Xander's Scary Trip Pt. 3

On Wednesday, April 22nd, Xander was feeling much better. Dr. Hill came in and saw him in the morning and said we could go home.

You could tell Xander was better becasue he was happier and because he REALLY hated being tied down to machines. Luckily we were able to take him off the oxygen early, but we still had the super strong band-aids stuck on his face. And they weren't coming off easy.

Xander was really restless that morning. You could tell he wanted to go. We spent more time in the hall that day than in the room. Xander was busy flirting with all the nurses and it got him two popsicles. Who says he doesn't know how to work it!

After a lunch that Xander didn't want to eat, it was finally time to get ready to go. The IV was unhooked and we got him most of the way dressed, but we had to wait to get the needle out and the splint off.

As luck would have it, we had the same nurse that helped discharge us when Xander was born discharge us that day! She was amazed at how big he had gotten and was a good help.

When we got home around 1:30 Grandma Nordmeyer was waiting for us. Xander was more than happy to be home and spent a lot of time running around, making sure all his toys were still working.

One thing that we had to do was (and still is) use the nebulizer on Xander. With Tracy or I, it's not his favorite thing, but everyone else says he does great with them.

That afternoon after grandma left, we took Xander to the park because we thought he deserved it. He ran around and had a great time playing on the slides and he was tired that night.

Though he didn't sleep through the night, he slept good and was happy to be home.

Xander's Scary Trip Pt. 2

After getting about an hour and a half of sleep that night, Haley and I made our way to the hospital so she could see Xander before she went to school. Neither Tracy or I went to work that day because we knew that being in such a confined space would not make Xander happy.

Xander's day started off a bit rough because neither him nor Tracy got much sleep that night. He did take a nap with me while Tracy ran home to get ready for the day.

Most of Tuesday was spent trying to make Xander comfortable. Luckily we had the laptop and Xander was able to watch his two Handy Manny DVD's several times.

Xander really hates being tied to anything and the oxygen mask and IV made him mad. They had used special bandaids to keep the oxygen mask on his face and at one point he pulled them off, which really hurt. He was even more upset when they put a new set on.

Because he's so little and they didn't think he would be able to keep the IV straight, they had to tape his hand to a splint. That bothered him because he couldn't use his right hand for anything. I think he poked himself in the eye more than once trying to rub his face.

Xander's one saving grace was they let us take him for walks up and down the hall, but we had to keep the IV stand with us all the time. It's a real challenge keeping up with him as he would be walking and then suddenly break into a sprint. We spent a lot of time in the halls, but it helped keep him happy.

About 4:30 that afternoon Jerry came to visit. There wasn't much he could do to make Xander happy, but then again, there wasn't much any of us could do.

Haley went home after a supper of Taco John's and Hardee's to get ready for the night. I stuck around till about 9:30 and Xander started to tire. We had hoped to get out, but once the afternoon hit, we knew we were in for another night.

This time we put the other side of the crib down so Tracy could lay and keep a hand on Xander, something that seems to calm him. It was a long night for everyone because I felt guilty being at home, but there wasn't much I could do.

Luckily the doctor's said Xander was doing better and we could hopefully go home on Wednesday.

Xander's Scary Trip Pt.1

On Tuesday morning at about 1:30, Tracy and I did something I never thought we would be doing.

We took Xander to the emergency room.

Xander had been a little more crabby than ususal on Monday night, and never really went to sleep that night. I had sat up with Xander for a while and finally brought him to our bed to lay with Tracy for a while. That night, though only a few days earlier, is really a blur. All Tracy and I can remember is he started throwing up. A lot.

The first one got Tracy good. I mean GOOD. To the point that she had to get a completely new outfit and we had to change Xander's pajamas. We didn't give Xander anymore milk after that, thinking that had something to do with it.

We got him some water and while he drank that, he got sick AGAIN, and both Xander and Tracy were changing clothes for the second time that night and I had a much larger load of clothes than originally.

This whole time Tracy and I went back and forth about what to do. While we were worried about Xander, we also didn't want to get up and go in for nothing. It was then that we realized how ragged his breathing was and finally made the decision to go to the emergency room.

After pulling on some clothes and getting ready to go, I took Xander from Tracy and he sealed the deal by throwing up for the third time, this time on me. Granted he didn't get me nearly as bad as he had gotten himself and Tracy.

