What a day...

This morning was Reese's tear duct surgery.  I had to get him to the hospital at 6:30 this morning.  He was not a happy camper.  They took us back and got him ready and then we had to wait because the Dr. was running a little late.  No big deal.  I talked to lots of nurses, the anesthesia team and finally Dr. Khammar (Reese's eye Dr.).  A lot of nurses peeked in because they heard he was so cute and had to see him.  :)  A little before 8 they wheeled him back.  I choked back tears and watched them wheel him down the hall.  He just laid in the bed and didn't cry which helped me.  Less than an hour later Dr. Khammar came out to tell me things went great.  The left duct was extremely blocked and the right was blocked a little less than the left.  The funny thing is once he was out of sight and in surgery I wasn't nervous any more.  I suppose that's because a lot of people were praying for us this morning.  If that was you, thank you.  It reminded me of the peace I felt when he had surgery last time.  It's a weird feeling to suddenly feel totally at peace with the situation. 

A few minutes later they came to get me because he was waking up.  That was the understatement of the century.  A nurse was holding him and 2 others were trying to get his vitals.  He was very agitated!  Once I held him he just cried.  He was asking about shoes for some reason.  He didn't wear shoes to the hospital so I really couldn't help him out.  About an hour later we were discharged.  The rest of the day he just didn't know what he wanted.  He stumbled around a lot so I couldn't really put him down.  I held him pretty much all day.  At one point he got off my lap and started picking up and throwing toys and trying to knock over the rocking chair.  Less than five minutes later he was laughing and trying to eat a banana. Wow.  Mood swings! 

He finally fell asleep on the couch at about 3:00 (we had been home since 10:30 or so-Ugh!).  He slept a little over an hour.  I thought he would pretty much have slept all day.  He woke up and we went to my mom and dad's house.  They kept Aiden and Noah overnight for us last night.  While we were there one of Reese's tubes came out of his eye.  I wish I was joking.  I felt sick.  I called and left a message for the dr.  We'll see what comes next.  We have a follow-up next Monday.  I don't know if we'll have to go in sooner.  I really hope not.  I'm really bummed!  Hopefully we don't have to do this all over again.

To add to the day it was my birthday.  Yep.  Some birthday.  Not that I really care about birthdays anymore, but really?  Let's hope the rest of 28 is much easier than the first day was!  :)

Good news

Yesterday I took Noah to see Dr. Wolf, his allergist.  It was really a follow-up for his asthma.  He put him on a new medication twice a day.  It seems like it's helping, which is great.  We went over the results of his blood test he had done last time we were there.  Tree nuts showed up mildly allergic, but he had already told us to avoid them anyways.  So, no change there.  He said that somehow sesame seeds didn't show up on the results, but that he shouldn't have them because the body sometimes mistakes them for peanuts (some sort of cross-reaction that happens).  My response was, "Oops.  He had them in a meal last week".  He was glad there was no reaction and said to just avoid them from now on.  He told me to be thankful this wasn't a soy allergy.  I am.  I am also thankful it's not wheat, milk or any of those other ingredients that seem to be in everything.  We reviewed when to use the epipen (pretty much if I have any suspicions that he's having a reaction).  He also did some skin testing for environmental allergies that could be triggering his asthma.  They all came back negatvie.  Hooray!!  No need to do daily allergy meds at this point.  He also looked at his tummy and back, which was a bit "bumpy".  He said it was his excema.  We need to stop using baby wash because the additives irritate his skin.  Sorry buddy, you got your mom's skin.  We have to wash him using unscented dove bar soap.  Yes, that was his specific recommendation.  All in all it was a great appointment.

On an allergy related note we decided to try to go out to eat somewhere other than a fast food place Friday night as a family.  This would be a first...going out to eat just the 5 of us.  After 20 minutes of researching where we could eat with Noah we came down to Chili's.  So, we loaded the boys into the van and got to Chili's.  It was a 20 minutes wait.  Nope.  Not happening.  There was no chance on earth we were waiting 20 minutes with 3 toddlers.  So, we went across the parking lot to McDonald's.  Sigh.  It was a good try.  This was the first time the boys at McDonald's.  They clearly thought this was the greatest thing ever.  I remembered why we eat healthy and felt like junk for a day or so.  Noah 's stomach didn't agree with it either.  Ugh.  Lesson learned. 

