Here's the story...

So our little baby boy came about 3 weeks early and smack in the middle of a crazy time. As my other posts told, our family has been pretty sick lately. Lots has happened since I last posted and I'd like to give a detailed account. Again, this isn't necessarily for the readers of this blog but more so for my own recording and journal.

The last real post I put up on the blog was on Jake's birthday and it was all about how sick Jake was at the time. The afternoon of Jake's birthday I had an OB appointment. It was a normal weekly appointment but also to discuss the results of my second ultrasound I got the day before. The ultrasound was mostly checking on the size of the baby since Brody was sort of on the big my dr wanted to make sure the time of my scheduled induction (March 2nd) was timely with the growth of the baby and all. Jake didn't come with me to the appointment because he was still getting rest after being up most the night throwing up. Donna was watching Brody. As with Brody, this pregnancy has been very healthy and very normal so I rarely expect to get any important news or updates from my dr so I don't really care to go on my own. At this appointment my dr said that the measurements of the amniotic fluid taken at the previous day's ultrasound were too low and she would like me to go to the hospital immediately to get another more in depth ultrasound and monitor the baby for a little bit. Depending on results of those things labor might need to be induced OR I would be put on bed rest for the rest of my pregnancy. I didn't like hearing either of those. As miserable as I was being pregnant I liked Brody being a little on the big size and according to the ultrasound taken the baby was only a little more than 6 pounds at the time. But on the other hand I am not sure how bed rest would work for me. Brody is pretty physically demanding and I don't really have a friend, relative or spouse who could just help me all day everyday for the next few weeks. I tried to stay calm and I drove home and picked Jake up. I knew, though he was sick, he would not want me at the hospital without him which I was glad he felt that way cause I really wanted him to be with me throughout everything.

I actually woke Jake up from a nap with my confusing news and as he was attempted to wake up and try to come to terms with the two scenarios we were faced with I was trying to as well. I hope that doesn't sound dramatic cause I know both are pretty tame when it comes to child birth - have a baby a couple weeks early or go on bed rest. Nothing that bad was wrong with me or the baby but it was more so the decisions coming out of nowhere and trying to come to terms with them when in the past 5 days all I have done was focus on taking care of a pretty sick toddler and now today Jake was sick.

So after the ultrasound and monitoring of the baby my dr still felt more comfortable inducing labor now rather than wait and risk the fluid getting any lower and something possibly happening to the baby. We were admitted Thursday night around 7 pm to the hospital and by midnight I was starting to feel contractions, not very strong but still very much there. The labor progressed and by late morning / early afternoon of the next day -Friday- I had dilated a couple more centimeters and thinned out more so I got an epidural.

Now with Brody I had a great experience with my epidural. It hurt to get it but really helped manage my pain and considering I gave birth to an 8 1/2 lb baby it was nice to have it. I stayed calm, no screaming and I was able to get through it really well. So based on that experience I saw no reason why I didn't want an epidural for this birth. Unfortunately, with this birth it was TOTALLY different. As the Anesthesiologist was putting in the catheter for the epidural she hit a nerve (a normal risk in getting an epidural). I reacted automatically and flinched and moved. As a result of moving the dr hit my spine and a little spinal fluid leaked out. As soon as the procedure was over the dr and the nurse told me that due to that happening there was a 90% chance I would get what is called a "spinal headache" anywhere between 24 and 48 hours after the epidural was put in. A spinal headache is probably the worst headache possible. Imagine your worst headache and times that by ten million and that is what a spinal headache feels like!! And on top of all of that I don't think the epidural worked very well because I felt A LOT more pain than I should have and the nurses kept having to put additional pain medicine directly into my IV to help manage the pain.

I tried not to think about the headache that might come and focus on what I was there to do...have a baby!! From there the contractions and dilation progressed it was only a matter of hours and our little Ryan Michael arrived a few minutes before 5 pm. Jake and I had just recently changed from the name Carter to Ryan but not many knew so the name came as a surprise to some of our family and friends. He has a full head of hair which was the opposite of Brody but other than the hair Ryan looks a lot like his older brother.

But considering Ryan was born 3 weeks before his due date we are blessed that he is perfectly healthy except for needing to catch up a bit on his weight!

