson was quite fun. That baby watched the entire movie snuggled up with me, laughing away.

It reminded me of the first time I watched Cast Away. I watched it with my mom. She thought Wilson was funny too. In fact she got this silly Wilson flower pot after seeing that movie. Hearing The Hulk laugh like that made me think of her and chuckle. Maybe she passed on her weird sense of humor to that kiddo.

So now that The Hulk thinks Wilson is so funny I'm wondering if they still make those silly Wilson pots. That might be fun for spring when I plant flowers. My mom's is long gone by now. So do any of you know?

Clickin Mama

Turkey Balls

I've been trying lots of new recipes lately. The Hulk is eating more and more regular food, very little baby food so I'm trying to cook for both of us the way I expect him to eat. Which means I'm trying new recipes to come up with a balance of healthy and tasty meals! I don't dislike veggies I just have a hard time with some of them. They have to be seasoned well for me to enjoy. So I'm experimenting and we are making progress. One of our new favorite things a little creation I came up with called Turkey Balls. The Hulk loves them and so do I. Here is my recipe if that's what we want to call it....

1 lb. lean ground turkey
1 diced green bell pepper
1 1/2 cup finely chopped carrots
1 egg beaten
1/2 cup italian seasoned bread crumbs
2 t. ground sage
3 T. Worcheister Sauce
2 T. diced onion
2 T. garlic
1 can tomato sauce
ketchup

Mix all the ingredients and half the can of tomato sauce up. I just used my hands to squish it all together. Form into balls and place the balls in a casserole dish. Pour the remaining half can of tomato sauce over the balls and also cover with ketchup. Cook for 35-40 minutes in 350 degree oven.

I serve the turkey balls with lima beans and mashed sweet potatos. It really is a healthy little meal. Lots of protein, fiber, vitamin c, good stuff! And the most important part is that it tastes Yummy!!!

Clickin Mama