When we got to the emergency room they started doing tests and the pain began. First they hooked his big right toe to a monitor that checked blood pressure and how much oxygen was in the blood. The oxygen levels were consistently low which made them decide to do something that had tears in both mine and Tracy's eyes.

They wanted to do bloodwork. Which meant Xander was going to get poked. I don't care if they stick me with needles and I would have given anything that night to have it be me, but it had to be Xander. He knew something was happening when they started tying off his arm and started to whimper when they felt it. Xander let out a blood-curdling scream when the needle went in and it almost made me cry.

That wasn't even near the end because after the bloodwork they wanted Xrays. This one really made me sad because I know how much I hate being confined and the contraption they put him in to hold him still was straight out of a midevil torture chamber.

It is a clear pastic thing that buckles together, holding his arms above him. His poor body was nearly too big to fit and his little cheeks were pressed against the plastic. I really think he thought this was worse than the needle and I had tears in my eyes as he was in it for two Xrays.

Eventually the doctor decided he needed to be admitted with Reactive Airway Disease and they needed to give him an IV.

This was worse than the bloodwork. They put the needle in and then taped his arm to a splint to hold it steady. He cryed and tried to move his arm to wipe away the tears and found he couldn't even use his fingers.

We finally made it up to the room, battered and hooked to an IV machine. They wanted to give him a nebulizer treatment and he was to wore out to even fight it.

Tracy stayed with him and it was 4:30 before I even made it home.

This long night was only the beginning of our long ordeal.

A Swinging Good Time

On Tuesday, April 14th, we had the nicest day of the year so Xander, mom and I headed to the park to have some fun.

Xander loves anything to do with being outside and the park is no exception. As soon as he saw the park he wanted out of the stroller, but he didn't want to walk. He wanted mom to carry him. When we got to the park there were a lot of other people there and Xander didn't like the idea of sharing the play things. When he was on the steps to the slide, if another kid touched them he would turn around and stare at them until they got off the steps.

We went down the slide, with daddy only catching at the bottom, played on the rockers and after a quick spin on the tire swings, we finally got to what he really wanted, the toddler swing.

Xander loves to swing and really doesn't want to come out of them when it's time to go. Eventually he had enough fun and we headed back home.

I really hope we keep having such nice days because Xander and all of us really love them.

15 Fast Months

It's hard to believe that Xander is now 15 months old. He turned 15 months on the 10th, which was last Friday.

I was doing so good for his first year keeping this updated and I've resolved to try to blog at least once a week from now on. Xander is changing so fast that we want you to know what's going on with him. We have some great pictures that I'll be uploading soon. If I don't update fast enough for you, call me on it - most of you have my email and my cell, so be sure to keep me true.

I'll be highlighting the major highlights of the past couple months soon to get everybody back up to speed.

1 Year Dr. Visit

Xander had his 1 year Dr visit last Friday. He is quite the big boy. He weighs 23 pounds and is 32 inches tall. This puts him in the 60% for weight and 95th for height! So hopefully he will be a tall, slender little boy! I am guessing since he has found his sisters love for cheetos we will see the weight gain coming on strong in the next few months! We were happy to find out that Xander had finally gotten over his month long ear infection and was a healthy baby! Unfortunately this meant that it was time to get 4 more shots! Both Xander and I were ver sad but he did very well and even slept well that night! Keep your fingers crossed that we can get thru the next few months without getting any more illnesses!

1 Year Old!

It is so hard to believe that our baby is one year old!
The time has flown by the past few months and unfortunately Alex
have been unable to keep up to speed with everything that has been going on.
So has granted me access to write and help him out with year #2!
We will try to download some of Xander's first birthday pictures for everyone to see.
Since Xander didn't destroy his little birthday cake like we had hoped we decided to give him
a second chance. Last Saturday Alex and I bought another cake and set up Alex's backdrop and lighting and took some more pictures of him with it! He loved the balloons but still would not stick his hands into the cake. Guess he has a little bit of mom in him after all! Xander loves all of his birthday presents and we can't tell which is his favorite. It is a tough battle between the slide, Cozy Coupe and the Ball Popper! Our basement has turned into quite the toy room since I couldn't stand having every toy in my living room! Hopefully soon comes around quickly so we can move some of them outside and get the swingset up for Xander to burn some of his energy on.