Intussusception - A Bowel within a Bowel

You've seen our Facebook posts, you've been praying for our family and many of you have asked for the whole story so here it is!

Tuesday Brady was being awfully fussy with what I thought was teething.  That night, thinking that he was trying to coax me into another night sleeping on the couch, I decided to try sleep training him.  However, when his crying persisted for over two hours I gave in and held him all night to help him stay comfortable and asleep.

The next morning he slept ALL morning long (That's what you get for staying up all night!)  I got him up and tried to get him to eat something.  He wasn't really interested and just wanted to nap.  (Man, I was anxious for these teeth to pop through but there was no sign of them!)  We went to my dad's house for our weekly survivor party which he slept through.  (Great, I was going to be up ALL night now that he had slept all day!)  When he slept through the night I started realizing this was more than teeth.

I finally went to wake him up and he was just laying there staring at the ceiling.  He didn't even raise his arms as a signal that he was ready to get out of bed.  I didn't get any smile when Kimber peaked through the slats of the crib.  This was getting very concerning.  I brought him out to the couch where he just laid, the expression on his face not changing even in the slightest, and basically stared at my phone until the pediatrician's office opened up.  I scheduled Brady for the first appointment they had available, early that afternoon.

When I took Brady in Dr Brown gave him a good look over.  He couldn't find anything wrong other than his subdued mood. He told me there was a bad stomach bug going around and if I could take him home and get him to eat something, ANYTHING then maybe we would be able to avoid landing in the ER for an IV.

I stopped by my dad's house where Kimber was being babysat and decided to try there so I didn't have so far to drive when this plan failed.  (I had a feeling in my gut it was going to fail.)  We tried applesauce which he threw up.  We tried formula, which he threw up.  When he threw up it was a dark reddish brown, it looked exactly like prune juice.  I called the pediatrician's office again and they told me if he threw up one more time we needed to go to the emergency room.  As soon as I hung up the phone he puked EVERYWHERE!  That was that, we headed in.

I was still hopeful that maybe he was just extremely dehydrated and needed some fluids to get ahead of whatever bug this was that was totally kicking his butt.  The ER doctors wanted to see me try to feed him and see if a little zofran would help him keep it down.  As soon as the formula hit his stomach it came right back up.  About this time I started thinking "Maybe he just REALLY needs to poop!"  I convinced them to give him a suppository but that didn't yield any results which I thought was a little odd... They hooked him up to an IV and we hung out for about four hours before trying again.  The same thing happened so we were admitted.

Early the next morning, despite not having anything in his stomach he started throwing up A LOT.  Our nurse was trying to help me catch it all in his hospital gown when it turned into the dark prune juice vomit I had been worried about earlier.  I looked at her and asked "Does that smell like poop to you?"

When our pediatrician rounded that morning he was very surprised to find that the 12 hours of fluids hadn't perked Brady up a bit.  He threw his hands up and said "Ok mom, so far I've been wrong and you've been right.  So what do YOU think we should do?"  I told him "I think he needs to poop!"

An x-ray revealed that, even though he didn't have a hard distended belly, Brady was full of poop!  So Dr Brown ordered an enema.  A few moments after the enema was given Brady pooped straight blood.  An ultrasound was ordered to try to find the problem.  I knew it was relatively serious, not just because of the research on GI complications I've had to do for Kimber, but by the fact that Dr Brown stood right outside the door for both the xray and ultrasound.

After the ultrasound Dr Brown walked in and said "Well, you were right!  This is a VERY sick little guy."  After he explained the condition he explained that it was not something he was comfortable treating here in Logan and so we were transferred to Primary Children's.

So that's the missing part of the story!  Brady is doing so well.  He was able to keep down the pedialite I gave him this evening so we are hoping to graduate to formula sometime tomorrow!  Thank you for your continued prayers and support!  I'm anxious to get home with BOTH my kids!

2016, Wanna see my face?!

I figured I should take advantage of the last few days of Shawn being home and take down the Christmas decorations while I still had an extra set of hands to help manage the local village people.  As I was boxing things away, Kimber became very concerned and ran to her stocking.  Holding it close she told me "But I NEED this for Santa to bring me presents!  I LOOOVE Christmas!"  Yup... She's definitely got an extra chromosome of mine in her genetic make up.  But as much as I hated to do it, we finished packing things up and we are ready to tackle the New Year!

