It's been a wild week, but first we will back up to nearly two weeks ago. We were treated to a fun day at the MOA Sea Life exhibit with our favorite girls. They wanted to do a fun outing in honor of our summer birthdays. Since none of us have been to the aquarium, we decided it would be perfect to go together. We went on a Tuesday, which was great because there were no crowds at all! We thought the glowing jellyfish exhibit was neat, we were brave and touched the starfish, and we were amazed by the unique fish enclosed in the aquariums above and around us!
We finished our MOA visit with a brief lunch at the Rainforest Cafe. Cooper was hysterical everytime the mechanical gorillas started to "hoot and holler" so we packed up his lunch and brought it back home. Apparently he is not ready for Chuck E Cheese either with this fear of animation (uh oh Disney World!)
Daddy went deer hunting for the opening weekend and had early success! He shot a smaller buck and a doe. This made up for getting skunked (not literally) in MN this year. Mommy meanwhile, was in charge of getting me geared up for hockey practice. 10 minutes of pushing, tugging and tying, I was ready to go with plenty of time. Mom was proud and sweaty.
Between Uncle Matt, Uncle Ben, and Daddy, they brought 4 deer to the processor and donated one to the food pantry. We will have plenty of venison in our home soon. Mom is super excited (not).
On Sunday, I had the church bucket. This is a traveling bucket that goes home with one child per week. That child puts something inside of the bucket and our pastor uses that object to tie into the week's scripture. He is quite amazing with finding ways to link toys with scripture! Our pastor was in Mexico, but we still decided to send him this silly picture of Cooper INSIDE of the bucket. He would have been disqualified since the rules of the bucket are that it can't be alive, can't stink and can't be slimy. I think that means he is 3/3 for breaking the rules. I decided to put in my "very own" tape measure and told the congregation that I liked using it to see how big I was and to see how long our stairs were (news to Mom about my desire to measure steps).
On Sunday, Uncle Matt and Auntie Jill came over to introduce baby Emmett to us! We were so excited that they were in town (Uncle Matt hunted). This saved us a four hour trip to their neck of the woods. Emmett is such a sweet baby. He hardly makes a sound and is just absolutely tiny! We think he looks like Uncle Matty, another Klay boy to
wrestle play with!
Sunday night we were acting like silly boys in the tub. We are getting excited for Christmas, so we are busy making Santa beards on our faces. Previous to our bath time, Cooper went to the Urgent Care because he started coughing at Jenny's house on Friday and the cough was getting worse. Mommy and Daddy thought, "here we go again.... another upper-respiratory infection." The urgent care doctor diagnosed him with croup, gave him some antibiotics and sent him on his way. He continued to cough and cough all night long but it was comforting knowing he had a follow-up appt. that following morning with our pediatrician.
The next day, was a preschool day! I received my school picture a week ago~ I sure think I look handsome and big in it.
Preschool had a Thanksgiving Feast. We wore our special costumes and made a delicious friendship snack mix. While Daddy took Cooper to his follow-up appt., Mommy stayed to have treats at preschool with me! While at preschool, Daddy called Mom to tell her that Cooper was admitted into the hospital due to low oxygen levels (80%). Mommy calmly finished celebrating with me and we hurried home so she could get to the hospital.
One of Mommy's strengths is using her resources. She quickly called our neighbor Dana (who stays home) to see if I could hang out with her that afternoon while Mom and Dad were at the hospital. Not only did I get to hang out with Dana, but I was able to visit my soon-to-be elementary school. Dana's daughter is in the 3rd grade and they had Pioneer Day at school. Dana sent Mommy this picture and told her that I was a MAJOR HIT in 3rd grade. I had sooooo much fun at school! Meanwhile......
