Let's Hear it for the Eag!

Shabby Baby by Addi & Kinsi made its debut this week. One of my best friends Eag (Alisa) and her sister spent countless hours dreaming up the designs, picking the fabric, making samples, and sitting through meetings galore to come up with the ADORABLE little girls clothing line. Even with working part time and mothering Addi Girl she pulled it off. The dresses are made in the USA and are really cute. Way to go Eag! Here is a direct link to their site so you can buy some stuff:

http://www.shabbyapple.com/c-16-shabby-baby-dresses.aspx

If that doesn't work just go to www.shabbyapple.com and click on shabby baby.

Finally, a Breath of Fresh Air

After all the sickness, we jumped at the chance to get outside and see what was going on in the real world. Even though it was pouring rain, we decided to hit up the aquarium. I know, not the best idea to take a kid who's been sick for over a month out in the rain. My only explanation is cabin fever. Here's our skinny little guy with some sea friends.

Lobster Attack from Uncle Jeff. Pronounced Uncle "deaf"

While Luke is starting to realize that uncle "deaf" is pretty fun, his real favorite is still Grandpa. Pronounced "pah-paw." No little boy has ever loved a grandpa so much! If we were all on a boat in shark infested waters Luke wouldn't hesitate to toss Dan & I overboard in a second if it meant he could have his pah-paw around all the time.

Weeks Three Through Five and a Half

Here is what we look like when Luke is a sweaty ball of Fever Mcgee.

The rest of Week 2: So after having slept for a few measly hours from "US Aiways non-flight extravaganza" we went to Luke's doc appointment and she's all, "oh stop giving him motrin because it will upset his stomach" and we're all, this kid has been taking 4 way stronger medicines since he was 6 weeks old are you sure you want to take him off motrin? and she's all "yeah" so we followed the docters orders.

Week 3: Luke wakes up screaming like he is being stabbed at 3 in the am. Always pleasant. He wouldn't stop screaming and he felt warm but it he was acting normal in the morning. It was Wednesday and my mom watches him on Wednesdays and all I could think about was getting some sleep after our week of barfing in Philadelphia so I sent him to grandmas house. Then Dan calls me and is like, "I think Choobie is sick, you should come get him" so I drive up to grandmas and he WAS sick. Worse than he was in Philly. He was just a limp, listless little rag doll with NO color that would whimper if you touched him or moved him. Considering that our little guy has been a whirlwind of energy and movement (he doesn't even stop moving in his sleep) it was scary to see him like this. So I call the doc and he's all, "you need to take him to childrens ER Right now. I think he has a blocked bowel and it requires emergency surgery so don't let him eat or drink anything." After I pick my jaw up off the floor, doctor goes on to explain that with his GI history and his illness over the last two weeks that his intestines were turning inside out like a tube sock. Awesome. So down to childrens we go, seriously FREAKING out at having to put our kid through surgery again. After five hours in the ER, a rectal exam, several x-rays, it was determined that he had 3 large stools blocking his bowels and that all of his intestines were filled with poo. I was yelling at the doctors saying, "are you sure that poop can make someone this sick?! I just can't believe that poop can make someone this sick. I think it's something else!!!" But they chose to ignore the crazy mother and give him an enema. An hour later nothing happened. So they gave him ANOTHER enema, this one much stronger. About 20 minutes later the 3 tennis ball sized poops came out and then THE MOST poop ever. We just had to keep putting towels under him and switch them out when they were full. There was quite the pile on the floor when we left. So, after him being catatonic all day, when he finished pooping his color came back, he took out his binky and said, "poop poop" Dan & I were busting up. He was tired but started to talk and throw medical supplies on the floor and walk around so we were satisfied that he had been cured and we took him home.

Week 4: His fever never went down from 104 after we left childrens the week before but we kept pumping him with stupid ol tylenol like the doctor said and getting his hair wet and other things to try to cool him down. Then he woke up with the murder screams again this time at 10 in pm and wouldn't stop screaming and writhing around even in our bed. Fever up to 105. So back to childrens ER for the second time. Boo-yaw. This time it was only a 4 hour stay. They dosed him with motrin & tylenol. They said he should've been on motrin all last week and why did we take him off of it. Hmmm. Good job our pediatrician. Then after several doctors came in to look at him and read his charts and have us tell them the whole month long saga of sickness, they colaborated and determined it was an ear infection. Even though he had dozens of doctors and nurses check his ears in the last month. yeah right. I believe it was just an easy way to perscribe anitibiotics. I didn't care though. Finally after a month we got some drugs!