We had a surprise party for Grandma Nielsen's 60th birthday and got to have Uncle Tom, Aunt Kim, Aunt Tami and Uncle Jim come up for the big tada!  It was so much fun to spend two crazy days with everyone.  Kimber did a great job dealing with all the noise and being off her usual schedule and only tried to hide in the cupboard once. ;)

Shawn and I made a New Years resolution to attend the temple at least once a month.  As soon as we set a date on the calendar I started preparing myself for Thursday to be the worst day of the year!  I was right!  Brady had strep, I woke up not feeling well and Kimber had a bad food day and was being extra emotional.  When Brady managed to blow out his diaper just as I was loading him into his car seat I was ready to call Shawn and just cancel.  But instead, I loaded up two screaming children and pulled through a drive through for lunch.  We were over an hour later than we had planned but I was SO glad we went.  Somehow spending an hour sealing families together who have been waiting since the 1500's makes you more grateful for your own tribe of sleep boycotting, diaper filling, germ hosting, sassy little people.  I am so glad they are mine forever!

Speaking of the little people here's how they are doing this month!

Brady is 5 months old this month! He loves his toes and has finally decided that rice cereal isn't going to kill him. He LOVES Kimber and lights up whenever she enters the room. He is SO close to being an official scooter and can sit unassisted for a few seconds. We absolutely LOVE his fun, happy, intense personality.  I think my favorite part of having a child with muscle tone is when he insists on holding my finger as he falls asleep.

Brady started off our New Year great and actually almost slept through the whole night! Kimber on the other hand was up ALL NIGHT LONG. I felt I was pretty patient considering, but on the fifth and final time I put her in bed I ran out of sweet good nights and told her "It is night time. I don't want to see your face until the sun is up." This morning I woke up to tiny fingers prying my eyelid open: "mom? The sun is up! Want to see my face?!"  She is a crack up!

She has a wonderful imagination and is a different baby animal every day.  Baby Zebra is very energetic and runs around the house a lot.  Baby Hippo likes to do art projects.  Baby Elephant is hungry all the time. And Baby Lion gets stuck EVERYWHERE.

Her vocabulary continues to grow and with it her ever present sense of humor.  Our new vocabulary word this month include "option", "treasure chest" and "diagnosis".  She also loves using the phrases "Nooo Problem!" and "Oh right, right, right," in response to just about anything I try to tell her.  She loves the alphabet and literally doesn't want to go anywhere without it.  The other day we were rushing out the door, almost late to an appointment when she stopped dead in her tracks:

"Wait mom! I need my alphabet!"
"Kimber lets just leave it here ok?"
"But what if I need to build a word?!"
Needless to say we arrived to our appointment late, with a bag of alphabet magnets in tow.

Her new favorite TV shows are Doc McStuffins and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  One evening Kimber asked several times to get on my bed. After talking about it three times I started ignoring her request. I heard her walk into my room and I heard her trying to "jump":
JUMP "I can't...." JUMP "quite..." JUMP "reach it!" *pause* "hmm we need a mousektools to fix this problem.... Oh toodles!!!!!!"

The highlight of our month was when we received her 6 mo evaluation back from early intervention.  Kimber is officially not delayed in ANY developmental area.  That doesn't mean that we don't have to keep working hard and going to therapy, but I am so SO proud of her and can't believe we are looking at placing her in a preschool with typically developing peers!  She is incredible!  The Lord continues to show us that He is not done working through this amazing miracle we are blessed to have in our home.

So that's it!  Our 2016 is off to a great start!  We hope yours is as well!  Love you all!

Enjoy some other photos of our January madness!

Working hard in PT with physical therapist, Breeann, and "puppy"

Just another day, another appointment.  Such is life when you have a sibling with special needs.

I told Kimber it was time for bed and she told me "Five more minutes mom?  This book is everything I want in my whole life!"  She got her five more minutes.

Football Buddies!

"Santa say ho ho ho!"

SO happy!

Kimber's bedhead is really something else!

No scratches on his face!  This little guy is seriously SO happy ALL of the time!

Not a fan of the vacuum...

One night Kimber decided that she wanted to wear her mittens and did not want to take them off!  Not even for a banana :)

This is seriously how he sleeps all the time.

Closing her eyes tight for prayer!

These two are quite the team!  She sings him "The Beetsee beetsee spider" every night and then he waits for her to fall asleep before joining the adults in the living room for a bit.

More smiles!

"Mom Brady needs me to snuggle his head."

