The Worst Day Ever

Day 1: Friday, December 26, 2008
Cade woke up at 3:00 am throwing up. This became a constant occurance for the next 4 hours. At 7:00am I called our Dr.s' after hours answering service for advice on what to do. A nurse called me back and gave me the advice of giving him clear fluids - to be exact 1 tsp for the 1st hour and if he keeps that down double it the next hour and so on. If he can keep it all down after 12 hours he can go back to his normal diet. After the 1st 2 hours of vomiting with no fluid intake I called the Dr. to take him in. At the doctor, it's the same song and dance... "their is a nasty stomach bug going aroing... just make sure you keep him hydrated". The doctor does his exam and informs us that Cade also has an ear infection. He tells us he is going to start Cade on oral antibiotics for that. So I asked, "How is he supposed to keep down the antibiotics if he is constantly throwing up?" We then decided 3 days of antibiotic shots would do the trick for the ear infection.
After his 1st set of shots, I take Cade home for some much needed rest (for Mommy too!). At home Cade is still throwing up...just not as often.

Day 2: Saturday, December 27, 2008
We take Cade in for his 2nd day of antibiotic shots. He immediately knows where we are and I'm pretty sure knew what was about to happen. The doctor looks at his ear and says it is looking better. Cade gets a shot in each leg, screams and kicks, and we leave. Throwing up subsides for the moment, but kicks back in later that night.

Day 3: Sunday, December 28, 2008
Today we get a break from the shots. Tomorrow will be our last day of the antibiotic shots. Cade seems to be doing pretty well today. He has an appetite and even eats breakfast. This stays down for about an hour and breakfast has no longer been eaten. Diarrhea rears it's ugly head as well. It's aweful too! Cade has been drinking Gatorade this whole time and enjoys what he can keep down. What kid wouldn't love a loaded sugar drink every day?

Day 4: Monday, December 29, 2008
Today is our last day of shots. Thank you LORD! He, again, knows where we are and why we are there and cries the whole time we are in the office. Advice to any doctors out there: DO NOT MAKE A CHILD WAIT FOR AN HOUR AND A HALF WHEN THEY KNOW THEY ARE GETTING SHOTS. IT IS PURE TORTURE ON THE CHILD. Cade's ear is examined and looks good. I explain he has diarrhea and is still throwing up and has lost 3 pounds and I am told "well unfortunately we expect a weight loss when they are sick like this". First of all, Cade weighed 21 pounds when we started all of this mess and Second of all, he has NO RESERVE TO LOSE! It's like talking to a wall at that office. This is partly the reason we are switching Pediatricians. Can you tell I am frustrated? So, we leave and go home. Cade has been on a Gatorade and oatmeal diet. My friend, Angie, suggested we try something called Lactinex. It is OTC and is a Probiotic and helps with diarrhea. We picked this up and started Cade on this today. He still had diarrhea through the day - however it seemed not as watery. Maybe it was the Lactinex, maybe it was my imagination, or maybe it was because he had already expelled every ounce of water in him.

Day 5: Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Today is looking pretty good. Cade has a packet of oatmeal. He was drinking his Gatorade and keeping it down. About 10:00am I gave him some applesauce for a snack. At about 10:30am he lost his applesauce, his oatmeal, and all of his gatorade. I called the doctor's office again and talked to the nurse. Same song and dance about "give him 1 tsp of clear fluids and if he keeps that down, double it the 2nd hour. Keep that up for 12 hours and his stomach should go back to normal". Whatever. We took my Mom to the airport for my Great Uncle's funeral in GA and Cade threw up in the car on the way home. Tom came home from work to help out and when Cade and I walked in the door he threw up again. I really didn't know he had anything to throw up - but he did. A lot.

That was the final draw. Enough was enough with the doctor's advice. We changed his clothes and headed to Methodist Mansfield. This is the hospital where Cade made his Grand Entrance into this world on May 9, 2007. I was beat from crying for the last 5 days, Tom was beat from dealing with me crying, and poor Cade was just BEAT.

