Most people know by now that a couple of weeks ago was pretty hectic in the Lyle household…to say the least. The week included a trip to the pediatrician, the hospital, the urgent care, and a cardiologist. But now that both kids are taking antibiotics and Davis is taking steroids, I think I can safely say we are on the road to recovery. Since Davis is now on steroids, we can finally blame his temper tantrums on ‘roid rage and he may be really buff the next time you see him.
Davis was admitted to the hospital last Monday night because he was diagnosed with RSV (which stands for respiratory…something…virus) and having a difficult time breathing. His blood-ox was at 90 and I don’t know what much of it means, but I know it must have been somewhat serious, because we didn’t spend much time in the waiting room of the ER, despite dozens of people ahead of us. We only had to stay in the hospital for two nights, but I can honestly say that it felt like 2 weeks. The hardest part was seeing him hooked up to all of those machines, and trying to prevent him from strangling himself with all the cords. By day 2, he just wanted to walk around and play…and it is just not all that easy to keep a one-year old confined to a 3x2 foot space. The good news is that this experience allowed me to discover a few more betcha didn’t know’s about myself.
Betcha Didn’t Know #20: I am not the person you want around you when there is an emergency. I always knew I didn’t like blood or pain, but when the blood or pain is directly related to someone I know or love, I completely freak out…and I mean that in the most serious way. I don’t know what hour it was in the hospital, but Davis was getting restless, wanted to be held, and wasn’t shy about letting everyone know it. Right after I picked him up out of the crib (which actually looked more like a cage), I noticed what I thought was his diaper leaking. It turns out it was not his diaper, he had pulled his IV out, and blood was shooting everywhere. At that point, I say (in a calm and rationale voice, of course)…Jeff, push the nurse button. However, when the nurse didn’t show up in the next 2.7 seconds, I turned hysterical... JEFF, PUSH THE NURSE BUTTON! WHERE’S THE NURSE? WHAT DO I DO? WHERE’S THE NURSE? HE’S BLEEDING OUT! (okay, technically, I don’t know what that means, but I also didn’t know how much blood a baby holds). The nurse did finally come to the rescue, although she wasn’t able to speak much English. After the nurse left, Jeff and I just sat there in amazement thinking of what could have happened had we not picked him up, and he just lay there and bled. That was the Night #1. After that whole incident, I went to sleep and got a decent amount of rest considering… I was on a couch next to a freezing cold window, sleeping in a shirt covered in puke, blood, and juice, and completely stressed about the well-being of my baby and competency of his nurses. 
Betcha Didn't Know #21 - If you are ever in the hospital, I am the person you want at your bedside guarding you from the nurses. Before this brief hospital stay with Davis, I loved the hospital (see previous Betcha Didn't Know #8). I thought the nurse button was the greatest invention ever! I have since changed my opinion. The nurse button is only the greatest invention ever if the nurse is smart. Let's just say the night nurses on the pediatric floor left a lot to be desired. Plus, there are two major differences when you are not the patient; lack of sympathy, and lack of people waiting on your every need. I just didn't think I could get away with requesting ice chips for myself. There is no coordination whatsoever between the doctor, the pulmonary specialist, the respiratory nurses, the regular nurses and the cleaning staff. During the day, it mattered less that someone was walking in the room every 20 minutes. But by 1am on the second night, I was worn out, and when the regular (non-English speaking) night nurse suggested we wake him up to suction his nose (what???), I politely suggested we not. Okay, so it might not have been polite, but let me remind you, it was 1am, and unlike her, I hadn’t just gotten off my lunch break. She then suggested again that we should, and named a few reasons why. I then suggested again that we not, and named a few reasons of my own...He's sleeping...His stats are fine...It took my two hours to get him to sleep when it normally takes 30 seconds...The respiratory nurses would be in the room in 40 minutes to do a breathing treatment and suck his nose...No...Walk away...Bye-Bye. I felt a little bad, but at that point I was thinking that if it was really imperative and life-threatening for his nose to be sucked out at exactly 1am, there would have been at least one machine beeping.
Betcha Didn't Know #22 - I am an impatient person (most people know that), but my impatience is magnified when I waiting for a prescription to be filled. I am a pharmacist's worst nightmare. It's not that I don't respect what they do...counting is hard...it's just that I don't understand what takes so darn long. I am sure they double check and triple check every order. But every month it baffles me as to why it takes 25 minutes to "process" something that is already in a package and doesn't need to be counted. Since I know this weakness about myself, I try to eliminate frustration by having the doctor's office fax the prescription to avoid waiting. So, you can only imagine how aggravated I was when I left the doctors office and ran three errands before arriving at the pharmacy (that will go unnamed but rhymes with EVS) only to be told it would be another 25 minutes, and I needed to "pull around" and get behind the other 3 cars in line. I opted instead to go inside so that nothing could get in the way of my glaring dissatisfaction. If looks could kill, poor Davis would have never received his steroids because there would have been a dead pharmacist delaying things even further.
