A Hospital Visit and Other "Fun" Stuff

We officially had our first ER visit resulting in a 3 night hospital stay with Jarek. At the end of last month, on a Thursday, we noticed a blistered rash starting on his legs where his eczema is the worst. When it continued to get worse, we took him to the doctor that day where they sent us home with medicated lotion saying it was just his eczema. Well, it continued to get worse instead of better the next few days. And i mean worse. It was all over his body. I felt like something was really wrong but wasn't sure what to do. On Saturday, we went to urgent care because I was having symptoms of strep. The doctor happened to glance over at Jarek and was shocked by what he saw. He took a closer look and assured us that it wasn't eczema and recommended he see a dermatologist and take him to the ER if things got worse. After we got home we noticed it was bothering Jarek more than normal and the nagging feeling I had that something was really wrong wouldn't go away. After much discussion and prayer, Chad and I decided to take him to the ER. And so started the hardest week of my life.

Chad took Jarek to the hospital. I stayed home because of my strep and because Hadi is strictly breastfed. The doctors' best guess was that it was a strain of the herpes virus so they got Jarek on IV antiviral and checked him in for the night to keep an eye on him. He ended up staying 2 more nights. They were the hardest 3 days for me. I could hardly be with Jarek because of my strep and then because I had to stay home with Hadi, not wanting her at the hospital. On top of that, I developed a rash, what we thought was hives due to an allergic reaction to my antibiotic. That combined with my sore throat made me miserable. We finally got to take Jarek home on Tuesday. We took another trip to urgent care to see if they could do anything about my rash. That night Chad and I only got 2-3 hours of sleep because my rash was keeping me up and then Hadi kept us up. Then a few other things prevented us from finally getting over the hump until Thursday. But we finally got there! And we survived!

While it was the hardest week of my life I will forever be grateful for what it taught me. It was an incredibly humbling week. We got so much help from family and ward members. Lots of prayers were said in our behalf and I felt the strength of every single one of them. The Lord was keeping a very watchful eye on us. I haven't felt that that strongly in a long time. My eyes were opened to all the things I wasn't doing to have that Spirit with me all the time. It has made me a better person as I have prayed and read my scriptures more meaningfully since then. We were incredibly blessed by the Lord. He used so many people to help us feel loved and watched out for. For that I will forever be grateful.

And now for the final update on Jarek. We still do not have a definite answer as to what caused the rash. The culture they took to test for the heroes virus came back negative. My bet is one hand, foot, mouth disease. The rash I had turned out not to be hives and there's a good chance it could have been that. Also, we realize now, after knowing more about it, that Hadi had mild symptoms of it as well at the time. Whatever it was, it was not fun. Jarek was a champ through it all though. He got quite the reputation among the nurses for his good nature. He stayed his happy self through it all. He was a wonderful example to me of the best way to handle less than perfect situations. We sure love our little buddy!

The Beginning of a Lifetime of Friendship

Jarek is 100% in love with his baby sister.  He is always checking on her and showering her with kisses.  As time got closer to her arrival, I got more and more nervous of how Jarek would react, being still a little on the young side to really understand.  He loved her from day one and "baby" quickly became his favorite word.  It seems only too fitting that we named him after my two big brothers, the best big brothers I could have ever asked for.  He is already such a good and doting big brother.  He will be one on whom Hadi can always rely throughout the years.  I know there will be a lot of fighting as they grow up, but I hope that they will be able to find in each other a best friend, just like Chad and I have found in our own siblings.  You cannot find a closer friend than your sibling.

Introducing!

 Hadassah Rose Phelps

Born May 25, 2012 at 4:40pm

7lbs, 19in long

 

 Lucky for her, she inherited her daddy's famous dimples!

We all are so in love with this little girl!  None of us can get enough of her!  I mean, seriously, look at that face!

Lucky for mom, she did not come into the world the same way her brother did!  Labor was a total of about 7 hours.  Right from the beginning, contractions were very intense.  I quickly decided to go for an epidural this time around.  Looking back, I think it was heavenly inspiration.  I tested Group B Strep positive which means I had to be on IV antibiotics during labor.  And I needed to be on them for 4 hours before I delivered, otherwise we would have to stay an extra day in the hospital.  I saw the midwife at the office before going to the hospital.  At this point, only a few hours into labor, my contractions were only a couple minutes apart.  The midwife checked me and I was already dilated to a 6 and 100% effaced.  The midwife called ahead to the hospital and they whisked me in to hook up the IV as soon as I got there.  That was at 12:10pm so I had to hold off pushing until 4:10, if at all possible.  I'm afraid that if I had not gone for the epidural, I would not have been able to hold off.  I started feeling pressure to push before 4 but it wasn't bad so I held off.  The midwife got there just before 4:30, I started pushing and Hadassah entered the world after only several good pushes (I pushed for over 2 hours with Jarek!).

The Spirit in our home is so much sweeter with Hadi in it.  We are so blessed to have her in our family!