Brady's first selfie

2015, That's a Wrap! - Our December Update

After a crazy November we were actually happy to get back to our usual level of crazy.

We enjoyed a quiet Christmas at home.  Kimber LOVED the magic of Christmas lights, Santa and reindeer this year which made it so much fun.  She was the most grateful kid in the world Christmas morning and was so surprised when someone else handed her another present as if it was just too good to be true!

Shawn got me a gun for Christmas and we got to go to the shooting range so he could teach me how to shoot.  My husband is a good shot!  Who knew?!  We had a good laugh when the m0an at the counter asked "Now young lady, are you over 16?"  I'm glad the two kids and 3 years of more stress than I have ever had in my entire life apparently isn't catching up to me.

Sometimes I think "man I've got this mom of two thing down" and then in one grocery shopping trip one child decides he is STARVING and cannot be set down, the other suddenly has an imaginary reindeer who needs immediate (and loud) brushing and before I know it I am pulling a grocery cart around with one hand, cradling and feeding a child with the other, playing "the amazing alphabet race" with the two year old (in the hopes that the reindeer will manage to stay in the parking lot where we left him), and pulling off moves that would impress the most advanced yoga master as I filled my cart because I was NOT about to come out and try doing it all again another day the week of Christmas! 

Speaking of the kids, I can't believe how fast they are growing up!

Kimber has decided that I am no longer allowed to read her bedtime stories.  SHE has to read them to ME.  Consequently I have discovered that 97% of our books are WAY too long but her little made up stories are so adorable.  Her vocabulary is growing and with it her humor and overall "adorableness".  The other day after helping her take the lid off her marker she told me "Thanks mom, you precious." 

Trying to get her out the door to occupational therapy lead us to having the following conversation:
"Hurry Kimber!  We have to go see Miss Deb!"
"Mom I can't!  Miss Deb is at work!"
"I know!  I'm taking you to her work."
"Oh...umm mom?  Miss Deb is at Grammy's...."  
She's a smart cookie! 

She continues to work so hard in therapy to get ready for preschool.  We are working really hard on eye contact, learning how to use scissors and learning how to jump.  I went to get her ready for bed the other night and heard her in her room playing with her stuffed bunny. "Are you ready bunny? Are you ready?  Lets do froggy jumps ok?  Soft knees... and... JUMP!  Good job bunny! Two more jumps!"  Some little girls play house, others play physical therapy.

In the last couple months she has become very self conscious of her Gtube.  I think having Brady around has really drawn attention to the fact that not all kids have tubes.  It's been hard watching her struggle with her first feelings of not "fitting in" but like our Bean she handles it with a healthy dose of humor.  When Jared was here visiting for Christmas she walked into the living room, lifted up her shirt and said, "Hey Jawed see my tube?  Want to see it dance?"  (wiggles and sucks in her belly to make it "dance")  The only thing better than hearing Jared's goofy laugh is when it is accompanied by Kimber's little cackle.

Brady is 4 months old! Just like that he is 1/3 of a year old! He is SO much happier since we have made the switch to formula. His happy little coos, gurgles and giggles melts his mama's heart. He's figured out his hands and is starting to grab toys and Christmas decorations when laying under the tree. He rolls from tummy to back and from back to tummy and is SO anxious to get moving! (Taking these pictures each month is getting more and more tricky) He weighs 14 lbs putting him in the 25% for weight and is 25 1/2 inches tall which puts him in the 75% for height! He has to wear 6 month footie PJs just so that his poor little legs can stretch! He's growing so fast!

Here are some more December highlights:

Kimber helped Grandma make Chirstmas cookies, something I wasn't sure she would ever be able to do when we got her diagnosis.  She only tried to sneak a taste once! She LOVES being Grammy's big helper in the kitchen.

Not a fan of rice cereal...

This little boy is seriously SO happy ALL the time!

Having an "OCD moment" stacking books at the toy store

Kimber had an unfortunate moment where she learned about snow... She's not much of a fan.

Kimber loves making pizza with the Elmo and pizza kit she got for Christmas.  Her specialty is her pep-tha-roni, pepper, and "mustache" pizza.

Headed to Grandma's for Chirstmas brunch with her new Elmo, hat and gloves.

How Brady spent the holiday.  I love everything about this photo from his tiny arm propped behind his head down to his little crossed feet.

Overall 2015 was been a great year for the Nielsen family.  We are and continue to be so blessed.  We are so grateful for your support and hope you have a wonderful New Year!  Bring it on 2016!