GR Festival of Arts

The first weekend of June Kyle and some friends were able to play downtown at the Grand Rapids Festival of Arts again. We went down Saturday night to see our friend Nathan sing and also to get our usual suvlaki :) It's not Festival without suvlaki! Then, Sunday afternoon Elevation (the name of the group Kyle sang with) was supposed to play on a smaller tented stage at 2:30pm. At about 2:00 60-70mph winds came gusting through downtown. It was a bit scary with the kids! We huddled with the band and our friends, the Diekemas (remember the fabulous pictures my friend Melissa took of Maguire when he was born? Yeah, that's Melissa Diekema--check out her site on my list to the right), under a large overhang of one of the buildings. Once we got past the initial fear of it all, it was actually pretty fun! We found buckets of sidewalk chalk and Sarah Grace took over with all the girls. She's fabulous! If anyone in the area has a young girl who wants to take dance lessons or do a dance camp, let me know. Sarah Grace is an incredible teacher!!
Typically at Festival, if it rains, your act just loses its spot, but this time we lucked out! Not only did Elevation get to play a bit later, they got to play on Caulder stage--the BIG stage :) It was a short 4-song set, but it was fun just the same!

Maguire REALLY enjoyed his baklava!

The two best babysitters and beautiful girls, Elizabeth and Sarah Grace

Melissa, Myah, Matea and Ashlyn...she was still a little scared and tired!

Goofy kid trying to eat the chalk. Then Melissa egged him on so he kept doing it...and thought he was so funny!

The girls--and Mac--playing hopscotch with Sarah Grace

Cute girl!

Daddy's boy all the way!

Ash was playing on the sidewalk with Matea's umbrella and this guy came over and asked if she was my daughter. Then he asked if she could go play on the grass. I thought he was reprimanding me for her getting in the way so I apologized. He told me that they just wanted to film her for the local community station! She was so sweet when I brought her over to the grass--she stood there with the umbrella and played in her own little world by herself for another 10 minutes or more!

Kyle and some of the guys and the Caulder!

I slacked!

In the papoose (pre-sedation) trying to get him calm enough to get the scan done. Would YOU be calm strapped to a board?!

One of many attempts to get the scan.

Please excuse the horrible picture of me...it was late and it had been a LONG day! But you can see the swelling on Mac's right side a little bit in that picture. Poor kid!

I promised pictures and an update once we got home and I totally slacked on the job! Can you forgive me?! Here are the pictures Kyle took on his phone in the ER.

Monday afternoon Maguire was finally released around 1:00pm. I was so anxious to get out of there! The care was great, but it's NOT fun to be in the hospital with your baby! Once we were released and had signed the papers and everything, the nurse started to walk us out. We went out the unit doors toward the elevator bank and all of a sudden the alarms started going off--we'd forgotten to cut his security bracelet off! Over the whole hospital PA system we heard "Code Pink, baby boy! Code Pink, baby boy!" We had only gotten about two steps outside the doors but hurried back to the nurse's station to try to fix the problem quickly. Too late, though...there came the head nurse and a security guard, both looking VERY stern! To the nurse and me, it was a little bit funny, but we quickly wiped the grins off our faces when those two showed up! Once the Code Pink was all clear we could go. Meanwhile Maguire had charmed the pants off of all the nurses so there were a few cute goodbyes :) We finally made it out of the hospital and Maguire was pretty stoked to be out. I sure was too!
Our parting instructions were to make sure we use plenty of bug spray/lotion whenever Maguire's outside. Be careful of the deet content - nothing more than 10%. If he gets another bite near his eye that swells up again, bring him right to the hospital. Anywhere else on his body and he has to go to the doctor first. The official "diagnosis" was Preseptal Cellulitis. Preseptal means the infection didn't get into his sinuses (and therefore his bloodstream, potentially causing him to become septic!). They don't mess around when little ones get this! Maguire has to be on antibiotics for 10 days, which is hates. I thought he'd like the strawberry flavored medicine, but he does not! The only way I can get him to take it is by mixing it into yogurt. Not sure how effective it is or if he gets the whole dosage, but it's better than him spitting it right back out!
So...several days later and Maguire is completely back to his old tricks. And he added a new one, much to my dismay. He has watched his sister enough times to know, now, how to climb over the gate at the bottom of the stairs! *SIGH* Oh well...I'm glad that he's growing, strong and healthy! Can't remember if I've forgotten anything worth mentioning...it's late and I'm tired! LOL!
Thank you all SO much for your prayers! God is good...He comforted us during this scary time and He kept His hand on little Maguire's body and healed him up right fine :) Thank you to the Great Physician!

