We're at the Hospital!

Unfortunately, it isn't for Baby Amdon. Brayland has the fun times for a couple of days at the hospital this week. He has to stay because the antibiotic he needs has to be taken through an IV in the beginning. an oral wouldn't work fast enough. so here's the story: and his knee is all red when it is extended; turns white like this when it's bent.

last week brayland got a scrape on his knee; big deal. saturday he was jumping on the trampoline and his boo boo reopened. again, no big whoop. sunday he was normal. monday morning he woke up very upset and limping on his left leg. his boo boo had grown and was full of lovely yellow puss. so we cleaned it out. the kids went to Mi-mi's while i went to my doctor's visit. i've progressed to 75% effaced and dilated to a 3. i come back and hang out with Karen for awhile and notice Brayland isn't really himself. i had a strong impression to call our family doc for a follow up appt. brayland had an ear infection about two weeks ago; i never do a follow up appt because it erks me to pay another co-pay for him to look in his ear. well, i scheduled an appt for tuesday morning at 9:45 am. at 1:30 karen cleaned out the boo boo too. and held him for awhile. brilee and i left, we had to go get her doughnuts! she was in charge of treat for our family home evening that night. so bri brought brayland home around 2. he had fallen asleep in the car and had developed a temp. clean the boo boo again that night; no more pussy stuff had developed but red splotches were now surrounding the wound. i knew it was now infected. he still had a temp and he didn't sleep well at at all. so tuesday morning it was more red and when i changed his diaper his left groin was beyond tender. the infection follows the path of the lymph nodes. so we walked to the doctor~yes, we walked. it is super close. we walked to get doughnuts too! just trying to help things along down there. well, our dr. didn't even think twice. he told us we are going to the ER immediately. because of the infection was in a joint brayland was at high risk of the infection effecting his knee joint. the infection is know as staph. dr. thought we may have caught it soon enough but he was sending us because the antibiotic needed to go directly to the source. orally doesn't do the job. i left the doctor and wanted to cry! i called brian and he immediately came. ba-pa took brilee for the rest of the day and the three of us headed to Kosairs. we were given a orange clip board; next in line to red. meaning we were high on the ER list. brayland was in so much pain by now. thankfully he did sleep on the way there. so we were checked in, he had a 104 fever, gave him meds for that, they put in an IV and took lots of blood. gave him morphine...nice. he was back to happy brayland for awhile. during happy time we did some x-rays and started the antibiotic. oh, and they put us in isolation. when the nurse told me that i was ready to spit daggers! i immediately thought that brayland was going to a room all by himself and mom and dad were going to be separated from him! anyway, that misunderstanding was quickly cleared up. isolation just meant that any doc or nurse had to have gloves on and a gown. ye haw. and even funnier that 5% of the people who came in actually treated us like we were isolation. anyway, we then waited around for an orthopedic. this part took forever! we sat from around 2:30 to 7:30! just waiting!!!!! this was so frustrating because they said it was up to this ortho guy to determine if Brayland had to go into surgery. yes, surgery. to drain and scope the joint. man, i couldn't handle this myself. so brayland wasn't allowed to eat or drink anything. by 5 he was so thirsty. he fell asleep again and forgot. anyway, we made a nuisance of ourselves asking very frequently if he is coming. we were also frustrated because we sat there watching the redness grow and grow! i didn't think time was doing anything good for our situation. and no one had defiantly answers. nurses and doctors ideas were all hypothetical; worse case. and worse case was that brayland may have MSRA. don't ask was that stands for; go look it up. but it is the next worse thing after staph. MSRA is almost immune to antibiotics. AHHHHH! hurry up ortho guy! and to make matters even more ridiculous there was a slight miscommunication. Wednesday morning the ortho guy that was on call all day the previous day, the one we were supposedly waiting for, came and visited Brian in the room. he profusely apologized for the misunderstanding and said that he had made the decision that brayland didn't need surgery earlier that afternoon. he made that call around 3 based on x-rays and blood work. So we didn't have to be sitting there waiting in agony!

We watched KET for over seven hours yesterday! wow. and while there me being pregnant and so close to popping that i was also a great concern being in the hospital. so ortho guys comes and says brayland joint is safe. so we finally make it to a private - quiet- room by 8:45 pm. that felt good. so we got brayland some food, told our story over again to the nurses and doctors. by this time Karen had talked with enough of her doctor friends that she strongly advised us that i not stay. she was more than willing to sit with brayland. well, bri stayed the night and i was planning on going to hang with brayland all day. brian vetoed that this morning. enough people in the hospital even confirmed it wasn't the "safest" place for me to be. How ironic. it's a flippen' hospital and it's not safe!? well, it is all about germs. so i have been banded from the hospital! do you know how useless i feel!? i tried to keep my spirits up "nesting". I have a clean and sterile house now. all the laundry is done, my nails look great, we have food in the fridge. i'm trying to stay off my feel because they are ballooning and i never realized that swollen feel were uncomfortable. i offered to help the work along downstairs, too. i was trying to mud all the tiny little nail holes in the trim but my uterus wouldn't allow it. I'm contracting and it was very uncomfortable to work that low. contractions still very inconsistent...i think.

Brayland is having a blast today in his new place. he loves the buttons on the bed to make things go up and down. he hasn't tired of that yet. and he is comfortable enough now to hobble around his room. they have tons of toys and books that are new to him. oh boy, it is so easy to love him. so funny story that brian told me. brayland and brian slept together in the pull out couch bed last night. brayland crawled out around 8:30 and gimped over to his roller coaster bed. well, his IV is in the top of his hand so he has a splint keeping his wrist straight. so kinda like a cast and he can't use his hand at all. and he can't use his leg to help push him up in his bed. so bri watched him for awhile struggling to pull and push himself up being very unsuccessful. brayland finally gave up and just laid there on the bed; half on and half dangling. i really wish i had a picture.

amongst all the emotion and ciaos of it all i feel a great deep gratitude for my family and friends. as i think about it i am sincerely moved. first of all for my brian. he drops everything; and i mean EVERYTHING. he has so much going on at work and he set a dead line for himself to have the basement finessed by thrusday morning. everything went on hold. i feel grateful that his family is his #1 priority. and our extended family has done nothing but shown us love by fill in and getting things done. our friends have shown great concern and offered help and love. and looking at what great things are coming about; Brilee had a whole day with her Ba-pa. she gets to be with her mi-mi for awhile too. Brayland and Daddy get to hang out, i see it as great bonding time together. as for myself, since i can't be at the hospital my house is clean, laundry is caught up, food is cooked, feet are swollen, amdon and my bags are packed. i'm ready to have a baby.

After this long Wednesday, Brayland will be home around midnight. his culture isn't back yet but the blood work and his body's reaction to the antibiotic is a good indicator that he doesn't have MSRA.