B and I were blessed with the opportunity to extend our Colorado adventure a few days…
As C and his family headed back to Texas, B and I headed to Denver to visit my college roommate L, husband J and brand new baby girl, L!
The plan was to have some relaxing time, help L with the baby etc.
Let’s just say that things didn’t go quite as planned…but God is good and His grace covered our entire visit, which turned out to be quite sweet!
Upon arriving in Denver, B’s fever (as C mentioned in an earlier post) continued to be quite high. We were able to be seen my L’s pediatrician who encouraged us to continue pushing fluids, Motrin and Tylenol, which we did. B wasn’t much interested in eating or drinking and the medicines didn’t do a fantastic job of coaxing him back to health…
L and J did a fantastic job hosting us, they were so gracious to help B feel better and even built him a fascinating backyard camp fire to watch….
To date, C and I have only been able to pin point one major fault on B’s behalf…he doesn’t let us know when he doesn’t feel good (until it is almost too late)! In the campfire photos his temperature was between 104-105 degrees, though you would never know with his giggles and dimpled smile…
About 12:00am on Tuesday morning (the morning after the campfire) I went into frantic first time mommy mode. I woke B up to give him a dose of motrin, per the pediatrician’s suggesting...I waited about 45 minutes to check his temperature all while he started to wheeze and struggle to breathe somewhat (as he slept), when I checked his temperature (thinking that the medicine had to have kicked in) the thermometer read 105.6 degrees, and it was at that point that I called C in tears and went to wake L and J up from their precious sleep to see where the nearest emergency room was located….
L and J gave me directions and J was gracious to drive B and I down the street to the hospital to get B checked in (again).
When we got to the hospital, I couldn’t even remember B’s birthday…at one point I told the triage nurse that he was born in 1983!!!! Needless to say, I was panicked!
We made it through triage and were admitted to a room. I laid with B on the hospital bed, trying to keep him calm which was a challenge seeing that I was not emulating calmness at all to him.
The nurses tried to get B to drink…to no avail while the doctor ordered tests and x-rays to try to determine what in the world B’s little body was fighting.
The hardest part of our stay was being asked to hold B down while the nurses started an IV line in B’s little hand…B screamed and I wept as that nurses worked, I can still close my eyes and see his frantic little face looking at me as if he was thinking “Mom, do you know what is going on, how could you let this happen to me?”
After securing the line, the nurses pumped fluids into B’s little dehydrated body. The doctor determined that he was fighting some type of virus in his lungs (not to mention that the altitude probably wasn’t helping the situation).
I laid with B as we waited for two bags of fluid to be pumped into his little veins, he slept on and off as I tried to keep my cool, missed c and tried to stay balanced on the hospital bed (B is quite the bed hog!).
About an hour into our stay, a nurse came in with a sweet surprise, I think I was more honored than B was. The surprise was a hand knit blanket made by volunteers participating in an auxiliary program called Project Linus (www.projectlinus.org). The little hand sewn tag on the blanket reads “providing security through blankets”. I humbly admit that this sweet little gift may have provided me with more warmth and security in the hospital than it did for B.
We were discharged about six o’clock the next morning when J was gracious to come pick B and I up. My original plan was to help L take care of her baby in the middle of the night, I never anticipated that I would be staying up with mine in a hospital!
The fluids seemed to do their job and with the help of motrin and lots of sleep (sometimes till 10:00am) and lots of prayer, B’s little body was able to fight off the virus and finally started feeling better later on in the week.
The next day, was pretty low key. L, the new baby momma and baby L napped because of their midnight feeding schedule. B and I napped because of our hospital adventure. Later in the day we enjoyed some pool time with L’s in-laws…
Watching B at the pool was such a gift, it was at this point that he seemed to be feeling much better.
Baby L even dawned a swimsuit for our pool outing!
On Friday, B was almost completely back to normal (after almost 5 days of high and uncontrollable fever)…L and J were gracious to pack up the care and take B and I to Boulder so that we could have one last true “Colorado” experience…
B loved walking on Pearl Street, he was quite fascinated by the fountains…I was most festinated by the people watching (it was a little bit different than good old conservative Cowtown where we reside)…
On our adventure to Boulder, we were able to enjoy some sweet fellowship and tasty food before heading back to Texas…
All in all it was a good extension of our trip…it was quite a challenge but I feel like the Lord taught me a whole lot…I found myself several times clinging to 1 Corinthians 14:33 which reads “For God is not a God of disorder but of peace.” B’s medical ordeal felt like total disorder, it was so encouraging to be reminded that God was and is in control and that He desires our hearts to be consumed with peace, not with fear or disorder.
Praise God for the lessons He teaches us!
Praise God for carrying our little family through this trial.
Praise God for friends who walk through life with us.
Praise God for new babies!
Happy Monday.
Be blessed.
