There really IS no place like home

So in case you haven't heard, we are back home after two nights in the hospital.

All hell broke loose on Monday night. I was getting the Chunk ready for bed. Chunk hasn't been feeling too great since this past weekend but honestly, it's just kind of going around so we've been riding it out. He felt a little feverish and he was mighty cranky, so I was putting him down for the night when he scared the cookies out of me.

Basically, Colin had a febrile seizure around 8:40 Monday night. One second we were putting on his pajamas and the next, his whole body went rigid and started to shake. In five years I've had three kids and never in my entire life have I been so frightened. I don't know how long it lasted, maybe 30 seconds. But it felt like forever. He couldn't cry. He couldn't breathe....he just shook with his body all tight and his eyes scrunched up. Then all of a sudden, it stopped. The poor baby gasped in a big breath and just absolutely started to howl.

Needless to say, we beat a path to the ER. Skippy is out of town this week so on the way up the hill I dropped off the girls with a Google friend and we were in triage by 9:00. After three hours and several tests, they told me that Chunk had RSV.

RSV is pretty scary stuff. In adults, it manifests as a bad cold. In itty bitty babies it's extremely dangerous. For most kids it's miserable at its best and scary at its worst. There were actually two other babies at the hospital being treated for the exact same thing and of the three, Chunk was by far the best off but that's not saying much. He still needed to have round the clock breathing treatments and 24 hour monitoring. He received extra fluids via IV and spent some time in the oxygen tent to keep his numbers up.

Probably the worst times where the ones when he was getting an IV and having blood drawn - no one likes to see their baby being held down by two big strong male nurses while he screams. The IV was the worst - the first time they stuck him three times before I'd had enough. They did eventually get one in, which was good because RSV can cause major dehydration but it still sucked like no body's business.

But I'm getting off track. Back to Monday night - for a little while in the ER, things kind of went downhill. I realized that the baby would be admitted to the hospital and went into major mommy-panic-mode trying to figure out what to do since Skippy was out of town. Then the help started rolling in. It was going on eleven o'clock at night when my dear friend Katy called and told me to stop worrying, that she and Crystal (who was watching the girls at the time) had everything under control and would coordinate getting them from Crystal's house to Katy's, where they could spend the night.

And that was just the start of an amazing trend. Our friends, neighbors, and co-workers started calling, emailing, instant messaging, and otherwise tracking us down and offering to help. For the last three days, I've only had to leave the hospital twice - once on Tuesday morning to get the girls off to school and once on Tuesday night to shower, grab clean clothes for everyone, and drop off overnight bags for both Banana and Kbear with the friends they were staying with. In between I was able to be with the baby for every chest x-ray, breathing treatment, vitals check, needle stick, and snot suck. He received fluids by IV and spent some time in the oxygen tent but overall he did very well. I can't say I slept well in the hospital recliner, but we managed and they fed me, which is always a bonus.

I have to give credit where it's due. I can't say thank you enough to Crystal, Katy and Aaron, our dear long time family friend Dana, Nicole and Kevin next door, and last but not least, Laura who may find herself with a Kbear on her doorstep since she told me she wanted to stay there FOREVER when I picked her up this morning. You all contributed to keeping our spirits up, but those are the folks who were able to actually step in and help out with the girls, feeding them, hosting them overnight, and in general freeing me up to stay where I belonged, with the Chunk and allowing Skippy to stay down at Google HQ, knowing that we were all in good hands.

When we moved here I left almost my entire family behind. It was very emotional and challenging for me. But this experience has taught me that we have an amazing family here - one that is not related to us by blood but that will pitch in and help out whenever it's needed with a generous spirit that far exceeds anything I could have ever imagined. We are truly in your debt.

While I sit here and type the Chunker is sleeping in his crib. He seems content. I think it's going to be a week of PJ pants, Papa Murphy's pizza, and movies but it's good to be home. Our love to EVERYONE for your prayers!