We had a great Easter.  We spent time with Nate's family after church and just relaxed.  We couldn't go to a good Friday service because they started too late.  I'll have to post a picture of the boys in their Easter outfits.  Hilarious.  That's all I can say.

Finally, I am looking forward to and dreading this coming Monday.  It's Reese's eye surgery to unclog his tear ducts.  It's not the surgery that bothers me, it's the anethesia.  He had a hard time waking up last time.  Granted he was 5 weeks old and 6 pounds, but still.  I have been doing a lot of praying for peace and would appreciate all the prayers I can get for this.  He has a pre-surgery physical Friday afternoon and then Monday we have to be at the hospital at 7:15.  I'm not a morning person, but I'm glad we're getting it done right away.  I'll be sure to post about the surgery as soon as I can.

These 3 little boys never cease to amaze me. Lately they have been talking up a storm. Unfortunately that means they have gotten quite bossy as well. There is a lot of "Hey! No, no!" and "Stop it!" going around, to each other and to Lue. Poor dog used to have such a peaceful life. On the up side they are communicating their needs more and more. Noah recently learned to say, "thirsties". For some reason he makes everything plural...perhaps because he's a multiple. :) A favorite of mine is "Peek-boo!" and "See you!" Most things are still just one word: cup, mama (usually yelled), daddy, Lue, doggy, and so many other words. They are starting to say each other's names more too. Aiden is still the name they struggle with. It's so much fun to watch them learning so much, so fast. I remember preparing myself for the fact that they would probably be behind in certain things. They most certainly are not. They actually talk a lot for their age. Our pediatrician has always been so amazed by them. I only wish learning things didn't also include them poking my eyes and saying "eye" or jabbing my belly and saying "baby". They haven't quite mastered the art of being gentle. They also seem to think that belly buttons are babies. :) We've been working on abc's and counting lately and they are really starting pick that up as well. They sing a little bit of their abc's and say 2 and 3 and occasionally another number.

This week is the last quiet week around here for a while. In the next 3 or 4 weeks I have my glucose tolerance test (a test to determine whether or not you have gestational diabetes), at least 1 dr. appt. for myself, Noah's allergist, Reese's pre-sugery physical, Reese's surgery and his follow-up appt. It will be busy for sure. I had to schedule an appointment with Noah's allergist because his asthma has been bad the last couple of weeks. They put him on a lose dose of medicine that we have to use in his nebulizer twice a day. He didn't mind the first couple of days, but hasn't been so thrilled to do it the past couple of days. I'm sure he'll get used to it being a part of his life.

Other than that we've just been not so patiently waiting for warmer weather. 3 little boys (and 1 mom) have bad cabin fever! They pull their little chairs up to the window and just look out. Hopefully soon we can actually be outside and not freeze or get wet and muddy. Hopefully...

Reese's eyes and more sick boys

It's been a couple of weeks since I took Reese to the eye dr.  I haven't had a chance to update what happened because 3 little boys have been so crazy and have been sick as well.  Anyways....at the appointment the dr. said that based on what I told him he probably does have clogged tear ducts and they will need to be surgically opened.  (sigh)  We scheduled his surgery for April 8.  It will be a fairly short procedure, but he'll need to be put completely under because of his age.  Please say a  lot of prayers for me as watching him go into surgery will be hard.  It sure brings back a lot of memories.  I know things turned out great the last time, but it's still hard.  During the appointment they also did a routine eye check.  They found out that he is quite far-sighted.  Awesome.  They said that there is discussion around the country going on about whether or not to give glasses at this age.  They asked if we would enroll him in a study for other kids who are far-sighted.  I of course said we would.  They should be calling to enroll him soon.  There is a 50/50 chance he will get glasses for the study.  They will compare the results of the kids who get glasses and the kids who don't over 3 years.  The best part is they will pay us for each visit and if he needs glasses they pay for it. 

