Ethan update

So my mom went to help out my aunt and uncle for a week (aka make sure at least one of them got some sleep each night) and she came back. (And two of my three siblings helped my juggle having her that far away... God save me for 17 year old boys... Killing them, anyways...)

Ethan's home from the hospital, and he's much better... But the doctors still have no idea what's wrong with him. His sugar made them think type 1 diabetes at first, but he doesn't fit any of the other symptoms, and regular weight babies developing type 1 at 2 months with no family history, etc, apparently just doesn't happen.

So, my aunt and uncle check his sugar every three hours, call his endochronologist (which looks spelled wrong, but I don't have time to check it now, lol) once a day for a month, and hopefully at some point get some answers.

Home from the hospital pic... Poor honey's all worn out from all those strange people in scrubs poking him with needles all hours of the day!

(I am seriously wishing I had got in the same genetic line as Ethan for eyelashes, though. I mean, that is totally not fair. What BOY needs eyelashes like that?? :sigh:)

Ethan's feeling a lot better!

Or, at least, his breathing tub and most of the various other tubes, shunts, wires etc that were attachted to him are out now and they moved him from ICU to regular hospital room this afternoon! :happy dance:

Got to hear him fuss (not full blown cry, just 'my throat hurts from having a respirator stuck down to my baby lungs' noises) on the phone today- beautiful noise, after them having to keep him under for the last few days.

We still don't know what's wrong with him, but Ethan is definately on the mend! Thanks for praying! :)

(Updated with Ethan pic as Blogger wouldn't let me add it the first time around.)

Baby Ethan in need of prayers....

Ok, our whole extended family has been in a serious state of freaking out/shock right now.

My aunt took Ethan to the doctor to his two month appointment Monday to get his first round of shots.

Typically, day after this babies tend to run a light fever and be slightly lethargic. (Little bodies fighting big bad - toned down - virus strains, it makes sense.)

However, Ethan was pretty much lying there not being very responsive or crying or doing much of anything, so my aunt (go mommy instincts!) freaked out and took him back to the doctor's office. The doctor really didn't like Ethan's breathing, etc, so she had my aunt take him right to the hospital and called ahead so they've be expecting him.

As soon as they get to the hospital (at which time my aunt is crying, etc, because nobody knows what's wrong with her baby) a team of doctor/nurses swoop down on Ethan.

(BTW to catch up on rest of Tueday story, my uncle's caught in LA traffic, so he takes him a long time to get to the hospital.

Either him or my aunt called her parents/my grandparents who call my family. We proceed to generally freak out and be sobbing messes because at this point the doctors think Ethan is in a coma- remember, TWO MONTHS OLD.

My mom and I stay up all night- we get the phone call about Ethan being at the hospital between nine and ten our time- finding her a flight across the country, getting her packed, prayed, cried, settle things here so the four of us 'kids' can hold down the fort until my mom can come back, go to the bank, pray and cry some more, decide we don't have time to go to the 24 hour grocery store, and get her out the door by 5:30 am Weds. Needless to say, sleeping definately wasn't on the list of things happening. I got my sibs off to school and then crashed until after noon.)

When they got Ethan to the hospital his blood sugar level was about 850 (should be around 150, poor sweetie), and it's since gone down to about 80 late last night (Weds), so the doctors were going to kill/cut down the amount of insulin he was getting through IV at that point.

Ethan's got eight IV holding posts (what is the name for these?) which lead (according to my mom) about 50 different wires, tubes, etc back to shunts in both his hands and both his feet. (I didn't have time to ask, but we knew going into this that doctors sometimes can put shunts in babies heads' as their skulls still haven't completely hardened yet, so he may have another one there and/or his arms.)

He was on oxygen since Tuesday, but his respitory readings were looking good, so the doctors took him off that around an hour ago. Ethan's been sedated since they got to the hospital, and I don't know yet when they're going to take him off of that. The doctors did let him off of those drugs a little yesterday (not enough for him to completely wake up, though) and he was moving his arms and legs around, which is apparently really, really good.

It's hard to imagine our little guy with so many tubs and things coming off of him, though, esp looking at the pictures. :(

My uncle texted me this morning that Ethan is "in stable but critical condition," which is not good, but still a LOT better then he was Tuesday PM when they took him in.

The doctors can't agree on whether or not Ethan has diabetes at a really young age (which would be weird, as he was only 6.5 lbs when he was born two months ago, generally only 10 lbs. plus at birth babies run the risk of diabetes this early generally) or not, but something's up with his pancreas one way or the other. He also was having trouble digesting proteins properly, so they have him on medication for that. Hopefully we get a diagnosis soon!

However, my uncle all of his vital organs are still in good shape, which is fantastic because babies/people tend to have their organs shut down with their levels get this far out of wack. (= completely non-medically termed explaination)

Having my mom this far away is a little strange- I had 1500 miles when I was at school, but she's never been this far away from my siblings in their lives which is taking some adjusting to. (Everyone has so far :knock on wood: been well behaved, though. Luckily older younger brother that likes to cause trouble and is SO VERY SEVENTEEN RIGHT NOW YOU JUST WANT TO KNOCK HIM OUT WITH A 2 x 4 UNTIL HIS BIRTHDAY is working prom this weekend, so he should stay in line for that.) Mom comes home on Tuesday now, and since Ethan only seems to be getting better, we shouldn't need to change this.

Thank you again for keeping our little guy in your prayers!

PS: My aunt texted me and Ethan's breathing tube is out and my aunt might get to hold him in an hour!!! :)

Edited with shots of world's sweetest baby, lol.

Strange but true...

So, in 2004 it was a Democratic canidate with a wife with ketchup connections.

For 2006 we have a Democratic canidate with a wife with pickle connections.

So... It's really all about the condiments for the Dems, isn't it?

That and the condoms, lol! ;)

(Pauses)

Ok, well. My best friend of roughly forever (since we were seven) called me last night to tell me he joined the army and he leaves for training in two weeks.

I'm very proud of him, but the fact that he's getting trained to dismantle bombs will make me lose sleep anyways.

...And now I need to go think about this some more...

Well, thank God we left for the Anglican church...

Because, really, what does this say about the Episcopal church?

Love the guy rolling his eyes at the ceiling, though. Just about sums it up, don't you think?

Lack of Bible verse for the week...

Apparently weekly class was called off, but I wasn't able to go one way or the other because I had to go to my sister's music concert. (Naw) Shock and awe that they were able to get away with singing songs involving the word "pray" in it, but the fact that most of the parents dressed their 4th graders as mini-Britney Spears more then makes up for it. :gag:

I'd ask WHERE ARE THE PARENTS??? but since mommy and daddy still buy ALL the clothes are this point, WHAT ARE MOMMY AND DADDY THINKING??? may be a much better question.

I swear, somewhere along the line parental irresponsibility becomes parental abuse in the wardrobe department. (And my mother's soap box on this is actually larger then mine of this, so NEVER get her started unless you would like to see her shoot flames out of her eyes, lol)

So, since there is no official Bible verse for the week, I am more then open for suggestions, if anyone has any. :)

Also, Rascal Flatts is happy music... I mean, how do you be in a bad mood after listening to 'Feels like Today,' 'Bless the Broken Road,' or 'Life is a Highway' at loud volume?

...And on that note, I'm going to go home and listen to the Cars soundtrack now, lol!

Naw, so cute!

Passing on a pic from a forward is a new one... But this is just too sweet not too! :)