Recognizing blessings

As I reflect back on this week, all I can think of is how immensely myself and family have been blessed. I have to write them down to really recognize how blessed I am and to always remember.

Caleb had been projectile vomiting for a couple weeks and was slowly becoming dehydrated. I kept an eye on his pee-pee diapers and some other signs of dehydration in infants that I learned in nursing school (like the soft spot, or fontanelle, being sunken in, the skin turgor not being as elastic, etc) and I really think that because of my nursing degree, we were able to get Caleb the care that he needed. I have never been so grateful for that knowledge. I can't think of a time when my education would be more important than this moment. Blessing? definitely.

I haven't mentioned this before, but we have recently received a huge blessing. After 4 weeks, 3 interviews, multiple emails, 1 background check, we found out that Tristan was hired on at Intel with a job position that Tristan was very excited about (we found out on the day that Caleb was born, actually). Tristan has been working at Intel for the past 6 months, but through an outside contracting agency. Which means we spent a lot of money on health insurance each month. Well since having been hired on at Intel, we have the BEST insurance through Kaiser. Literally a day after we got the insurance, was the day we went to the ER for our little man. And the whole time we were at the hospital I kept thinking, "I'm so glad we have Kaiser". We probably saved ourselves thousands of dollars. At least. Blessing? I think so.

This is when we were first admitted into the pediatric unit. Caleb was tired after the ultrasound because it was right during his nap time. Can you tell how tired he was? Haha

Another benefit of Kaiser is that they are all in a network, and healthcare professionals communicate with each other within it--it makes for much more efficient patient care. On Tuesday we got a phone call from the radiological services to reschedule the ultrasound we had set up for Caleb. This ultrasound was set up for TWO WEEKS after the ER visit, and this radiological tech was calling to say that we needed to come in that day (Tuesday) for the ultrasound because pyloric stenosis could progress quickly. His original ultrasound wasn't set up until this coming Wednesday (April 3rd). I am so grateful that this guy was able to pick up this mistake and recognize the urgency in Caleb's condition (that at this point, Tristan and I were the only ones that thought he had it). Blessing? No doubt about it.

At the ultrasound, the technician and the pediatric radiologist could tell right away that something wasn't right. They had Caleb drink pedialyte and were watching to see how quickly it would pass from the stomach to the small intestine through the pyloric sphincter. Normally, they say, it goes through quickly. But they never once saw it pass. He was chugging the pedialyte an ounce a minute because he was so hungry. Poor guy. They called the pediatric surgeon right away. We were admitted into the hospital not even an hour after the ultrasound. I'm grateful they were able to pick up on the gravity of the situation and get Caleb taken care of as soon as possible. We were blessed by other people's knowledge because I definitely couldn't see anything when they were looking at the ultrasound.

He didn't seem to mind the IV at all. They had it wrapped up tight so he hardly noticed it. Although he did try to eat it a few times. He just wanted something to give him sustenance, but to no avail.

 

The surgery wasn't until the next day (Wednesday, March 27th) at around 2pm. I hadn't nursed him since noon on Tuesday and his last bit of anything was the pedialyte at 3. He was so hungry and I had to keep him calm for 24 hours. They put an IV in him so he wouldn't get any more dehydrated, but that doesn't make someone any less hungry. This was the hardest part of the whole thing--not feeding a little infant. But let me tell you, he is seriously our angel baby. He is SUCH a good baby and did SO good without being able to eat for over 24 hours. He would get upset, but I could always calm him. The hour before the surgery and the hour after the surgery were the hardest because he was getting a little fed up with this no-eating-nonsense and was hard to calm down. Thank goodness he takes a paci, because that was the only thing working. Tristan and I decided that if this was Ellie, it would have been so stressful because that girl did not like going more than an hour and a half without food (she was a very high-maintenance newborn, to put it kindly). So thank you Caleb for being an angel.

 

My calm little guy. Tristan snagged this shot without my knowing. This was right before we went down for surgery.