We waited maybe 30 minutes before we got to go back. The doctor (PA) walked in and if Cade was feeling like his normal self, he would have blown her a kiss and flirted. But he didn't. He was almost lifeless. Did I mention his lips were blue? She was maybe 30 years old and cute as a button. She ran every test she could and started Cade on an IV for hydration. This is a picture of us waiting in the room before the doctor came in.




This is Cade's IV. The nurses were so good with him. It didn't hurt that they had a pediatric nurse in the ER. He of course knew where we were and expected shots so he was screaming the whole time. The IV was an interesting process. They roll the babies up like burritos to keep them from kicking and hitting. Then they make a cast out of it all to keep the babies from pulling the IV out. Poor little Cade...


This picture kills me to look at. Even with Mommy and Daddy right there, he was terrified.

Cade has 500 cc's of IV fluid. She also gave him some Zofran in his IV for nausea. I took Zofran when I was pregnant for nausea...GREAT DRUG might I add. She did a chest x-ray and said he had an upper respiratory inection. The virus in his chest is similar to viral pneumonia - although it was not. She had some super fancy name for it, but I cannot remember the name. She said it's most likely the same virus causing all of this havoc in his body. But, with babies they generally treat the URI with antibiotics even though it is viral because in a few days it could become an infection. Better safe than sorry, right? The doctor also brought him some apple juice to see if he could keep it down before we left. He LOVED the apple juice. I think it was a nice break from orange Gatorade.

He looks a little drugged here, but he is playing with the straw from his Apple Juice. He was slowly getting the life back in him.

Day 6: Wednesday, December 31, 2008:

Today Cade is feeling so much better. He still has diarrhea, but NO VOMITING!! It will take awhile to get him back to 100%, but when he walked over to his Elmo phone and started talking on it this morning, we knew we were getting our little Doodlebug back. Thank you Jesus! God is good.

3 days until Christmas!

There are only 3 days left until Santa comes and there is still so much to do.


But, tonight we made MAGIC REINDEER FOOD! We've only made 2 so far (only because I needed them for today!), but we will finish the project by tomorrow and Cade can hand them off to his neighborhood friends. I learned about this tradition from a dear friend (Thanks Heather!!!). Heather is so crafty!


Ingredients:
Baby food jars (I used mason jars)
Uncooked oatmeal
Sugar
Red and Green Sugar Crystals (some recipes call for glitter, but this is not good for the birds!!)
*Add/Layer ingredients in jar
*Attach poem (below)


MAGIC REINDEER FOOD
Sprinkle on the lawn at night
the moon will make it sparkle bright
As Santa's reindeer fly and roam
this will guide them to your home!!





P.S. We will be sprinkling ours in our FRONT YARD because the last thing we need is for the dogs to eat it all up before the Rudolph and his friends can!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Gaylord Texan Christmas 12/9/08

On December 9th, we headed out to the Gaylord Texan to see their Christmas exhibits.

WOW! I bet there are a gazillion lights in that place. It was beautiful!

We met up with Santa and had our picture taken as a family. I wish the Dads could have been in the picture. I guess they are in their own way. Their spirit continues on in Cade.

Our main goal was to get some pictures of Cade out there and hopefully a nice picture for our Christmas cards. Luckily, we did! This is the picture most of you probably saw on the cards...

We walked around and walked around in amazement of the lights and displays. We had our picture made in the exact same spot we were married back on February 5, 2005. Great memories. We love this place :)

Cade had a blast. We let him just roam around and have his freedom. He rarely gets this opportunity and boy did he take advantage of it!!!

We had a GREAT time out there. Maybe next year Cade will be big enough to go into the ICE exhibit. It is beautiful! But, at a constant temperature of 9 DEGREES - we felt that might be a little harsh on Cade. He is sort of a "weenie"!

Cade and his Gam-Gam. These 2 are pretty inseperable.

Tom, Cade, and Gammie (Tom's Mom). Gammie can make Cade laugh at anything. She always puts a smile on his face and he sure loves to hug on her.

Merry Christmas!!

