Of Care Packages And Trees And Forts And Hospitals

Watching a movie with sissy!

Opening up special packages from California!  Thank you Papa, Grammie, Auntie Holly and Katie girl!  It was like Christmas, three weeks early!

Six years of marriage and two children later, after talking about just about that long, we finallyl have a Christmas tree!  It is itsy, bitsy, just like our apartment but we are thrilled, especially Miss Chloe.  Mommy bought it, Daddy helped decorate it and Chloe rearranges it several times a day!

One pleased little girl

The Girl and the Tree

Like I said, it is tiny but we love it!

Chloe's favorite pastime, besides her kitchen, is making forts and watching movies inside!  Even little "brudder" enjoys it!

Remember this little tongue hanging out when you get to the story at the end of this post!

So starts our hospital story...one exhausted little boy all cuddled up in his huge hospital bed, sleeping, finally!

Noah's little "cubby" in ICU...

Loves from daddy during one of his short visits!

Trying to get a picture of the stitches on his tongue...remember the tongue hanging out?  Noah has been quite fascinated with his tongue the last several days and it is assumed when he catapulted out of his carseat last Friday (story to come, don't worry!) his little tongue was probably between his gums, hence the ugly slice and stitches.

One of our absolute favorite "technicas" in ICU, Tia Camila...we had wonderful, wonderful nurses and "techicas" (in Brazil the technicas are the ones that do most of the work it seems to me!  They are not nurses so I guess they are the USA equivelant of CNAs.  I call them all nurses.  We were blessed to have the best.  Camila was so good at entertaining Noah, that he did not even cry when she put in his new IV access, pictured here!  He had to have it done three times in 4 1/2 days because his tiny veins could not handle the access for more than a few hours.

Finally, late Monday night we were moved to the Pediatrics wing...the next step to being discharged.  We waited all.day.long on Monday for a room to open up in Pediatrics. Sigh.  

He's not the only one excited to go home!

 At 11:30ish on Friday morning, I went to pick up our little boy who was sitting contentedly in his carseat.  I had no idea the handle wasn't locked into place so when I picked the carseat up, his weight dipped the seat forward, throwing him out and on the floor face down.  If you are a mother, you probably can imagine my terror and desperation as I picked up the little body of my nearly 3 month old child.  Words cannot express my grief and horror: there was blood everywhere and I could see a nasty cut on his tongue.  I was more worried about his head, however.  Instinct took me across the hall and into the apartment of my neighbor who is a nurse.  She would, for the next several hours, be my angel of mercy and love.  After trying to call an ambulance, she figured we could get to the hospital in half the time it would take an ambulance to show up (got to love Sao Paulo city).  We ran to her car, me weeping and crying the whole way and Andreia begging me to keep Noah awake.  He had just nursed, so was sleepy anyway so that was my battle until we arrived at the closest health clinic.  Andreia's was battling the nearly noontime traffic.  We eventually ended up with a police escort, complete with flashing lights and traffic stopped to let us through.  If I would not have been so terrified, it would have truly been quite dramatic and nice to slip through the ever present traffic in our city.

Noah's first set of xrays and a doctor exam found us headed downtown Santo Andre, SP for stitches in Noah's poor little bleeding tongue at a public hospital that has a mouth specialist.  I learned lots of things through this horrific experience and one is tongues bleed profusely, just like heads.  I have no idea how they put those stitches but I know it took several people, with Andreia holding my little boy.  I was banished to the hard chairs outside the office after feeling that familiar feeling I get when blood and raw flesh are present. My mother in law finally caught up with us at this point and sat with me while Noah howled bloody murder on the other side of the door.  My brother in law, Wellington, sat with a sleeping Chloe in the car parked out on the street.  It was a hot, dry afternoon.  When Noah was delivered back into my arms, he was pale, shakey and sleepy.  More xrays were ordered after he vomited up untold amounts of blood after the stitches were finished.  More xrays showed no fractures but we were told he needed to be hospitalized for a couple days to keep an eye on him.  At this point, my MIL, Andreia and I all decided we would discharge ourselves from the public hospital and move a couple blocks away to a private hospital that my insurance would cover. Andreia left us at this point to go to work and Wellington took my MIL, Rosa, Noah and I to the hospital. Thus began our 4 1/2 day adventure.  More xrays and a MRI and by 8pm Friday evening, Noah was admitted to the Pediatrics ICU for observation and IV antibiotics.  The main concern was (for those of you who are medical professionals, please forgive my pitiful, non-medical way of explaining things...and please remember I am dealing with two languages, too!) the blood between the skull and brain from the intense impact of hitting tiled floor face down.  The doctors said if the Saturday morning MRI showed any increase at all, they would seriously consider surgery.  Praise Jesus it did not worsen and we continued in ICU after the 7am MRI on Saturday "just to keep an eye on him."

The slowness of the medical system makes me a little crazy (I feel we were there about three days too long), but we had excellent care and know God provided everything we needed and exactly when it was needed. Here are a few things I will especially remember:

How my little boy charmed everyone that came near him.  Nurses working on the other side of the ICU with the preemies (preemies are kept separate from children who come from the "outside") came to "meet the big boy we have heard about!"  Noah must have looked like an adult next to the itsy bitsy loves they work with all day!  He smiled and cooed at them all.

How tiny Noah looked in his huge bed.

How the text messages and phone calls flowed in.  How people who would never be allowed into visit, sat outside the ICU, praying and just there to help in any way they could.

How the FB messages promised prayers from hundreds of people.  I was incredibly humbled how many people told me "my church is praying!"

How I was able to have some good chats with Noah's only male nurse, a young man whose life's choices are vastly different than ours, but whom I came to have an immense amount of respect for.  He was amazing with Noah and an incredible nurse.

How God met me in that hospital during the many hours I sat alone next to Noah's bed.  Everson's visits were extremely limited, his grandparents even more so and no one else was allowed into the unit to visit.  So, for 4 1/2 days it was Noah, myself and his caregivers.  I read 2 books, watched my fill of CSI and Law & Order in English (that is significant because the few channels we get at home are NOT in English!), loved on my little man by the hours, singing and praying with him.  My two dear friends who are battling cancer right now were always on my heart and I realized what i was going through was so simple, so easy next to their journey.  I was grateful for the quiet time to pray often for Kerri and Joanne and their families.

There is so much more, but the sun has been asleep for hours now and so I will call it a night!  Thank you again for all the love, encouragement, prayers and support the last week.  We arrived home last night (Tuesday night) and fell into bed exhausted but oh.so.happy to be in our own beds.  God is good all the time. In everything, in every way.  Tomorrow is our follow up appointment with the neurologist.  Will keep you updated!

Good night and God bless each of you richly!