Beef with the Lab

Ok, so I have a beef with the lab. It will forever baffle me that whenever there's bloodwork to be done, they come right when you're in a deep sleep. It's like they have a monitor in your room and "Ok, he/she's finally reached REM. Let's move in!" I mean come on! Does it really need to be done at 4:30am?! That's what time they came in this morning to take Maguire's blood. He and I were both so deep asleep. The girl (and I DO mean "girl"--she couldn't have been more than 19 or 20!) comes in and flips on the bright overhead light. Maguire's face was pressed against the bars of the crib and as I lowered the side it skidded along his forehead, but he stayed asleep. We flipped him over onto his back and he didn't wake up. I asked if it was really necessary to do this NOW and she assured me it was. Whatever. The girl needed me to hold his arm still. As soon as she stuck the needle in, or course he woke up screaming--poor boy! Well...SHE DIDN'T HIT THE VEIN! She kept pulling the plunger back and getting air. As I watched, I broke out in a cold sweat and the room started to spin. I told her that I was going to be sick. She quickly untied the arm band and removed the needle. I flopped on the bed before I fell on the floor. She put the crib side back up and quickly apologized as she snuck out the door. Once I had composed myself a tiny bit I went out to the nurse's station to ask Sheila (the wonder nurse!!) for some water. As I walked out the door, I passed the mirror in the vestibule. I saw that my face was so pale and my lips were WHITE! Once I asked Sheila for the water I walked back to the room (right across from the nurse's station) and only made it into the vestibule before I had to sit down. Sheila brought me the water and talked with me until I regained color and enough energy to make it back to my bed. I've only ever had this happen one other time in my life and it also involved seeing someone else get blood drawn. I don't like needles, but I can deal with it when it's me. Other people? Forget about it! Fortunately--nothing short of a miracle--Maguire went right back to sleep after the draw attempt. We got to sleep another hour or so before a second lab tech came to take his blood. By this time Maguire had woken up and wanted to "nap" in bed with me. The lab tech had heard about me and brought help :) They got the blood they needed and Mac screamed a bit, but it was short lived. Whew!
Eventually Mac decided that his "napping" was done around 8:15, then his breakfast came. Oddly enough, they didn't allow me to order any food, so I had to get a nurse to babysit Maguire while I went down to the cafeteria. It was a nice 10 minute break :) Maguire is going absolutely stir crazy being tied down to that room. He can't go any farther than his IV pole will allow him, which isn't all that far. And during all his climbing (on the bed, table, chairs, etc.) he keeps getting tangled up in all the tubes. He's annoyed but still laughing and smiling all the time :) Such a good boy!
Right now he's napping and should be able to go home within a half hour or so, providing he doesn't spike a fever before then.
More to come later!

As promised!

Here are some pictures from today. Check out the right side of his face. And this was looking MUCH better than it did last night! Kyle has some pics from the CT scan last night, so once he sends them to me, I'll post them too. They're way more pitiful! LOL!

Kyle, Mac and Ash chilling on the "parent bed" in Mac's room, watching a DVD

Maguire's IV arm. Poor thing!

This is Maguire "cage crib". I was a little worried about how he'd deal with it, but he did well. He and Ashlyn had fun playing in it together :)

In the "family room" across the hall from Mac's room they had a bunch of toys. We actually have this same exact ride-on toy at home, so he was all about it. Too bad we had to chase him around with the IV tower!

My parents are in CA right now and were really bummed that they couldn't be here, so they sent this FUN frog balloon! They were trying to figure out what to send from the gift shop and figured he wouldn't care one bit about flowers.

The balloon was a huge hit! Ashlyn was jealous, but Maguire let her play with it a little bit too :)

By dinner time Maguire was doing a whole lot better. We even found out that the hospital had a highchair, making eating SO much easier than trying to let him eat on our laps while we sit on the bed. He was loving his pizza and french fries :)

Thanks Mom & Dad Warmington and John & Joann Aasman for coming down to visit! You guys are awesome!

As I type this, Maguire is finally asleep in the room. I'm in the family/toy room across the hall watching TV and catching up on my computer stuff. I'm hoping that he'll keep sleeping when I sneak into the room for bed. As far as we know we'll be able to go home tomorrow. I hope/pray!!

