Stephen's in the hospital :(

So... me, Patrick and Stephen all had a touch of something involving a slight fever and colds... After I thought Stephen's was gone, he got another fever and a nice ballooning of his lymphnodes under his chin. I called the dr's after-hours office and they thought like me, that it was due to his cold and should go down soon. Sunday, I called again and they said if it doesn't go down by morning to take him in.

Yesterday, we went into the "InstaCare" urgent care facility, after waiting 2 hours, paying $60, they let me know they couldn't help us and he needed to go to the emergency room. Luckily, they refunded me...

ER for 6 hours, an ultrasound and blood tests proved he didn't have an abscess, so luckily, he wouldn't need surgery... BUT the 3 things they look for to know about infections proved to be in really high levels, so we needed to stay over night. It didn't improve, in fact 2 of those 3 things got worse. They also started a culture to see if there was bacteria present and I was just notified that there is, so we get to stay another night and maybe more, depending on his rate of improvement.

Stephen has been his happy self since Saturday and throughout the process (except for the tough testing times and having the IV)... so the doctors and nurses keep saying we should be able to go home soon. I keep thinking to myself, he was NEVER any different... so I don't like them judging him to be improving when he's just a stinkin' happy kid. He's named after Steve Irwin and I feel it's so appropriate more and more the older he gets. He's really kind, talkative and energetically happy.

Luckily, they began detaching his IV from the tubes in between administration of the antibiotics, so he can move around. Up until 2 hours ago, that wasn't the case. Being on the Pediatrics level is tugging at my heart constantly, hearing babies and children cry off and on through the day and night. Every mom would rather take the place of their child than see them suffer... I want to cry every time I have to hold him down for the doctors or nurses to do something (take a blood test).

I am so grateful for the health we've been blessed with as a family and this is just another reminder to me that many people aren't so lucky. I'm just glad we have the technology and resources to find and treat these problems quickly. Your prayers would be appreciated, but if you want any updates, just turn to Matthew or this blog. If there's anything substantial, I'll put it here. Love you all!