The story after Ryan's birth I only mention for my own account. One of the biggest signs of a spinal headache is the person will only feel some relief when they lay down. I felt the headache as soon as I had to get out of bed to be taken to a recovery room. It was unbearable and I knew pretty soon after I felt it hit me that the doctors would have to perform a blood patch to fix the spinal leak. I was so upset because I was nervous I would move again since the procedure is performed basically the way an epidural is and to make it worse the blood to "patch" the leak would need to be drawn from me simultaneously. So I was taken to recovery Friday evening and suffered through the night and then Saturday morning they performed the procedure. I was dreading the procedure but knowing that with this headache I couldn't hold my new baby, couldn't really sit up to eat and definitely couldn't feed my new baby I knew that I'd rather find quick relief. And as I dreaded it was horrible and to make it worse the Anesthesiologist and his nurse made me stressed and tense cause they were acting like they were needing to rush during the procedure which made everything worse cause I needed to calm my body and let my back curve out for the doctor to make it work. So after the chaos of the procedure was done, I was helped back into bed and I was given pain medicine. Within an hour I felt a lot better but it was still really difficult to move my neck or back. Jake and my nurse were amazing throughout it all and really helped me get through it without me succumbing to my pain or mental doubt of ever getting better. Also since I was so reliant on Jake the other nurses were great and able to take Ryan to the nursery and they took such great care of him with feedings and changes plus they raved about how cute he was! As horrible as it all was I was in the hands of wonderfully caring nurses and an amazing husband. Also I guess I should be grateful that their is a way to cure a spinal headache other than just pain medicine. I spent the rest of Saturday and most the day Sunday resting and recovering. We left the hospital Sunday afternoon and I was feeling really good.

Unfortunately by late Sunday night I felt the spinal headache come back. I am not sure if the blood patch didn't take or perhaps once I was home I over-exerted myself which caused it to come back (after the blood patch I couldn't lift anything heavier than my newborn for the first 4 days). We talked to the on-call Anesthesiologist at the hospital and he said spend 24 to 72 hours laying down, drinking lots of liquids and lots of caffeine and see if it will go away on its own. If it didn't he said there my need to be another blood patch!! So I followed his advice all day Monday and Tuesday. This was agony for me physically cause I was in pain but also mentally cause Jake had to wait on me hand and foot and it meant other people and Jake had to take care of Brody (who I hadn't seen for almost 4 days and was looking forward to seeing) and Ryan who I had just given birth to. There were lots of tears and prayers on my part. I was very lucky to have such an awesome husband who totally stepped up to the plate with all his responsibilities AND the rest of my family that helped us out, especially my mother-in-law who had already spent days taking care of Brody. Things were made worse because Brody was still having some vomiting and diarrhea from his stomach virus in the midst of all of this.

By Tuesday night I was still not any better so Jake and I went to the ER (as we were advised). Ironically with my condition only being relieved with laying down the ER wait was 2 1/2 hrs of me sitting up in a chair. I was in a bed with an IV of pain medicine which really knocked me out and I was thankful to feel some relief. Jake and I then had to wait a few hours while the Anesthesiologist was suppose to return a call to the ER doctor so that he got his input on how to treat me and what my options were. So in the meantime along with the medication I was put on an they put me on a slow drip of fluids and caffeine (the fluids and caffeine help replenish the fluids in my head that the spinal fluid is leaking out or something to that effect). Then we had the talk with the doctor because he finally heard back from the Anesthesiologist. My biggest question was answered - would a blood patch be necessary or could the headache go away on its own after a couple days. The answer was yes the headache would go away with time and the leak would heal itself. The blood patch is just more immediate relief and since I had already had one the likelihood of a second blood patch taking the pain completely away was just a few percent more. So my decision was I would let the bag of fluid finish ask for strong pain medicine and hope that in a day or two things would be better instead of going through a painful procedure which wouldn't for sure cure me. Jake and I left the ER at about 2:30 am which was sucked that it took so long but I was feeling better with the fluids and fresh pain meds in me. So by Thursday afternoon I was feeling MUCH better. I trusted in my instinct and was right that the stuff they did in the ER helped and so did some follow up rest.