Update #1

We're still at the hospital. Maguire and Kyle had a pretty good night at the hospital. Mac went down pretty well in the "cage" crib. Then when the nurse came in to change the IV he woke up and spent the rest of the night sleeping in the bed with Kyle. Ashlyn and I finally made it down the hospital around 11:45. The swelling is going down slowly but surely. They'd like us to stay another night to make sure that the swelling continues to go down and to continue to administer the antibiotics through his IV. Thankfully they repositioned his IV so that it's more in his forearm and not in the back of his hand. I've had the back-of-the-hand IV's and they hurt like the dickens!
Maguire is in great spirits today! That's a mixed blessing--it's good to see him back to his old crazy-happy-laughing-jumping self, but it makes it hard to keep up with him and keep him from getting wrapped up in his IV tubes. He finally did go down for a nap around 1:15 or so and then woke up a bit and finished his nap on me until around 3:00. Not too bad. Kyle's parents got here a little bit ago and we're just about to order some dinner. When I get a minute I'll upload some pics and update further. Thank you for all the prayers! Things to pray about for now: 1) That Maguire would go to bed and sleep well tonight. 2) That the swelling would go down completely. 3) That no infection would spread to his sinus system.
Praise God he's doing as well as he is!!

Please pray for Maguire!

I think we're out of the worst now, but I would love any prayers for Maguire that you're willing to offer! Maguire has always had really sensitive skin--diaper rashes that would bleed, rashes other places...stuff like that. Unfortunately, he gets that from me. Sorry Buddy! Anyway, last weekend he got a mosquito bite on his forehead that swelled up like he had a golf ball under his skin! It was somewhat close to his eye, but a friend of ours checked his pupils and they seemed fine, so we gave him some Benedryl and put him to bed. The next morning it looked like any old bug bite. Didn't think much else about it except that we figured we'd better be extra careful about making sure he's got bug spray/lotion on. We live near a narrow/slow part of a river = breeding ground for mosquitos. Friday night I took the kids outside for a bit and was sure to put some deet-free bug lotion on Mac. Well, he got bit anyway! He woke up this morning with some pretty good swelling above his other eye. Still just thought he was a kid who just reacts badly to bug bites. All the neighbors were out today and looking at it. Later, I gave him some Benedryl and put him down for his nap. When he got up the swelling was worse. His eye was about half swollen shut and the swelling had moved down his face. After dinner I ran into a neighbor who'd seen him earlier. She commented that he looked worse and that I should probably get him in to a doctor soon or take him to the ER or something. Good thing she pushed me! I told Kyle that I thought we should take him in to the ER. Kyle ended up taking him while I ran some errands with Ashlyn. At first the nurse just gave Mac some Tylenol because he was running a slight fever when he came in. Kyle said the swelling was already starting to go down and why hadn't I thought to give him Tylenol? Well...I don't know. My one-track-mind was only thinking Benedryl! So...I got home, put Ashlyn to bed (way late, which she loved!) and came downstairs to a text from Kyle that Maguire was going to have a CT Scan! What?! Then I picked up a voicemail message from him saying that I should get a neighbor to come stay with Ashlyn so that I could come to the hospital. Fortunately we're BLESSED with the most fabulous neighbors! I hurried downtown to the hospital and made my way back to radiology when Maguire was wrapped in a "papoose", which is a board with major swaddling capabilities! Wow...NOT a fun sight to see your child all wrapped up except for his little arm with an IV in it sticking out. He was freaking out! They had given him Benedryl to try to make him sleepy, but that didn't do jack! They didn't want to sedate him for various reasons, but I was sort of hoping they'd do it and just get the scan over with. Eventually they did. It took twice the normal amount for a child his size! And even then he was only out JUST long enough to take the scan--maybe a minute or two. Then he was kicking, screaming, arching his back, flailing his arms, biting at the tape holding his IV in place. That was even tougher than the earlier sight! We could do nothing to calm him down for about a half hour or more. Finally, the weirdest thing calmed him down. A doctor came in to look in Mac's ears. We were bracing ourselves (and Maguire) for a continued tantrum, but he calmed right down when the doc looked in his ears. After that he was mostly ok, but getting antsy. Eventually Kyle went to the van to get the DVD player. That worked wonders! Mac actually started smiling and giggling again. He even started to eat and drink! Meanwhile, we learned that our pediatrician had been contacted and she wanted Mac to be admitted. The official report on scan came back favorably--there was no spreading of the infection to the sinuses or behind his eye. They just want to monitor him through the night and continue administering antibiotics. Kyle is there with him right now and I'll be heading to bed soon.
Thank you SO MUCH to those of you who were praying with us through it all! I just wanted to quick (was this quick?!) update everyone and ask for continued prayers that things will continue to get better. When I left Kyle and Maguire, Mac was running all around his hospital room, intrigued by all the equipment and already charming the nurses :) That's the Buddy Boy I know and adore!
Don't worry...I'll post more tomorrow, including pictures (I know--this is what I was talking about, Erin! LOL!).