Rough Start to A New Year

I proclaimed 2011 is going to be a great year, and I still believe it will be, but man are we off to a rough start.
As soon as we got back from the cabin, I knew we needed to get Carson to the pediatrician ASAP. He had been vomiting for 5 days, had absolutely no appetite and was sleeping for hours on end. None of us have ever seen Carson act so lethargic and I have to admit, we were all very concerned for our little guy.
I got up and took Carson to the doc the very next morning. Our doc agreed that he was incredibly weak and get this....he lost 5 pounds?! Wow! Considering he's only 27lbs, that is way too much weight to lose and given the limited diet, we have a difficult time as is keeping his weight up. We felt okay because he ate a huge breakfast and seemed to perk up a bit, but the doc said if he made any digression at all, to take him to ER immediately. I remember this kept echoing in my head, "Carson is tougher than the average child. He doesn't tell us when he is in pain. To see him this lethargic makes me believe he is much sicker than we may even realize." And I am sad to report, this was absolutely correct.

I took him home from the doc and he started to tank again. He was refusing all food and kept throwing himself down on the ground and was just laying there. It was so pitiful. I went to the restroom and when I came back and found him like this, I knew it was time to go to the ER:

How sad and scary is that? He is wide awake just laying there staring at the ground. He didn't even have his paci. Umm, it was a no-brainer at this point that he needed help and quickly!

Once we arrived at the Emergency Room and met with the doctors, I assumed we would get Carson an IV, hydrate him and head out. Unfortunately, that was not the case. They did give Carson an IV to help rehydrate him but his electrolyte levels came back very abnormal. They said he was experiencing hyponatremia and hyperkalemia. He had a very high level of potassium in the body and a very low level of sodium in the body. They admitted him to the hospital for the night so they could evaluate and test his levels to make sure he was starting to regain balance. They were concerned with his heart rate, liver function and wanted to keep an eye on breathing. Lovely. Scared mommy, scared daddy, sacred every body. We were a bit surprised he was so sick - but again, the pediatrician nailed it - he doesn't indicate when he is distressed.

Here is a pic of Daddy and Carson in the ER before he was admitted:

When we arrived to our room, I immediately realized we were in the exact same room during Alex's tonsillectomy nightmare. You can imagine the deja-vu. Crazy! As usual, Carson was a trooper, but of course he was scared and disoriented. He hated the IV and wanted to walk and move around and he was unable to do anything. Mommy and Carson had a very rough night - nurses and doctors came in every five minutes (it felt like it anyways) to check vitals, turn off the machines, etc. Here is what I saw that night:

There was my precious baby - in a hospital crib. There isn't anything more heartbreaking as a parent to see your baby connected to all kinds of tubes and stuck in a metal crib. Boo! Mommy was a little fragile. Daddy was amazing and tried to keep us together and strong. He is always our rock. The next morning was Mommy's (me) personal low. I was still sick and trying to recover and was alone and exhausted from a terrible night. The doc came in at 6:45 and told me his levels were still pretty bad and until his tests looked good AND he was eating, we weren't going anywhere.

Daddy showed up as soon as he dropped Alex off at school, and that was heaven for me. I needed a breather. I actually slept for an hour with doctors coming in and out. Nathan said it didn't seem to phase me. HA!

We started to see some progress -he started drinking on his own around noon. Thank goodness! How sweet is this little man?

Finally around 7:00pm, his levels bounced back to almost normal and he was drinking and eating a little bit. The doctors felt ready to release him. Praise the Lord! Here is a picture of us soooo happy to finally get to go home:

Thank you to our village for your thoughts and prayers during a very scary time. A special thank you to Monica for coming to pray with me at the hospital and a big thank you to my mom, YaYa for helping so much with keeping Alex calm and okay during the entire experience. I know she was a worried big sister. Okay...no more drama, please! Oh and when we walked into the house, Carson said, "We home!" Melted our hearts.