These past few days I finally felt like myself again and like I had my life back. I was so desperate to spend time with Brody again and get to know my new little baby. Also I was eager to relieve Jake from waiting on me so much. The whole experience was crazy now that I think back on it. I learned a lot about myself and my family. My family (both Jake and my own) are amazing and I am blessed to have them and grateful for all they do for me. The hellish time I spent in bed made me eager to take care of my children instead of feeling overwhelmed now that I have two little ones. There are other feelings that I could share but they are more spiritual and emotional to share in detail. Lets just say I am grateful for a Lord who hears my prayers and answers them, even if its not when or how I'd like them answered!!

Below are some pictures we've taken since we have been home. I threw in a couple of Brody. One I love cause it shows him in his new favorite thing - a baby swing! Brody hasn't really paid too much attention to Ryan. Sometimes he looks at him and smiles or touches his feet or head. At this point I don't mind cause I'd rather have him not really care than pay too much attention and scratch, hit or throw out of a baby swing or something. Ryan is doing good as well. He falls asleep instead of eating but he is beautiful and we all love his full head of dark hair. He is pretty tiny so hopefully he will chunk up soon.

PS - thanks to everyone who, during all of this, were nice enough to remember Jake and I's birthdays.

Jake bought me these beautiful tulips!!

Our early arrival

Make a Smilebox postcard

One on the mend and another sick

So a quick and short update on the sicky-poos in our house (only people in the Lewis family will know that movie quote).

It took a couple more hellish days and a dr's visit as well as some anti-vomiting medicine and now Brody is better with just some congestion and a cough leftover.

Unfortunately (as I had been fearing would happen) at around 11 pm last night Jake started getting what Brody had. Poor guy puked his guts out practically once every 90 minutes till around the 8 o'clock hour this morning. I am sure it only stopped because he has nothing left to throw up. Its Jake's day off today AND worst part is its his BIRTHDAY today. Happy 27th my wonderful husband, here is some Gatorade and a garbage can in case you can't make it to the bathroom!!!

A story of teething, vomiting and urgent care!

So I want to hurry and record this story before I forget details cause I think it is one I will look back and the details will be fuzzy. I am sure Jake would argue that I shouldn't want to remember something like this but I think it is a story worth recording.

Brody has been teething since he was 3 months old!! But somewhere in the past couple months things had gotten better. Since he is 2 1/2 I was hoping Brody was done. But in just the past couple weeks the signs have come back and worse. So I concluded that he was getting his two year molars. For anyone with experience with small children or babies with teething there is some drooling, hands or objects in the mouth constantly, interrupted sleep, crankiness, refusal to eat, diarrhea, etc. It has been tough on both Brody and myself because his little body does really need more sleep and with being pregnant I need more rest - so the worst has been his interrupted sleeping. I had been telling myself, perhaps this is all for a purpose - he can get all this horrible teething out of the way before the next baby comes. I had been catering to the symptoms, getting through it one day at a time and then Saturday hit!!

On Saturday morning I was out with Jake's mom Donna running errands. Saturday night was Becky and Trevor's reception and we were getting a few things. Brody had acted like he didn't want to eat any food that morning which wasn't really abnormal because, like I said before, with teething, he often would rather drink something and not eat. He had a sippy cup full of milk and then an hour later we were at Hobby Lobby and he was getting impatient so I gave him the sippy cup I packed just so that he would calm down and be content until we left the store. We went to check out and Brody puked all over. Slightly lucky (in a weird way) since the sippy cup was full of water and a little bit of juice, at least the vomit wasn't as messy or chunky as it could have been. It was a lot though, everything he had just drank. He ran outside with him and he threw up some more. We dealt with the mess and clean up (along with the employees of the store). I counted it as my bad judgement in giving him the second sippy cup with no food in his system and so soon after the other sippy cup he had.

So the rest of the day he refused to eat and he had another couple sippy cups. He seemed out of it and not feeling well but I passed that off as teething symptoms cause it really can wipe him out and molars can be really tough on toddlers. Then later that night we were at Becky and Trevor's reception and (fortunately it was a the end) I was holding Brody and noticed he was sort of gagging. I thought maybe he was going to throw up again so I ran to the women's bathroom and as soon as we walked in he threw up on the floor and I was able to get him to lean over the the trash can and finish. It was tough to clean up and we were blessed that a lovely lady at our church help mop it up while I took the trash to the dumpster. It was a heck of a day but after each bout of vomiting Brody didn't seem to be too affected so I didn't think too much of it. Then Sunday hit and everything changed!!