Life

I received an e-mail today from a friend that had been fwd: about a thousand times. It was an interesting e-mail so I thought I would share. Sadly, as I get older, the more sense this makes.


There comes a point in your life when you realize:
Who matters,
Who never did,
Who won't anymore...
And who always will...

So, don't worry about people from your past,there's a reason why they didn't make it to your future..

The Climber - Part 2

I caught Cade today climbing his high chair again. I grabbed my phone to take pictures (mainly for proof to show Tom). He even goes as far as trying to strap himself in.

What next? Maybe he can climb the ladder and hang Christmas lights this year??

Boys will be boys...

Santa Visit 11/8/08

Last year Cade LOVED Santa. We had to pull him away from Santa.
This year...well it was a different story. And we have the pictures to prove it...

Step 1:
Dress child up cute and talk to them in a high pitched voice
and tell them they are going to "see Santa!!!!!"



Step 2:
Place child on Santa's lap and walk away.
Make funny faces at child in hopes of a smile. Or at least a smirk.



Time for a new game plan I suppose and we'll try again!

Up Up and Away...

I have finally settled in with the fact that Cade is walking now full speed. He is not near as wobbly as he once was. He still has his little trips and falls, but what toddler doesn't??

BUT... when I turned my head the other day to find my now walker/CLIMBER - well needless to say I was NOT ready for this! Since this picture was taken, he has climbed the cook book rack, the couch, all of the chairs, the dogs, the baby gate, and he can even climb his high chair and stand tall and proud in it. What a man, right!

This is Cade climbing the cook book rack and if I had not stopped him he may have ended up standing on the counter...or flat on the floor. Who knows...

Sorry for the quality, but my cell phone was the closest camera around at the time.

ELECTION DAY - GO VOTE!!

Today is Election Day and a day that will obviously go down in history. We took Cade with us because we are voting this time FOR HIM. This President will help shape his future - either in a good way or a bad way - depending upon who is elected. This is our view on it all, so please do not take offense. We want to teach Cade as he grows to make his own decisions and stand by them, but most importantly to always VOTE! So, here are a few pics of Cade out Voting!

After voting, we headed over to Starbucks! Tom had heard on the radio that if you voted, Starbucks would give you a FREE COFFEE! I asked her how you prove that you have voted and she said "we're on a customer is always right" system. WOW! We love Starbucks, but more importantly we LOVE FREE stuff :) They made a Cade a non-fat, decaf chocolate milk!

Yummy!!

Happy Halloween!!

99 Balloons

I have seen this video before, but it was shown on Oprah again on October 28th. Eliot Mooney was born with Trisomy 18 - also known as Edwards Syndrome. He lived for 99 days.

Trisomy 18: At conception, 23 chromosomes from the father and 23 chromosomes from the mother combine to create a baby with a set of 46 chromosomes in each cell. A trisomy occurs when a baby has three #18 chromosomes instead of the normal two.

This is one of the most powerful videos I have ever seen.

I wanted to share this video and also pass along Eliot's legacy.

Please click on the link below to view this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=th6Njr-qkq0

GOD GIVES. GOD TAKES. GOD'S NAME BE EVER BLESSED.

JOB 1:21

Fall Festival 2008

This year we went to Fall Festival with Gammie (Tom's Mom), Aunt Julie, and Cousin Carlie. Tom was unable to go, but we took a ton of pictures for him! We had such a great time. There was so much to do!!

Cade dressed up as a Monkey for this event and was the cutest monkey ever! I have to admit, that of all the fun things to do, Cade enjoyed the petting zoo the most. They had goats, pigs, rabbits, chickens, etc. Cade (for some odd reason) liked the pig the most. By the end of the night, this pig had almost demolished the grass from digging. It was crazy how much damage such a small creature could create!!

Here are a few pictures from the festival.

Cade in his Monkey Costume

Cade taking a ride on the Radio Flyer...

Cade and "Mr. Piggy".

Cade with a few of his new Goat friends...

Carlie had a butterfly painted on her face...

while Cade opted for the Monkey face tattoo.

See ya next year!