Mommy's turn: I was not expecting Coopie to be hospitalized. Cooper gets upper-respiratory infections all winter long. In fact, I diagnosed him with asthma (no medical degree needed) when he was 6 months old. Our pediatrician suggested we start on a preventative this winter and was planning to set that up in mid to late October. It was obviously too late as Cooper came down with his first respiratory illness. This time, it was pneumonia. His lower-left lung had pneumonia and his oxygen levels were very low. Our pediatrican admitted him into the hospital to keep him on oxygen and begin antibiotics and steroids. That night, Chris and I stayed with him and noticed around 5:00 a.m. that he was starting to wheeze/grunt. We paged the nurse who then paged our doctor. Our doctor arrived and ordered more blood work, another chest x-ray, and we could tell by his actions that this was starting to be an emergency. What they found out was Cooper's lung had collapsed in the affected lobe and fluid was building around the outside of his lung (pleuresy). Cooper was getting uncomfortable and irritable. The last straw came when he was lying flat while they drew more blood from his arm and the oxygen alarms went off showing his oxygen levels dropped to 30%. I remember repeating his name over and over because his eyes were rolling back and he was acting unresponsive. It was the scariest moment in our lives. Cooper kind of "came to" and our pediatrician ordered a transfer to St. Paul Chilren's Hospital. Chris rode in the ambulance and I followed behind. They were traveling around 85 mph in thick fog, so I decided to be safe and take my time even though I felt like a wreck.
We arrived at St. Paul Children's, and the ER doctor (Dr. Tom) was wonderful with Cooper. He said Cooper definitely needed to be there and was discussing many options, some being scary. Thankfully, Cooper tolerated IV's (after several attempts and a hand switch) along with oxygen tubes inserted into his nose. They pumped his body full of antibiotics, steroids, and nebulizer treatments for the next several days. Everyone commented on how strong he was (we all agree) but soon his happy demeanor became angry and uncomfortable from all of the testing he had to deal with. Everytime a doctor or nurse entered, he would cry/scream, ask to be held or begged that we hold his hand. It was gut-wrenching to see him like this. I now know what parents mean when they say they would do anything to trade places and take their child's pain away.
Another big concern we had was how to keep a 2 year old confined to a bed busy. Unlike Caden, Cooper LOVES to watch movies. We watched movies all day long, played with a monster truck, sticker book, and he loved the popsicles he was allowed to eat (he was not allowed to eat or drink for most of the first day which was HORRIBLE as we listened to him cry and beg for juice).
Caden stayed at Grammy's house (Chris' Mom), so everything Cooper received, whether it be chapstick, balloons, a monster truck, etc...was HIS. He kept saying "ME have it NOT Caden because ME sick!" We felt he had every right to keep and not share all of these gifts and trinkets :)
Cooper was finally well enough to have the oxygen tubes and IV's removed and this provided some freedom to move about his hospital room. The pediatric intensive care room he was originally placed in was HUGE. It was beautiful and amazing. His recovery room, was tiny, still nice but so little. Children's hospital had playrooms and playgroups, but they confined Cooper because of his respiratory illness. He tested negative for influenza and RSV, thankfully! The nurses were great and brought him toys and a coupe car to drive around. He made numerous Pizza Planet (Toy Story) and McDonald's runs in his car for us :)
The hospital provided music therapy (he was not in the mood to listen to Ms. Kate play her guitar) but he loved the therapy dog named Lucy. His face lit up when she came to visit him. Lucy is a two year old black lab; she was adorable with Cooper (lots of kisses) and she even gave him her business card that stated her favorite food was raspberries. We laughed and laughed at that. The best part was seeing my lil' man smile and listening to him giggle. Life was getting better each day....
Finally, after 4 days in the hospital, we were discharged. I am sure the hospital staff was not sad to let us go as Cooper became a difficult patient and Chris and I were tired of apologizing up and down for his behavior. They were all quite sympathetic and understanding. Cooper was able to function in the 90% range (oxygen levels), he was eating and drinking, and he did not have a fever. They sent us home with antibiotics and steroids which we are now finishing. The most demanding for all of us is nebulizer treatments every four hours for 14 days, even in the middle of the night we get up to give him his treatment. Cooper's collapsed lung will heal itself, the infection/pneumonia will go away, but he will have to do a preventative for the unforseeable future. He was officially diagnosed with asthma (Moms know best) and he will have to undergo formal allergy testing. I am not looking forward to that! Despite all of this, Chris and I learned to be thankful for our healthy boys. We saw some very sick children in the hospital and we are thankful for the wonderful care given to him at our local hospital and Children's. We are also blessed and thankful for all of the support we received. Caden was in amazing hands, Liberty was spoiled by our neighbors, our house was being watched and cared for, but most importantly, the thoughts, prayers and well-wishes were humbling. Chris and I feel Cooper has grown so much in just a week. It makes us hug him a bit tighter and love him even more. Blessings to all this Thanksgiving!