Jake now has Sundays off so it was a nice, relaxing morning together as a family. Then time for church rolled around Brody was not feeling good and neither was I. We both had cold symptoms with runny noses and coughing and slight fevers. So Jake took care of us while Donna went to church. We were hoping to feel better so we could go visit our friends Shannon, Glenn and Gage. But the weather was terrible where they were so we decided to literally take a rain check for another time when it was sunnier and better weather for a BBQ (plus Brody and I weren't feeling very good any way). I am SO grateful we didn't go cause starting around 2:30 or 3ish Brody started throwing up and was not keeping anything down. He threw up EVERYTHING. Jake went out and got pedialite and still he threw it up. Not only was Brody not keeping anything down, it seemed his body wasn't wanting anything in his stomach so after throwing everything up Brody threw up bile a couple of times. We were all concerned here at the house so I decided to call my mom and ask her advice. Luckily my sister Jada was over at the time that I called and she had taken her little boy in the ER last summer thinking he was dehydrated cause of diarrhea and throwing up. She told me some of the things the doctors and nurses had them do. Like try 2 oz of fluid at a time and give it 30 mins or an hour to see if it is kept down. We tried that too and all it proved, in my mind, that Brody was getting worse. It was getting really tough to see Brody like that cause once he started throwing up bile he was absolutely miserable and it is difficult to see his little body trying to physically force up anything that was in is his stomach when there was nothing there. At this point I knew for a fact this was way beyond teething symptoms. I called the on-call nurse at our pediatrician's office and told her everything. She was worried that at this point he was throwing up a good amount of bile because of his age it could damage his esophagus. Also by describing his pale and green coloring in his face and his extremely lack of energy (I used the word lethargic). He hadn't had a wet diaper in quite a few hours. So the nurse's advice was to take him in to an Urgent Care or ER.

Around 7 pm Jake and I took Brody took to Phoenix Children's Hospital East Valley Urgent care which, we are blessed to have one just down the road from us. Brody threw up some bile while we were talking to the triage nurse and she even commented on how sick he looked in his face. Needless to say, were admitted pretty soon, within 15 minutes of arriving. Brody who is usually a handful and a toddler who messes with everything, wants to explore new places just sat in our arms and had a vacant, expressionless face.

The doctor examined Brody and ordered a blood culture to test a bunch of things as well as x-rays to look at his belly. I guess there are a lot of conditions that vomiting is a symptom of that have to do with what is going on the stomach, intestines, etc.. Sadly enough, to help hydrate Brody and get him to stop throwing up he was going to need an IV. I was so nervous and scarred, for Brody to go through such a traumatic thing at his young age was going to be so terrible. My first IV was when I was 23 and I was having a baby and even then I hated it. How could this little boy who hated if you combed his hair handle an IV. I was glad that Jake and I said a prayer together before we left the house. I need all the help I could to comfort Brody and myself during this procedure. I needed to be there for my son and to not freak out so that Jake was not left alone to be the only parent that was holding it together!

Tears streamed down my face during the whole thing and poor Brody cried as well but he was so dehydrated that no tears came out! They put the IV in and took blood for testing at the same time (thank goodness). Jake and I held Brody's hands and I stroked his face with my fingers. Jake and I whispered to him that everything was going to be okay. We told Brody that what they were doing were was going to help and that he was being very brave. Being an urgent care for children the nurses were able to wrap the hand and wrist where the IV was so good that he wouldn't mess with it. Brody calmed down and then Jake and I took turns hold and cuddling with him. So with waiting in between the initial exam with the doctor, getting the IV in, giving the fluids to Brody through the IV, x-rays and waiting for the labs to come back we where waiting for a while. Before the nurses gave him the fluids he was given this medicine that would stop the vomiting and any nausea. Then after that Brody's body took the fluids very well.

So after lots of waiting the doctor gave us the good news that nothing came back abnormal from the labs and x-ray and it was looking good that he was taking the fluids so well. Shocking to me with how much Brody had thrown up and how long he had gone with no wet diapers and nothing in his system he was still considered very mildly dehydrated and not considered lethargic but just inactive.