 

So this whole not-being-able-to-feed-your-newborn-baby left me feeling... full. Very full, haha. But the hospital let me use their awesome electrical pump and it was wonderful (I only have a manual one and don't use it very often). Most of the time I would pump 8 oz and at one point pumped 12! I'm grateful for a good milk supply. Also, because I'm a nursing mom, the hospital provided me with 3 meals a day. Cool, less money for me to spend at the cafeteria. Blessings only a mom could understand.

  

Being close to family has been a huge blessing. Ellie stayed two nights with Tristan's parents and had a blast with them! Tristan's sister watched Ellie during the day when Lesa had to work. We were well taken care of, that's for sure. Can't thank them enough; we never once worried about how she was doing. We had an out-pooring of prayers, thoughts, and concerns from friends and family and really appreciate all of their prayers. I literally felt them throughout our whole hospital stay.

So grateful for my boys. (I've wanted to say "my boys" as soon as I found out we were having a boy)

 

This was the pediatric waiting room where we stayed during the hour long surgery.  We were the only ones there.

We watched Rudy. It was the only appropriate movie they had; all the other ones were rated "R". In a pediatric waiting room... hmmm. 

When we were in the hospital, I didn't get much sleep. It's ironic because a hospital is supposed to be a place of healing, but how can one heal without any rest? I slept on this little bench next to the window--I guess it was better than the floor. I asked Tristan why they don't put queen sized beds in hopsitals; everyone knows people sleep over. Well I realized the next day why they don't do that...because those that stay overnight are so exhausted that they'll sleep on anything that isn't the ground. True statement. When we were discharged on Thursday I was so tired. I maybe got 4 hours of sleep that night (and NOT consecutively). We all went to bed at 9, Ellie slept 12 hours, and Caleb slept 7 hours straight, then another 4 hours after I fed him. It was such a blessing. And every night since then he's done the same (even 8 hours straight). Tristan and I have been waking up before the kiddos! That's crazy talk!! And also a blessing.

We came in contact with lots of nurses, really great nurses. I am currently working on my Bachelors in nursing and will have to do some clinical rotations in the coming semesters. Well, I was able to talk to a lot of them and get information about how I can do them through Kaiser, one nurse even gladly volunteered to be my preceptor. She was an awesome nurse too--I would be honored to work with her. But anyway, if I was able to do clinicals with Kaiser, it could possibly lead to some great opportunities for my future. They have so many options that I can do as a mom, like only a couple shifts a week or month, etc. To add a little extra income, while keeping up my skills and nursing license, blessings. [Let me just add, I don't want anyone to think I'm a bad mom if I'm working--we all have our personal reasons for working, not working, etc. It's important to be understanding of everyone's individual situations. Okay--off my soap box].

The picture on the left is after he was waking up from the anesthesia. I was going to take a picture of him right when we first got there when he was still under, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. It was too sad a sight to see. They told us, "don't touch him or talk to him", how sad, right?? I'm pretty sure it's because they wanted him to wake up on his own without any external stimulation. On the right, you can see his two little incision marks. He also had one on his belly button, but his diaper was covering it. Also you may notice he's a little jaundiced due to not being able to eat or keep anything down. It has since gone away.

Because I'm in school, I've missed quite a few assignments. My teachers have been amazing in extending deadlines and understanding my situation (especially my nursing instructors). This is what happens when you attend such an amazing university. Blessed.

So despite all the craziness that was this past week, I can't help but feel so grateful for it. Caleb is now feeling good, getting the nutrients that he needs and I am not afraid of feeding him and being anxious about him throwing everything up (I hated being fearful of feeding him--that's the worst). He had to take my breastmilk from a bottle for about 48 hours after surgery (because they wanted exact measurements of how much he was getting) and has started nursing again without any issues. Wahoo! 

And of course, today is Easter. Our Savior is Risen. My Redeemer lives. The greatest blessing of all.