I should be... sitting at church enjoying the lessons for ward conference planned by the stake presidencies.
I should be... finished with my school work for the upcoming week.
I should be... writing to our missionary son in Argentina.
I should be...
I should be...
I should be...
But I am not. Instead, I am lounging on the couch with my infant son sleeping soundly on my shoulder. I am enjoying every minute of it because life passes too quickly, and you never know what each day will bring. You plan one thing, and life brings another. We had this happen on Friday night.
Larry and I had planned on taking care of things like grocery shopping, bill-paying, and maybe a Redbox on Friday night. Instead, the bills are not paid, the cupboards are bare, and the movie came last night for Larry and the kids. I was way too tired last night to stay awake for a movie. Instead, William and I enjoyed our calming bath and nighttime rituals before crashing into bed. We had arrived home from Primary Children's Medical Center around 1:00 p.m. We had slept the afternoon away and were still ready for bed.
Here's the story... On Friday after work, I made a call to our pediatrician's office to find out the results of William's recent lab work. I had been trying all week to reach the geneticist but with no luck. So, after explaining what I needed to the triage nurse, I also mentioned to her that Will had decided to significantly decrease his food intake and had been sleeping entirely too long over the past couple of days. She made note of the symptoms and told us she would send an email to our pediatrician. Within a few minutes, one of the other pediatricians in the office gave me a call back and told us they wanted to see William within the hour. Then, as we were getting ready to leave for their office, she called back and told us to go directly to Primary Children's rather than their office. With William's metabolic disorder, they did not want to take any chances. So, at 6:30 on Friday night, we arrived at PCMC.
I believe we saw and spoke with nearly every doctor, resident, medical student and nurse in the building. Okay, so we saw a total of four doctors, five residents, one medical student, and ten nurses in the course of our 19 hours at PCMC. We definitely had our favorites! Our nurses in the infant medical surgical department were amazing! William was a flirt and even forgave them when they had to "cuff" him for his vitals or push on his tummy a dozen times. His urine output made them laugh...and we feared he was dehydrated? His laugh was contagious...nurse Liz had an instant connection with Will. His cry brought the nurses running...he was rarely unhappy while in the hospital. Larry and I slept for a total of two hours while at the hospital. We left the hospital on Saturday knowing little more than we had started with. We do know, however, that William's lab work from the 16th was within normal limits, and we are working with Dr. Warnock (our genetic metabolic specialist) to figure out what is going on in little William's body. He is back to eating and sleeping as he normally does (normal for William), but we are to keep him away from anyone who may be sick. His little body shuts down too quickly. The IV fluids helped stabilize William. We don't know what was going on. He may have had a little bug he was fighting (but with no fever or runny nose, how can you tell?).
Spending time at PCMC with a hospital full of RSV babies makes me realize how truly fragile life is. That is why I am sitting on the couch, snuggling my beautiful baby boy rather than the "should be's!"
William received his IV in the triage room at PCMC. His little veins were flat due to the lack of fluids in his body, so it was difficult for the IV team to insert the IV. They heated up his hands and feet with heating pads so that they could find a vein to use for the IV.
William sucks on the fingers and thumb of his right hand. The IV made it nearly impossible, but Will was going to try! We were always sticking his pacifier back in his mouth to prevent him from getting cotton in his mouth and ruining the IV split.
Once we put his doggy blanket on him, William settled right down in his hospital bed.
On Saturday morning, William was happy and smiling at everyone who walked through the door. Nurse Liz was definitely his favorite. She called him a flirt! I think he had even gotten used to all of the tubes and wires hooked up to him.
