Josh and Diana: September 2011

When I woke up on Friday morning I never would have imagined that by that evening my tiny 3 week old newborn would be in the ICU at Kosair Children's Hospital in Louisville. We had a whirl wind of a weekend that I still don't think I have recovered from. It is amazing to see how God worked even in the little details of everything this weekend. And that is why I decided to blog about our experience. So many little details, I didn't even think about completely until we got home. My parents had been in North Carolina visiting my sister and Brother in law and stopped by to visit with us on their way back to Colorado. They were only planning on staying for two days, and leaving Saturday morning. On Friday my Mom asked if Josh and I wanted to go on a date since they were in town and they could watch the kids. SO, Josh and I were going to go on a date friday evening. We were so looking forward to Endless Shrimp at Red Lobster, one of our favorite things. It was about 4pm Friday when I noticed that Ava felt really warm, so I thought I would take her temp. It was 101.9 just under her armpit. Since it was a friday and our pediatricians office was about to close I thought I would just call and see if the Doctor thought it was something to be concerned about or not. (I was concerned since she was only 3 weeks old) The Doctor called right back and said he wanted us to come in right away. I mentioned we lived 30 minutes away, and he said it didn't matter if we got there after hours, they needed to see her. So, Josh and I left with Ava. We were still thinking we were going to go on a date, but were just going to stop at the Pediatrcian on the way. We thought we would get a prescrption and be on our way. One of the small ways that God worked this out, because Josh NEVER goes to the Pediatrician with me, and the other two kids are normally with me. I had just been in on wednesday by myself with all three kids (like any other Mom would be) I am so thankful we didn't get sent to the hospital when I was by myself with the three kids. The other amazing thing was that my parents happened to be in town and have the older kids when we found out Ava was being admitted to the hospital. I didn't even have to worry about making arrangements, packing for my kids, or anything. My parents knew the kids schedule, (since my Mom had kept them when I was in the hospital just a few weeks before) they knew where Lana's preschool was, etc, etc, I didn't even have to worry about anything. The kids got to stay in our own home and not even be thrown off routine by much. It makes being in the hospital with one kid SO much easier not even having to worry about my other two. Don't get me wrong. We had many many offers from people to help with the kids and I know it would have worked out otherwise, I am just thankful for the way it did happen because it was so easy. We even left the van at home with the carseats for Lana and Nathan since we only had Ava with us. When we got to the Doctors office we were seen right away. The Dr checked Ava and couldn't find anything visibly wrong wth her. He checked her ears, nose, throat, etc. making sure it wasn't an ear infection or anything. He said since she was under 8 weeks old, newborns aren't able to fight infections like older kids/adults are. So they were going to have to run tests to find out what was causing the fever, and hook her up to antibiotic's through IV for at least 48 hours. When he said this I immediately started getting tears in my eyes, because obviously, I knew that IV meant hospital. Our Dr said he would call Kosair and let them know that we were coming to be admitted right away. So we headed across town. Of course by this time it was about 5:30 on a friday evening so traffic was horrible. We got to the ER at Kosairs and they took us back right away. By the time we got to the hospital Ava's fever was now 102.5, and this was on tylenol. I thought it would take a while to get things going, but no. They took us to a procedure room and got her IV in right away. A total of about 6 Drs, nurses, and Aids were in this tiny procedure room doing work on our little baby girl. They started drawing blood, urine, and did the spinal tap. They then sent us to another room to wait. I thought since we were being admitted that we would get a room right away, I had no idea we would be in the ER for 6 hours. They came back and told us that Ava's white blood cell count in her spinal fluid was extremely high. They said based on this they were assuming she had meningitus. She would now need to be in ICU, and also in isolation because she is considered extremely contagious. From this time on Drs, nurses, and Aids could only come into our room with masks, gowns, and gloves on. Ava was also taken to Xray, and they ran additional tests on her, they swabbed fluid from her eyes, nose, mouth, and other areas. After much more waiting it was about 10pm. Remember that we were planning on going to dinner after the pediatricians office. By 10pm we were starving. Josh asked one of the nurses if there were any restaurants close. I wish we would have asked sooner because little did we know that there is a McDonalds on the first floor. Best idea ever. Josh went upstairs to get us dinner from McDonalds, and it was the best McDonalds we have ever tasted. Finally at about 12am they said they were ready to take us to ICU. Ava was hooked up to moniters and her IV and since she is too little for a regular bed they had me hold her in the bed. So, I got a ride up to the 4th floor. We were then taken to the PICU (Pediatric Intensive care unit) and taken to our room.

Ava right when she was put in the PICU

Little trooper

This (above) was when she was about at the worst we saw her, you can tell she is not feeling well

She was hooked up to moniters (3 on her chest and one on her foot) the entire time to moniter her heart rate, oxygen, etc.

She was in the PICU for 36 hours and when her fever finally came down (with out tylenol) she was able to go to a regular floor. Above is when she was in a regular room, still hooked up to a bunch of moniters and an IV. Turns out she did have Viral Meningitis, and though it IS pretty serious, especially for such a tiny girl, it would have been a lot more serious if it would have been Bacterial Meningitis. So we are so very thankful. We thank God that our little girl is ok, and we praise Him for this experience and appreciate our loved ones even more because of it! We thank God that through this we were not along, we had SO many people praying for Ava and praying for our strength through this. We will never know just how many people were praying. I thank God that in situations of uncertainity it draws us so much closer to Him, and forces us to put our trust in Him! To God be the Glory for everything He has done! I am also so thankful to have my baby girl at home! We are also so thankful for my parents for keeping Lana and Nathan the whole time we were in the hospital, and to all of our friends who visited, brought us meals, and even brought us clothes from home. It helps SO much having so many great friends and family who support us and are there for us!

Below is the last day we were in the hospital, feeling much better. We were there from friday evening, until Monday afternoon!

Finally, ready to go home from the hospital!

Lana started preschool last Wednesday, the 7th! She will go 3 days a week for 3 hours! I think this is going to be such a great experience for her, as well as get her ready for Kindergarden next year!

Lana Grace 4 1/2 years old! Such a big girl!

A couple weeks before school started we got a phone call from Lana's teacher, as well as a packet in the mail with a list of all of the school supplies Lana needed for Preschool. Lana LOVED going to the store and picking out all of her school supplies. She needed a back pack large enough to carry a binder, of course Lana picked out a Princess back pack. She loves carrying her back pack to school. Other items on her list were: folder, 6 glue sticks, 2 inch binder, clorox wipes, kleenex's, paper towels, crayons, markers, scissors, and ziplock bags.

Had to snap another picture as we were ready to walk out the door. She looked like such a big girl, and wanted to carry all of her supplies herself!

Outside of her school

And at her classroom. Lana's teacher's name is Alana, and she is great! Lana has now gone 4 days and she LOVES it, she has already learned a lot and had a ton of fun!