Also in the past couple of weeks the boys have had a nasty cough.  Aiden ended up with a fever so the dr. had me bring him in.  The fever ended up being a result of a bad ear infection.  He really wasn't messing with his ear, so I was surprised.  She usually doesn't do anything for ear infections, but she gave him Amoxicillin for it.  He's finally better after about a week and a half.  Noah and Reese just today are starting to feel better after almost 2 weeks.  Poor Noah gets the worst of the coughs because of his asthma.  I will probably call his allergist who mentioned trying to put him on "maintenance medication" for asthma instead of waiting for him to need albuterol as a breathing treatment when the asthma happens.

Finally, if you can all stop and say a prayer for my brother (Andy) I would very much appreciate it.  He had an accident at work this week and seriously injured his eye.  He had emergency surgery on it.  At this point he was only able to see some light in that eye.  We are still praying for a miracle and that more sight will be restored.  We have seen some amazing things happen before and believe it's possible.  He has a long road of recovery ahead and could use a lot of prayers for patience and understanding.  I know many people pray for us all of the time, but this one could use top priority right now.

The allergist, the eye Dr. (x2) and and ultrasound

The past week has been totally crazy around here (to say the very least).  I'm writing at the speed of light because the boys are temporarily distracted by tv.  Some days I wish they liked tv so that I could leave them for 10 minutes without them getting into something.  They learned how to open the baby gates and get in the kitchen.  That means they get into lots of drawers and this morning, while I was upstairs getting their clothes, they ate out of the garbage.  (sigh)  The things that happen in our house are sometimes unbelievable.

I'll start with the appointment to the allergist.  It was long.  The Dr. stressed how severe Noah's allergy is.  He said that he should never be around anything peanut related.  He had his blood tested to see if he is allergic to tree nuts as well, but advised us to just stay away from them.  Peanuts and tree nuts are usually around each other at some point in their "life" and it's just not worth the risk.  He also gave us a prescription for a new type of epipen that just came out.  It's an epipen that talks to you through what to do should you have to use it.  He promised me that if I ever have to use it I will panic.  :)  I'm sure he's right!  It also makes it easier for someone else who is babysitting him to use.  He told us that Noah cannot go into the church nursery.  It's too much of a risk.  So, sorry to everyone at our church.  Ha!  He is so loud!  The past 2 weeks we walked about with him and just walked around.  He also said that Noah would qualify as a kid who has asthma and we may need to treat the asthma regularly and not just when he has an episode.  He has some excema on his cheeks as well.  Poor kid.  At the end he sent us upstairs for blood work.  It stunk.  They took blood from both arms and still didn't get enough.  They decided they could work with what they did get.  I left feeling thankful though, and here's why.  The allergy and immunology department is on the same floor as oncology ( which is behind closed doors).  I could have sat and wept thinking about the parents on the other side of the door.  I sat and prayed for them and thanked God that it's not us.  Our problems are so manageable. 

I also had to take Noah to the eye Dr. on Monday.  That was a LONG appointment.  We were there for 2 1/2 hours.  This Dr. is awesome, but you wait a long time.  He only sees kids and kids don't always cooperate.  He said Noah's eyes still look good and we can come in a year for a re-check.  I mentioned that we were making an appointment for Reese because our pediatrician thinks he has clogged tear ducts.  When I explained what was going on he agreed that they probably are clogged.  He said he will most likely need a little surgery to fix that.  We got an appointment for next month.  This morning they called and asked if we could come tomorrow.  They had a cancellation and Dr. Khammar wants to see him sooner than a month so we can take care of this.  Thankfully my sister-in-law can watch Noah and Aiden so I can take Reese.

Now for some exciting news.  We had an ultrasound last Friday.  The baby looks great.  The tech. said she was 95% sure of the gender, but couldn't get good picture because a foot was in the way.  She said she knows what she saw though.  So, it's time for some more changes in the Brouwer house.  It's a GIRL!!  :)  Change has certainly become the new normal for us!  We are excited to welcome a little girl into this crazy house.

Home sweet home

We were finally able to bring Noah home last night.  Monday night was extremely long.  By 9:00 Monday morning I just wanted to cry!  Nate and I slept about 2 hours total, so we were exhausted.  He just happens to be working on a building at the University of Chicago, so he went to work in the morning.  They gave Noah his Benadryl and off he went.  He ran up and down the halls and they let him play with the toys in the lobby area on his floor.  He drank a lot, but didn't really eat so I didn't even have a few minutes of him sitting in order to eat. 

