longest weekend (and post) of my life

On Friday, Brock wasn't acting like his normal self. He was sleeping a lot and crying out in pain at random times. When he had a fever at like 5 p.m., I decided to call the doctor.

I had an appointment scheduled for 7:10. My sister Vannessa (miraculously) happened to be up at my house, hanging out. So she stayed with the other boys while I took Brock in. When I changed his diaper before leaving to the appointment I noticed his belly button was starting to look a little red and kind of bumping out.

Let me give you a couple reasons I was extra nervous for a basic sick baby check:

1) Seth was gone at AP Camp until late Saturday afternoon.

2) An 8 year old girl in our Stake had suddenly passed away Tuesday after having a fever and then some seizures. She was otherwise very healthy and it all happened very quickly. Her exact cause of death is unknown.

I took Brock in. While in the waiting room, he kept giving me the cutest smiles, which he hadn't done all day. I kept having the horrible thought that he was giving me some final smiles to remember him by. I had to constantly wipe away tears and tell myself I was overreacting. It was torture.

I calmed myself down and was told he had an ear infection and an umbilical hernia. I was given a prescription for the ear infection and was told that the hernia would go away and heal on it's own. I felt okay and started getting Brock dressed. Then the P.A. came back in and said he wanted to have the doctor double check his belly. She came in, pressed down on it and said I needed to take him to Primary Children's. It wasn't a hernia but she wasn't sure what it was.

More unknown. More tears.

I texted Vannessa and she immediately said she was fine staying with the boys. She was an angel through it all. Then she called my mom, who immediately drove to the hospital with my dad and sister, Linda. I have the B.E.S.T. family!!

This has already become too long, so if you're still reading it, I'm impressed. I really am trying to condense. But warning - there's still much more...

My dad gave Brock and me a blessing. Such comfort.

Many doctors looked at Brock. Talked with each other. Explained things to us that made no sense. Or maybe I was just too nervous to really pay attention.

It seemed they really didn't know exactly what it was. But they never made it seem like it was something serious. I was still expecting to be going home that night.

Then they started putting IVs in and drawing blood. One in his head that no blood came out of. One in his foot that they were able to get what they needed. Then blood in one of the tubes from that clotted so they needed to redraw some blood. Awful.

Then suddenly one doctor mentioned Brock would be staying in the hospital a couple days while they monitored him and gave him antibiotics to see if that would clear everything up. I was caught off guard.

Lots more tears. I felt like such a baby.

I remembered that on Saturday the parents of the young men up at camp with Seth would be going up. I contacted one of the moms on Facebook with my phone since I had none of their phone numbers. I asked her to call me before leaving up to the camp. That was after midnight. I had little hope she'd get it before having to go up.

Brock and I finished checking in at 2:30. I nursed him and then passed out on the fabulously comfortable pull out bed. He woke up at 6, hungry. While feeding him I noticed my phone's battery symbol was flashing. Now even if the mom did get the message, my phone would be dead and there'd be no way to get in touch with anyone. But she called at 6:45 and my phone worked just great. She was going to give Seth the message. Right after that, I tried calling Vannessa but the call failed cause there was no reception in the room (and I never had it again). And then immediately my phone died. A little miracle so Seth could come down soon.

Seth got the message, left camp early, made the 2.5 hour drive and got to the hospital around 3. All the while Brock's belly button was looking worse and worse. It looked extremely painful but he didn't seem to really be in pain.

The doctors made the decision he needed to have surgery that night to drain it. It wasn't a very invasive surgery and would only last about 30 minutes. But he still needed to have general anesthesia. Terrifying. He's only 2 and a half months old!! That also meant he couldn't eat for over 5 hours beforehand. That was so hard. He's still used to eating every 2-3 hours. Guess that explains the chubby cheeks.

The surgery went excellent. As soon as we were able to go see him he was already waking up. We took him straight up to the room and he finally ate. Or drank, whichever you prefer to call it.

He has a drain tube left sticking out of his belly button to be sure to get rid of any other infection that may continue forming inside before the antibiotics did their thing. He had to continue using strong antibiotics through an IV so we had to stay until Tuesday morning. I was looking and smelling fabulous! 

Every single nurse that checked on him, put in an IV or drew blood commented on how incredibly strong he was. It always took at least 2 - sometimes 3 - people to hold him down to do what they needed to. He also moves and wiggles way too much. He kept messing up the IVs. All in all, he had to get an IV in his head, one in right arm, two in left arm and one in each foot. So so sad.

He has a follow up tomorrow with the surgeon to make sure everything is healing well and looking good.

 Right now he's just about as good as new.