Week5: Fever still not breaking. Hovering at 103/104. Seriously?! Went to the doctors office and she sent us from there BACK to childrens! The 3rd time in 3 weeks. She wanted chest xrays to rule out pnuemonia and a bazillion blood tests to rule out all sorts of scary things like auto immune disease, cancer, etc. You know the pretty common stuff. I'm so sure! Bottom line, she didn't know what was causing the fever, obviously some kind of infection and she wanted to find out what. So, got the call at 6:30 in the pm that night with the test results. Thank God the white blood cell counts came back in normal range & their distribution was normal as well. That's all I wanted to hear, "no cancer". But the other news was that despite all the tests they ran on his blood, they were only able to determine that he had an infection. They couldn't tell us what was causing the infection nor it's location in his little body. So, we just had to keep pumping him full of antibiotics and wait it out. By the end of the week his fever was in the low hundreds and he was running around like a wild man again tearing the house apart. After 5 weeks of sickness we were SO happy to have our little boy back again. Heavy Duty Antibiotics rule.

Boycott US Airways

All who read this blog must join us in boycotting US Airways. Their motto should be "Fly with Us...if you want a horrible experience." What follows is an account of our attempt to make the return flight home from Philadelphia:

So, after making it through "Pukefest 2007" and "The Ultra Runs plus some Barf 2008," we had to say goodbye to Nana and Carl and Jordan and Tess. They dropped us off at the airport where we checked in our bags (full of christmas goodies) and carseat (ah the joys of flying with a child) and headed to the beast of a security line. Once in line, Luke thought it would be the best time ever to have a meltdown. On a good day, this child gives a whole new meaning to the term meltdown, but a sick Lukey Boy Meltdown was a scene of epic proportions. I know people were thinking, "gosh I hope they're not on my flight." But what can you do in a slow moving security line for 45 minutes? Apparently when you are one year old and sick, having your coat and shoes removed by your mom is worse than someone murdering you. Just picture a flipping out, flapping, kicking, snotting, and coughing ball of struggling parents & kid. We finally retrieved all seventeen of our little grey bins from the conveyor, (after 2 of them had to be sent thru again) and re-packed the diaper bag and 3 carry-ons. Needless to say, redressing and shoeing the Choob did not occur.

We made it to our gate a few minutes before boarding time. 30 minutes later the flight attendant informed us that our plane was having mechanical problems and that they were going to put us on another plane. Off we go to another gate and board plane #2. At this point we were a little bothered but glad that we wouldn't have to wait around any longer while they fixed plane#1. On a bright note, boarding the plane first is one of the perks of flying with a small child. As we set foot on plane #2, we passed row after row of empty seats. Then I saw a very large, cranky looking older man that is no doubt sitting in our row. I was hoping and praying that we would be seated next to an understanding mother or grandmother in case Luke puked all over her, so I was troubled when I saw our beast of a seat partner. When we stood next to him and said, "those are our seats" he mouthed to us, "sorry, I'm deaf." My first thought was, there is a God afterall. What are the odds that on the entire plane, the couple with the screaming child would be seated next to the deaf man? Boo-yaw!

My excitement dwindled after we sat on plane #2 for over TWO HOURS at the gate. That's right, we hadn't even pulled away from the gate and we had used like half of the airplane toys to entertain sick child mcgee. A hush came over the plane when the captain came on and said that we might not make it into San Diego tonite because San Diego airport has a curfew and you can't land after 11 in the pm. What?!! So I write deaf guy a note telling him we might not get into San Diego tonite and his expression was similar to mine and everyone else's on the plane. About 30 minutes later the captain came back on and said, "OK everybody we are going to put you on another plane". At this point I start bawling my eyes out as I am carrying my sick crying kid off plane #2 and toward the gate to get on plane #3. Everyone was staring at our haggard little family as we struggled to yet another gate. After we sat for a while at gate #3 waiting for plane #3, the gate attendant came on the loudspeaker and said we had to move to....you guessed it....another gate! Seriously, are you kidding me?!!! So I start crying again and pick up my kid and mosey on down to gate #4 to wait to board plane #3.

We get on our THIRD plane of the night and nestle in next to deaf guy. I noticed that once the plane was boarded, a seat opened up in the row directly in front of us. So, we convince the 2 other girls sitting there to swap seats with us so we could have an extra seat. I was all excited that we'd have an extra seat to use for the baby on a totally full flight. Just as we were taxiing out to the runway, a flight attendant came and said, "Sorry, I want to sleep on this flight so I am going to take the extra seat." I have never wanted to hurt a person in uniform so bad! So, that left me with sick, way overtired baby, back on my lap for the 5 hour flight home. After sitting on the runway for about 45 min, the captain came on the loudspeaker and said that we were now number ELEVEN in the line of planes to take off so it would be about 30 more minutes. There I sat, silently sobbing in my seat. I swear I saw Dan tear up too.

Long story comes to an end with us landing in San Diego at 1:30 in the am San Diego time. That is 4:30 in the am Philladelphia time. (apparently the airport made an exception to the curfew when US Airways told them about the fiasco) We made what should have been a five hour flight in just over 12 hours of gate switching and plane hopping madness. That night, we got what little sleep we could until we had to wake up for Luke's 8:30 doctor appointment that morning.