More firsts... clappin' and steppin'!

Again, it's been WAY too long since my last post, but life's been a bit crazy! I'm still waiting for it to return to 'normal'! Colby turned 10 months old on Grandma's birthday, October 7th! We celebrated with her at Thanksgiving with cake and everything. Yum! Happy birthday, Grandma! Colby was not liking his medicine, so it was a struggle three times a day to get it into him. Poor guy! He still wasn't sleeping well and back into a normal routine yet and seemed to be stuck on hospital routine, which included being woken up several times per night due to IV troubles, beeping, taking vitals, and then eating a bottle to get back to sleep. We are slowly getting better, but he's definitely not a great sleeper again yet! Hopefully we'll get there! Colby is going for an ultrasound tomorrow (Oct. 24th), as there is still one little bubble left from his illness and infection and they want to investigate a little more. There's a possibility of surgery, so hopefully we'll know more tomorrow! I'll keep you posted. We went to Logan's (aka Colby's girlfriend!) first birthday party last Saturday afternoon/evening. It was a lot of fun... so hard to believe that the babies from our Mom's Group are all having birthdays!! My, how time flies!! Colby cut another tooth on Sunday, October 19th, so he now has 6! 4 on the top and 2 on the bottom. No wonder he's eating everything in sight now! :) He continues to surprise us with new 'firsts' all of the time! He began clapping his hands earlier this week, which is SO adorable!!! I love it! He's so happy... and he especially claps his hands during mealtime. My child does love food, that's for sure!! AND... another huge first... Colby took his first steps today!! I picked him up from the dayhome this afternoon and Laura told me that he took 7 steps today!! WOW!! We've been practicing, but hasn't shown us any previous to this. I was kind of sad that I didn't see the first ones (and have been meaning to tell her not to tell us when big milestones happen!) but he took about 3 to me when I got there! So I still was able to see some steps on his first day! I guess that's bound to happen when he spends so much time there. SO exciting, so hopefully he continues to gain confidence and keep trying! I LOVE watching him grow up and do new things... although I wish time could slow down a little bit!!! I'm sure every parent feels the same way!
Anyway, work is going alright, with the exception of all of our illness issues the past few weeks. It's definitely been a rough start to the school year, but I'm so thankful to be so close to home and only drive a few minutes to work instead of the long commute out to Entwistle. I'm able to go back to school in the evenings after Colby goes to bed if I need to, which is really convenient. My assignment is tough this year, teaching two curriculums, but I'm just so thankful to be right in Stony Plain that it seems ok! Definitely worth being close for my baby! Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!
Love,
Gerry, Lesley and Colby

Tough little guy

As you can see, it's been quite a while since I've posted a blog entry... and most of you will know that it's because we've been at the Stollery Children's Hospital. It all started on Wednesday, Sept. 24th after Colby's bath, when I noticed a small bump on his bum. Nothing had changed in the morning, so I took him to the dayhome on Thursday morning as usual. I was called out of my class late morning to take a call from Laura. She said that Colby had a fever of 101.7 and just wasn't himself. He wasn't wanting to sit down at all, was 'glassy-eyed' and just cried a lot. Luckily, my school was very accommodating and let me leave right away to go and pick him up. I took him to the Stony Plain Emergency Room and waited for about 2 1/2 hours before being seen. His fever kept going up and down, but remained high. The lump on his bum did not improve... in fact, it continued to get worse (larger, redder, and more painful) with every passing hour. The Doctor believed it was an abcess, ordered a shot of morphine for the pain and referred us to the Stollery Children's Hospital right away. He wanted us to be transported by ambulance, but one was not available for a long time, so Kristy drove us in. Again, we waited, but eventually were seen in the Stollery ER where we were admitted right away. Colby's temperature was up to 104 by this time and his bum kept getting worse. It was absolutely amazing and scary to me how quickly it progressed. I'm so glad Laura caught it when she did. We ended up staying in Emergency overnight on Thursday, as there were no beds upstairs for us. It was a horrible night... doctors, surgeons, nurses, med. students coming in all hours of the night. Colby was hooked up to an IV with 3 antibiotics at first and was on heart and oxygen monitors, as well. They were talking surgery at one point to drain it, but there was no actual abcess that had formed... yet. They weren't sure if one would appear once the 7 doses of antibiotics per day started working and the swelling and inflamation began to subside. We were moved up to a room on the 5th floor (Pediatric Observation Unit) on Friday afternoon about 5:00 pm. Colby continued to improve a little bit everyday with the help of the 2 IV antibiotics. Although he had a great deal of trouble with the IV lines, including all 4 coming out and countless attempts including his hands, feet, arms, and scalp. Poor little guy... I can't imagine the type of discomfort and pain he was in. We have a great pediatrician, Dr. Dhunnoo, who will continue to see Colby as an outpatient now and follow-up with him. He did his rounds every morning and came to check on progress. Finally on Wednesday, Oct. 1st, after a failed attempt at a 5th IV, they had to move to oral antibiotics. He continued to improve a bit everyday and they finally discharged us on Thursday, Oct. 2nd, after 1 week of being there. We had to continue the oral antibiotics for 5 more days after arriving home. Colby and I are going to see Dr. Dhunnoo for a follow-up appointment this afternoon. He was thinking that Colby will probably be on medication for the next 2-3 months. If it's going to ensure this bacteria is gone and help to prevent something else, I'm fine with it. We'll see what he says today.
Sorry for the novel, but this was a big thing in Colby's life... not a good thing, but a big thing. He's getting back to his normal happy-go-lucky self and is playing with his toys at home again. I'm sure he was ecstatic to be at home and not confined to his hospital crib anymore. We are all trying to catch up on rest, including Mommy and Daddy... I stayed at the hospital 6 out of 7 nights with Colby. Thankfully, my mom was able to take some time off to help me out... it was very draining trying to keep him entertained and happy all day, especially toward the end when he was starting to feel better. I'm just thankful for the great things in my life... health, family, and love.

Lesley
xoxo