Welcome to Parenthood!

Our Thanksgiving week has been more than eventful. We started our week by leaving on Sunday for Phoenix, AZ for Brandi's grandpa's funeral. Starting on Monday evening Luke was not acting his normal self. He wouldn't eat and had a horrible achey cry. We attended the funeral on Tuesday and headed back for Idaho to spend the rest of our Holiday weekend with our families.

Luke traveled great in the car which ended up being about 25 hours total for the trip. When we arrived in Idaho, Luke still wasn't very interested in eating. He had been throwing up in the evenings and we knew something wasn't right. By Friday morning we decided to take Luke into the local Pediatrician in Shelley. Within 5 minutes they told us they were sending us to the hospital. Then over the next couple of minutes we went from, we're going to the hospital, to the hospital will send an ambulance for you, to you need to be life flighted down to Primary Children's Hospital. As parents, we were scared and didn't know how to process everything that was happening. To know that your child is in pain, and extremely sick, but there's not much you can do, is one of the worst feelings in the world.

We waited at the clinic in Shelley while the ambulance was sent for Brandi and Luke. The ambulance arrived and the flight crew came in and tried to hook him up to all their monitors. Trying to give a dehydrated 5 week old baby an IV is a difficult thing to do. It took them 4 tries to finally get an IV in. The nurse had to ask Gilbert to sit down because he was so pale, and they didn't need to take care of him too once he passed out.

The ambulance transported Brandi and Luke to the airport, where the very small airplane was waiting for them. Once they were in the air, it was a short flight down to SLC International airport, where another ambulance was waiting to transport them to Primary Children's Hospital.

Once they arrived at the hospital, Luke was admitted and the doctors immediately thought he had a condintion called Pylaric Stenosis. This would require surgery. However, there were a few tests to run to make sure, and being the Holiday Weekend, we would have to wait until the morning. Since they thought he needed surgery, the next 12 hours were miserable because they would not let us feed our child. He was hooked up to IV fluids only. It is extremly painful as a parent to watch your child weaken because of want of food.

By morning the tests were run, and he did not have the condition they first thought. After more x-rays and other tests, they concluded he had a gastrointestinal virus coupled with severe Acid Reflux. By Sunday, his virus had mostly run its course, and some reflux medicine was given.

We will be going home tomorrow, Monday, and hopefully we will never have to visit Primary Children's Hosiptal again. We are grateful that the worst is behind us. We are also grateful that the reason for our stay here is not as chronic or serious as some of the other patients we have met during our stay.

We have now figured out the one of the worst things about Parenthood is the unknown. We have decided one of the hardest things to go through is watching your child be in pain. What a horrible feeling that is! We found out that it is very easy for such a little baby to go from bad to very serious as far as sickness goes.

We are very grateful to have our son, and we are grateful he is doing better.