The team of doctors came around to do rounds and the attending smiled at me and said, "I remember you!"  She was the pediatrician who saw Reese at 5 weeks old when he was in the hospital.  That is why we go to Comer.  The staff is incredible.  She used Noah as a teaching moment because sometimes anaphylaxis looks like an asthma attack.  That's exactly what I thought was happening.  She also used him as a teaching moment because Benadryl makes him hyper instead of tired.  Somehow our boys always ended up being used as a teaching moment for medical students and residents.  Glad we can be helpful!  They advised us to get rid of anything nut-related in our house and none of us can even have peanut butter again.  I was pretty bummed.  They said that this would be a lifelong allergy that we will have to learn how to manage.  The attending doctor, Dr. Park, came by later to talk to me alone.  She said with this severe of an allergy we can't be too careful.  Next time it could be much worse.  We have to educate everyone he comes into contact with about the severity and the steps that need to be taken in case it does happen.  So for now he can't even be in the church nursery.  We need to make everyone aware first.  She gave us the okay to take him downstairs to their giant play room. He played like crazy for about an hour.  He had such a great time.  I took him back up and forced him to sit down long enough to sleep after that.  We had to wait to hear back from the allergist about what to do next.  Finally he called back and said take blood and send him home.  We got the blood drawn and at 5:00 we were discharged.  We had to go to the pharmacy right away to get his epipen so that we have it in case of emergency.  We finally got home a little before 7:00.  It took until about 9:00 to get them settled and to sleep.  I don't even remember laying down to go to sleep.  I just fell into bed with Nate already having fallen asleep.  Noah slept great all night.  It was really hard to not go in and check on him constantly.

Today my mom came and helped me go through every bit of food in the house.  We didn't have to get rid of quite as much as I thought, but there were some surprises.  We can no longer buy bread or buns at Aldi because they're manufactured along with snacks that contain nuts.  There is a lot of learning to do and a lot of questions to ask.  We see an allergist on the 19th to discuss the plan of action and do some allergy testing.  The Dr. is from Comer, but we have to see him at La Rabida hospital in Chicago.  They also partner with Children's Memorial (now Lurie).  It's a specialty hospital, so I'm sure we'll be in the best hands possible.  Dr. Wolf is the allergist we are seeing.  He is the chief of allergy and immunology at U of C as well.  I am so incredibly thankful that we live close to such amazing hospitals.  What an unbelievable blessing! 

A severe allegy = a hospital stay

Yesterday for lunch I decided to try something new with the boys.  I gave them peanut butter and jelly.  Our pediatician advised us to wait until 18 months because of allergies, so we did.  They all seemed to really enjoy it.

About an hour later Noah was coughing almost non-stop.  He had been running around a lot so I figured it was just asthma and got out his nebulizer.  While giving him his nebulizer he was itching his eyes a lot. A friend from church was over and noticed that they were swelling.  We realized it was from the peanut butter.  I called the Dr. right away to see if we should go in or give him Benadryl.  He said Bendryl, unless he's having trouble breathing.  I told him he was coughing and it sounded like asthma. He said to get him the Benadryl right away.  So I gave him Benadryl.  Unfortunately it didn't make him tired, it made him hyper.  It seemed to help.  After about 3 hours he started coughing again and his face was puffing up.  I called the Dr. again and he said the same thing as before.  I always feel like as a parent it is so hard to know what to do.  I hate to overreact.  So we gave him one more round of Benadryl to see how he would do.  He was no better.
We headed straight to the University of Chicago.  They took us right in and soon he was getting hives all over.  They agreed that it was a tough call, but we made the right decision. They gave him more Benadryl and a shot of epinepherine.  It made him crazy!  He was like a mad man running around the room.  :)  It helped though. We got the last room in the hospital so they could observe him.  Hopefully after a long, mostly sleepless night he does well all morning and we can go home.  He still needs constant Benadryl.  He will also go home with an epipen because the allergy is considered severe.  We also have to follow up with an allergist.
We've learned a lot already.  I didn't realize an allergy could be delayed and continue to get worse.  I didn't realize coughing could be a sign of a serious reaction.  I feel very uninformed.  We have a lot to learn!  For now we're just very thankful he is okay.