Betcha Didn't Know #23 - I regret both of the boys names. It's not that I don't like the names. I do. And I think that Hayden looks like a Hayden, and Davis looks like a Davis. It's just that knowing what I know now, I would probably name them both something different. What bugs me with the name Hayden is just the number of friends he has with a name that rhymes with his. Aiden lives across the street, Braden is in his Sunday-School class, Jayden is in that new movie, and Caden is becoming more popular. I just didn't grow up with an Isa or a Bisa, so it just seems weird to me. Then with Davis...I knew a guy in high school named Davis so I didn't really think much about it being an unusual name. Anyone watching The Real World-Denver knows why I originally started second-guessing my name choice, but the hospital stay brought it to a whole new level. I honestly didn't realize I gave him a first name that sounds like a last name and a last name that sounds like a first name until our stay in the hospital. Every nurse, doctor, and hospital administrator thought they were treating Lyle Davis all week long. I stopped correcting them, because they all change shifts so often. I have a feeling that's not the last time I will be called Ms. Davis. Oops. My fault, I guess.
Other Tid-Bits For Ya
Hayden has mastered potty training, but he’s trained too well. Someone trained him to put the seat down. Sounds like a good thing…and it is, except that he likes to go a step further and put the lid down as well. This has not been a problem until recently when I got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. I will spare you the details, but we seriously need to break him of that habit.
Hayden is also going through a phase of criminal mischief. Stealing, that is. So far, we are up to three incidents. He’s only stealing the basic necessities in life…you know, a marble, a toy car, etc. After the first incident, we marched him back into his class (we actually let him walk normally, but you get the point) and had him give the marble back and apologize. His sweet teacher kindly explained the difference between borrowing and stealing. He nodded and dodged eye contact and we went on about our lives for the next two weeks believing the phase was over. Then yesterday, a noise in the dryer led us to re-examine the situation. We found a domino and knew Hayden was up to his bad habits again. Wish us luck that we can get through this without the cops being called out.
Davis surprises us daily with the new tricks he learns. He now puts his cup in the sink at school, points to his nose, says 'uh-oh', 'no-no', and signs 'more'. And speaking of 'more', he wants more of everything. More can refer to anything from tickling to cookies, but when he signs it, he expects us to respond in seconds. Our short stay in the hospital didn't do anything for his patience either. He came out of there even more spoiled than when he went in. But seriously, who wouldn't pick up his sippy cup 632 times, after seeing him all tied down with cords and IV's?
Davis was admitted to the hospital last Monday night because he was diagnosed with RSV (which stands for respiratory…something…virus) and having a difficult time breathing. His blood-ox was at 90 and I don’t know what much of it means, but I know it must have been somewhat serious, because we didn’t spend much time in the waiting room of the ER, despite dozens of people ahead of us. We only had to stay in the hospital for two nights, but I can honestly say that it felt like 2 weeks. The hardest part was seeing him hooked up to all of those machines, and trying to prevent him from strangling himself with all the cords. By day 2, he just wanted to walk around and play…and it is just not all that easy to keep a one-year old confined to a 3x2 foot space. The good news is that this experience allowed me to discover a few more betcha didn’t know’s about myself.
Betcha Didn’t Know #20: I am not the person you want around you when there is an emergency. I always knew I didn’t like blood or pain, but when the blood or pain is directly related to someone I know or love, I completely freak out…and I mean that in the most serious way. I don’t know what hour it was in the hospital, but Davis was getting restless, wanted to be held, and wasn’t shy about letting everyone know it. Right after I picked him up out of the crib (which actually looked more like a cage), I noticed what I thought was his diaper leaking. It turns out it was not his diaper, he had pulled his IV out, and blood was shooting everywhere. At that point, I say (in a calm and rationale voice, of course)…Jeff, push the nurse button. However, when the nurse didn’t show up in the next 2.7 seconds, I turned hysterical... JEFF, PUSH THE NURSE BUTTON! WHERE’S THE NURSE? WHAT DO I DO? WHERE’S THE NURSE? HE’S BLEEDING OUT! (okay, technically, I don’t know what that means, but I also didn’t know how much blood a baby holds). The nurse did finally come to the rescue, although she wasn’t able to speak much English. After the nurse left, Jeff and I just sat there in amazement thinking of what could have happened had we not picked him up, and he just lay there and bled. That was the Night #1. After that whole incident, I went to sleep and got a decent amount of rest considering… I was on a couch next to a freezing cold window, sleeping in a shirt covered in puke, blood, and juice, and completely stressed about the well-being of my baby and competency of his nurses. Betcha Didn't Know #21 - If you are ever in the hospital, I am the person you want at your bedside guarding you from the nurses. Before this brief hospital stay with Davis, I loved the hospital (see previous Betcha Didn't Know #8). I thought the nurse button was the greatest invention ever! I have since changed my