Levi's Hospital Adventure

Levi gave us quite a scare on Sunday, which ended up turning into his (and our) first hospital experience (is that a rite of passage for parents??? If so, check us off the list 'cuz now we're done, right?)

Levi spiked a fever during the night on Saturday and was very restless and uncomfortable. Sunday morning, he still had a slight fever and we noticed his neck was becoming red and swollen on one side. So, instead of going to church at our new 9:00 start time, we headed over to the ER at Children's. Here's what his neck looked like by Sunday evening:

After a CT scan, some blood work and an ENT consult, we were admitted to Children's for IV antibiotics (we didn't end up needing surgery to drain the infection- phew!). Our stay ended up lasting a total of 4 days and included:

• sleepless nights (especially for the 8-month-pregnant Mommy who attempted to sleep on the hospital cot on night 1- bad idea),
• an IV which rendered Levi's left hand useless and later became known by him as his "pillow hand"
• experiencing contact isolation precautions with a busy 2-year-old (which means Mom has to entertain ALL DAY without leaving the room- no walks, no playroom) for 2 days
• lots of movies, tag, finger paints, books, playing with trains/cars, and a little Hi-ho Cherry-O (although Levi does NOT get the rules to that game yet, bummer)
• great nurses (Levi LOVED his day nurse, Whitney, who took care of him Monday through Wednesday. I was on my best behavior, and I think I only stepped on one nurse's toes the whole time- go me!)
• LOTS of great doctors (Children's is a teaching hospital, so it was not uncommon to have a team of 6-8 doctors checking in several times during the day).
• body art- you'll see Dr. Lee's fine handiwork on Levi's face. He came at my little boy, Sharpie in hand, on Monday morning...I wonder when that will wear off???
• room service (no cooking, but a little too much take-out style food for my taste)
• an awesome ice machine (I can't get enough ice these days- I think it's a baby thing)
• Levi perfecting his skills of sleeping, learning to sleep through vital sign checks and IV med hook-ups, and later poking and prodding doctors- by day 4 he was swatting them away with his eyes closed)

The best part of the whole situation is that Daddy's school was right across the walkway from the hospital, so he was able to come and go as he needed to and was able to spend a lot of time with Levi throughout the whole ordeal. In fact, Matt didn't go home the entire time. Check out the view from our room:

Levi's pointing at Daddy's school here. Pretty cool, huh? Levi's definitely feeling great today- I couldn't hardly keep him in the room today. I've never seen a little boy so happy to be home, either. Thanks to everyone for your love and support during these crazy days!!