Jake and I then questioned, with all that had happened with Brody's poor little body, what was causing all the vomiting. The doctor said it must be a virus or bug and it needed to run its course. She said he was most likely contagious. The medication that caused him to stop vomiting would last 8 hours and the next day we would need to slowly introduce clear liquids then bland food and see how he handles it.

We left the urgent care a little after 5 hours of being there with an exhausted little boy in our arms but nothing horribly wrong with him either. Jake and I were grateful that, though we had to deal with the IV and such, Brody was going to go back to normal. The staff at the PCH east valley urgent care were extremely helpful and very nice and we are grateful that they handled everything so great with us.

Jake and I are lucky to be living with Donna who did some sanitizing and laundry while we were gone and left work early to take care of Brody and myself. For the few family members who knew of our dilemma yesterday thanks for the prayers and offer to help. Things could have gone very differently and Brody been very sick and it was a comfort to know how many people who have been there to help.

So that was the big story about the craziness we experienced in the past couple days.

P.S. One a side note I am apparently teething as an adult. My wisdom teething are coming in more and my mouth is killing me and I think my horrible congestion and runny nose is related. I sympathize now with babies and toddlers because I have been pretty whinny myself !!!

Thankful I live in Arizona

I am rarely thankful to live in Arizona. I mean its a desert. Most of the time I feel that the big metropolitan city of Phoenix should really be existing where Flagstaff is - you know up north where the air is cooler and there are real trees. I am not sure it was a good idea to settle in a desert where everything is brown and ugly, bare bushes are referred to as trees. Other than the weather that I complain about, lately with state and city governments in this Arizona in a budget crisis there are lots of problems with layoffs, hiring freezes, programs being cut and the quality of education being effected. I have never lived anywhere else so I know my complaints could be seen as naive and only based on my experience living here. Lately, as I have been hearing about the horrible winter weather in other parts of the country, I realize that I am blessed to live here. I don't have to shovel snow, scrap ice off my car or get Brody bundled up before he goes outside. He can run barefoot in the backyard in February and the sun shines on him and he happily runs around!



When it comes to the complaints about the poor economy of our state and the cities in it I was able to adapt a different perspective based on a couple meetings Jake and I had with some people yesterday.



Brody has a communication and social delay. He has been receiving therapy 100% free of charge through DDD (Division of Developmental Disabilities). Our Support Coordinator, one of Brody's therapists as well as Jake and I discussed Brody's goals we set for him in the past and if he has met any of them in the past 6 months. Then we all discussed new goals and gave an update of his progress. It has been a little over a year since we were told about Brody's delays from Early Intervention. Throughout that year Jake and I have experienced interaction with many different agencies throughout the state - DDD which is part of DES, AHCCCS, Early Intervention and more recently Mesa Public Schools (appointments set up with MPS to see if he qualifies for their Special Ed Preschool). These agencies and institutions have been imperative in helping with Brody's delays this past year. I am one of many who complain about government agencies and the red tape and hassle involved in dealing with them. But it has been mine and Jake's experience that the employees of these agencies have been friendly, professional and extremely helpful. With all the cut backs to programs in this state because of the lack of money it is wonderful to know that such a vital programs like the ones helping my son right now will not be affected and not only that but they seem to function well from our impression.



We have been assigned a Support Coordinator who provides an array of help in many ways and as a parent, she has been a great resource in support to me. It has been difficult for our family that Brody has needed so much assistance and extra patience because he doesn't development in all areas at a normal rate. Though I do keep in mind that Brody has no major diagnosis or major disability. Brody is 2 1/2 and communicates the way a 12-18 month old would. I have never heard my child say to me "mommy" or "mom" and not even close to an "I love you". Worse than that it makes the basic care I provide for him difficult when I don't know what he wants. So I feel very blessed to have Brody in therapy with great professionals who have provided wonderful help to Brody. DDD has been an amazing department and, as I was told yesterday by our Support Coordinator, not every state have these resources. In California there are waiting lists for most therapy services. Though a lot of services to children and adults are federally mandated some states do not have the resources and professionals to follow through like our state currently does.

So my heart is filled with gratitude towards the people who have helped us and that we live in state where these things are possible!!