Today was another gorgeous “taste of spring” day. Sunny and 72. Absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately, I spent my day in the Children’s Hospital with Jesse. It all started Sunday night after his baptism. The water had been freezing, he had gotten really cold and by the time we got home, he didn’t feel well. Monday morning he was complaining of not feeling well and he had a cough, so we kept him home from school. By Monday afternoon, Jesse was running a 104 fever and by bedtime he was vomiting. He threw up throughout the night as he would try to sip on water or take medicine for his fever. When Jesse gets fevers, they are always high and he gets terrible headaches with them.
This morning, he looked like he’d been hit by a truck, so I took him to the doctor. The doctor tested him for strep and the flu; both came back negative. His urinalysis “lit up like a Christmas tree”, according to the doctor, and his tummy was very tender to touch, so the doctors decided to send him to the children’s hospital for IV fluids and further testing.
When we arrived, my phone died. Lovely. All day at the hospital and no way for Josh (or ANYONE) to contact me. Jesse’s fever was still around 104 when they admitted him. His heart rate was in the 150’s and his blood pressure at one point was 85/24! He slept off and on for the first few hours. They had him hooked up to a monitor, with leads on his chest, an O2 sat. on his thumb, and an IV in his hand. When his fever finally broke, he sweat so profusely that the leads on his chest fell off. They had to clean him up and put new ones on. He perked up for a bit after his fever broke. His heart rate went down slightly and they talked of discharging him around 1:30.  Unfortunately, by 2:00pm, his fever was back with a vengeance, heart rate was back up, and his blood pressure had plummeted.  We were there for another two hours as they pumped him full of fluids, monitored his stats, and waited for him to stabilize.

Now it is 8:00pm.  Jesse fell asleep on the couch when we got home, but he woke up with a 103 fever and terrible headache.  When Josh gave him tylenol, he threw it up five minutes later…along with the little bit of lunch he was able to eat.  Thirty minutes after throwing up the tylenol, we got permission from the doctor to let him SIP a dose of motrin.  So far, so good.  It has stayed down and his fever is down to 101.  I’m praying we make it through the night without having to return to the ER.

Jesse’s blood work at the hospital revealed that his immune deficiencies from two years ago have gotten slightly worse; the labs show one more deficiency than his past labs.  They’re referring us back to an immunologist who can follow Jesse more closely and run further tests.

Jesse was healthy all last year when we home schooled.   Since he’s been back in school this year, he’s had this high fever with vomiting, five or six times since October.  I was really hoping that year off was what he needed to strengthen his immune system and get well.  I guess I was wrong and now we’re back at square one.  I do feel even better now about our firm decision to home school all of the boys in the fall.  This was definitely confirmation that Jesse’s body needs it more now than ever.

Please pray for wisdom as we go back to specialists and procedures and blood work for answers.  I trust that God will send us where we need to go.  I have peace; after all, we did this for a full year and a half, just under two years ago.  We’ll get through it again.  Hopefully with more concise results this time…and treatment!  Until then, we’ll continue to pray, trust the Lord, and double up on Jesse’s Juice Plus+.

~audrey

I had visitation last night with the foster children and their parents. As a result, I started dinner, but asked Josh to please finish it for me. I had boiled several chicken breasts to make chicken and dumplings and I left instructions on how to finish it. When I got home, I ate the BEST chicken and dumplings I’d ever put in my mouth. No lie, Josh had perfected the broth to the perfect thickness and flavor and the dumplings were out of this world. He was quite proud and I was quite excited that I will probably never cook chicken and dumplings again; Josh will gladly do it with pride.

On another note, while we were at visitation, which takes place at McDonald’s, I noticed the baby had a handful of cheetoz!! I’m suppose to be ‘hands off’ at visitation. My purpose is to observe and report and only intervene if absolutely necessary. So who am I to snatch the cheetoz out of the six month old’s hand. The six month old who will hardly even eat baby food for me. The six month old that doesn’t even have ONE SINGLE TOOTH?? Surely someone saw my jaw hit the floor, but I exercised self-restraint and stayed in my seat. No wonder he doesn’t eat my baby food! His first food was cheetoz and bits of hot dog!! I understand that every mother is different. There are cultural differences, family differences, differences in parenting techniques based on the parent’s age, etc. I’ve always been rather particular about what goes into the mouths of my babies. Oh well, surely it’s no worse than my grandmother (God rest her soul) sneaking Jesse little pieces of pineapple cake at Christmas…when he was FIVE MONTHS OLD and I was strictly breastfeeding. I can laugh about those things now.

The kids are all doing great. We’re enjoying a beautiful Saturday outside in this gorgeous weather. My boys are going to spend the night with Mimi and Papa tonight, so we’re looking forward to a “quieter” evening with our other three.

Here is a sneak peek of Jesse’s kindergarten cap and gown pics. He is now completely obsessed with wearing a tie and asks me daily when I’m going to buy him some of his own. The one he’s wearing in the picture is borrowed from a friend.

Also, a pic of the Joshua at his recorder recital.

~audrey

Last week, our foster childrens’ case went back to court. They were suppose to go into a relative’s custody after the hearing…if everything went exactly as planned; like THAT ever happens!

Josh and I had a talk the night before the hearing and decided, after much discussion and prayer, that we would agree to keep the children in our home if things didn’t go according to plan in court. We had originally taken these children in as an “emergency placement” and we told our agency they would have to find another foster home for them if they needed to be in care for longer than a month. Six children under the age of seven was just too much for us and we had been pretty clear on that. However, after just two short weeks, we had really grown to love these children and see in each one of them, how much they need a stable, loving environment right now. With that, we made our decision.

Here we are, a week later, and we still have six children. It’s funny how you can see in hindsight, how God has prepared you for certain tasks. I can honestly say that we do have peace about our decision, and although there is a screaming baby in the other room, and I’m going to have to load up four kids into the car, in the pouring rain in about ten minutes to go get Jesse from school, we’re making it all work. Somehow, making the decision to keep them in our home has changed the way I love them. I’m feeling more like their temporary Momma now, rather than just their foster parent. Unless you’ve been a foster parent, there is really no way to describe how uncomfortable those first few weeks are. You have new children in your home, making things a little crazy. You can’t discipline them the way you’d like. They don’t necessarily treat your children the way you’d like them to be treated. They don’t talk like you or eat the food you prepare. They don’t sleep through the night like your own children have for at least the last two years. You can’t get a babysitter for them when you want a few hours away, because all your babysitters must be approved through the agency after much investigation. It’s just different; in an indescribable way. But, I’d say after the first two weeks, it’s easier to tell whether or not the children are a good fit in your home. Our first placement, which was also three children, including a ten year old boy, was NOT a good fit. These kids, however, I can see staying with us for as long as they need.
It’s funny how this crazy control freak that needs to have everything planned out is suddenly flying by the seat of her pants, running on a measly few hours of sleep per night, and learning to enjoy it!
God surely has a sense of humor.

~audrey