opinion. The nurse button is only the greatest invention ever if the nurse is smart. Let's just say the night nurses on the pediatric floor left a lot to be desired. Plus, there are two major differences when you are not the patient; lack of sympathy, and lack of people waiting on your every need. I just didn't think I could get away with requesting ice chips for myself. There is no coordination whatsoever between the doctor, the pulmonary specialist, the respiratory nurses, the regular nurses and the cleaning staff. During the day, it mattered less that someone was walking in the room every 20 minutes. But by 1am on the second night, I was worn out, and when the regular (non-English speaking) night nurse suggested we wake him up to suction his nose (what???), I politely suggested we not. Okay, so it might not have been polite, but let me remind you, it was 1am, and unlike her, I hadn’t just gotten off my lunch break. She then suggested again that we should, and named a few reasons why. I then suggested again that we not, and named a few reasons of my own...He's sleeping...His stats are fine...It took my two hours to get him to sleep when it normally takes 30 seconds...The respiratory nurses would be in the room in 40 minutes to do a breathing treatment and suck his nose...No...Walk away...Bye-Bye. I felt a little bad, but at that point I was thinking that if it was really imperative and life-threatening for his nose to be sucked out at exactly 1am, there would have been at least one machine beeping.Betcha Didn't Know #22 - I am an impatient person (most people know that), but my impatience is magnified when I waiting for a prescription to be filled. I am a pharmacist's worst nightmare. It's not that I don't respect what they do...counting is hard...it's just that I don't understand what takes so darn long. I am sure they double check and triple check every order. But every month it baffles me as to why it takes 25 minutes to "process" something that is already in a package and doesn't need to be counted. Since I know this weakness about myself, I try to eliminate frustration by having the doctor's office fax the prescription to avoid waiting. So, you can only imagine how aggravated I was when I left the doctors office and ran three errands before arriving at the pharmacy (that will go unnamed but rhymes with EVS) only to be told it would be another 25 minutes, and I needed to "pull around" and get behind the other 3 cars in line. I opted instead to go inside so that nothing could get in the way of my glaring dissatisfaction. If looks could kill, poor Davis would have never received his steroids because there would have been a dead pharmacist delaying things even further.
Betcha Didn't Know #23 - I regret both of the boys names. It's not that I don't like the names. I do. And I think that Hayden looks like a Hayden, and Davis looks like a Davis. It's just that knowing what I know now, I would probably name them both something different. What bugs me with the name Hayden is just the number of friends he has with a name that rhymes with his. Aiden lives across the street, Braden is in his Sunday-School class, Jayden is in that new movie, and Caden is becoming more popular. I just didn't grow up with an Isa or a Bisa, so it just seems weird to me. Then with Davis...I knew a guy in high school named Davis so I didn't really think much about it being an unusual name. Anyone watching The Real World-Denver knows why I originally started second-guessing my name choice, but the hospital stay brought it to a whole new level. I honestly didn't realize I gave him a first name that sounds like a last name and a last name that sounds like a first name until our stay in the hospital. Every nurse, doctor, and hospital administrator thought they were treating Lyle Davis all week long. I stopped correcting them, because they all change shifts so often. I have a feeling that's not the last time I will be called Ms. Davis. Oops. My fault, I guess.
Other Tid-Bits For Ya
Hayden has mastered potty training, but he’s trained too well. Someone trained him to put the seat down. Sounds like a good thing…and it is, except that he likes to go a step further and put the lid down as well. This has not been a problem until recently when I got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. I will spare you the details, but we seriously need to break him of that habit.
Hayden is also going through a phase of criminal mischief. Stealing, that is. So far, we are up to three incidents. He’s only stealing the basic necessities in life…you know, a marble, a toy car, etc. After the first incident, we marched him back into his class (we actually let him walk normally, but you get the point) and had him give the marble back and apologize. His sweet teacher kindly explained the difference between borrowing and stealing. He nodded and dodged eye contact and we went on about our lives for the next two weeks believing the phase was over. Then yesterday, a noise in the dryer led us to re-examine the situation. We found a domino and knew Hayden was up to his bad habits again. Wish us luck that we can get through this without the cops being called out.
Davis surprises us daily with the new tricks he learns. He now puts his cup in the sink at school, points to his nose, says 'uh-oh', 'no-no', and signs 'more'. And speaking of 'more', he wants more of everything. More can refer to anything from tickling to cookies, but when he signs it, he expects us to respond in seconds. Our short stay in the hospital didn't do anything for his patience either. He came out of there even more spoiled than when he went in. But seriously, who wouldn't pick up his sippy cup 632 times, after seeing him all tied down with cords and IV's?
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