First Emergency Room Visit

I don't believe you feel like a parent until you have rushed your child to the ER. Ryon and I are officially feeling like parents now. Monday night around 7 pm we were playing in the garage while Ryon made some shelves for Mason's room when all of the sudden Mason just started crying. Mason only cries when he's hungry, sick, or just plain mad at you so this startled us. He had been climbing on a few things in the garage which is normal these days. This particular night it had been Ryon's new riding lawn mower and a chair in the garage. I thought he may be crying because he was tired since he didn't nap as long that day. We took him back to get him ready for bed and when changing his diaper we noticed a huge golf ball sized bulge above his "little boyhood" My immediate thought was a hernia, which I have no idea why because I have no experience in the hernia category whatsoever. I called our Dr. and the nurse called me right back. We went to the West Campus ER and had a few tests run. The morphine made him sick, yes he threw up all his chicken spaghetti from dinner....so gross. But he was calm. After the ultrasound they did an x ray and sent everything to the Dr. in Lubbock. The Dr here was able to push down the bulge relieving so much pain for Mason. We left there about 11:30 pm, headed home to pack a bag and then drove to Lubbock. We got to Covenant Children's about 2:30 am. The staff was waiting for us, our room was ready and I couldn't have been happier with the service we received. Mason was fine at this point. He was running around the hospital like normal. I told him that he better start acting sick because we didn't rush him here for nothing :) Once they put the IV in though his attitude changed. He hated it, he hated his crib, just one unhappy camper. About 3:30 am we finally were settling down in our bed and he wouldn't calm himself so I found myself curled up in the crib with him. Yes, I am 31 weeks pregnant, laying in a hospital crib with Mason. I'm sure it was a sight for sore eyes! Ryon had to help me up in the bed and then lock us in so I didn't roll out. Haha. I lasted about an hour and half but then my leg pain was too much to handle and I had to get outta there. (my leg has really been hurting lately with pregnancy) Ryon was able to sleep a little bit, probably an hour on the pull out couch. As I sat there watching Mason sleep in his bed, I just prayed a prayer of thanksgiving for having a healthy child. I prayed for all the mom's and dad's that sit in hospital rooms with their children on a daily basis as their child fights illness. My heart just ached for Mason and the other's. About 7 am the Surgeon came in and said we were in luck and that they weren't too busy that morning and would fit us in pretty quick. We were in surgery by 8:30 am. The surgery took about an hour and half and then were were back in the room with Mason. I learned a bit about his hernias. Basically when a little boys testicles descend during pregnancy they leave small tubes in the body. When stretched or moved wrong, the intestine gets caught in this area. That's the bulge we saw. So they fixed the two spots in him and he shouldn't have this problem again. Mason was pretty fussy during recovery, then got a fever, then slept. When he woke, he was fine. Once they took the IV out was when he was our old Mason again. We had to wait FOREVER for a hot dog to be delivered to our room so we could get him to eat something. He ate that and ice cream and apple juice just like normal. We headed home about 5 on Tuesday night. I was so thankful we didn't have to stay another night. By the time we got home he was running around the house climbing on everything he normally does. He slept all night and so did we. We were exhausted. He's been fine all morning and is sleeping now.It's truly amazing how kids just bounce back from things like this. It hurts me just watching him doing everything knowing he has two little cuts on him that aren't healed yet...

We have been overwhelmed by everyone's prayers and concerns and sweet gestures thru all of this. At these times you learn who really cares about you and we are just so thankful for all the calls, texts, facebook messages...everything. We are getting back to normal much faster than expected. I need a few naps and good night sleeps and then I'll feel better I think. (As good as a 31 week prego with a super active 16 month old can feel at least)

I'm just thankful it's done and over with. I'll be glad when his spots are healed too so I can feel normal changing a diaper again!