Saturday and a trip back to the NICU

It has been too long, yet again. There have been so many fun things going on but I don't know how I will ever catch up.

This past Saturday was a fun one though. We have had Tyler's soccer every weekend for the past few months so we enjoyed a Saturday that wasn't packed.

Ryan took each boy out on a "date". Tyler got to go on the first date to CarMax and out to breakfast. Ryan brought home a BMW for the weekend that had to be checked back in anyway so the boys went for a drive and enjoyed the "fast car" as Tyler calls it.

When they got back it was Jacob's turn to go with daddy. They went to Home Depot and got some plants and weed killer. When they came back, Jake and Tyler helped plant the plants and clean up the front yard.

I thought that was already awesome- but Ryan had more surprises in store! He pumped up the tires on his bike and the trailer and took Tyler and Jake out for a half hour ride. He was pulling an additional 70 lbs in that trailer!

They all came back tired and hungry and then it was nap time. What a start to the day!

The excitement in my day was with Adam. He is just over 3 months old now and his belly button hasn't been healing right. I had brought it up to the pediatrician twice and I was told that it was fine and just be patient. Well, after his stint in the NICU and being told that the UAC (arterial line in his belly button) was the one thing we should not touch b/c he could bleed out so fast...I was a little hesitant to clean or pick at this thing that looked like a scab. He had what first looked like a black scab, but then I got brave and washed it a little harder and it became two black string looking things. I was trying to figure out if the artery or vein could have somehow healed outside of the belly button.

After having little luck with the research I had done, I finally called the NICU Saturday morning and explained what was going on. They told me to bring Adam back in and they would take a look. I was relieved and nervous all at once. I took Adam down to Spring Valley after the big boys were down for naps. As I pulled up it was strange to be taking my healthy baby back down the hall we walked so many times when he was sick and on life support.

I was surprised how even the smell of the hand soap reminded me of those two weeks...the charge nurse came out and looked at my little guy. She told me it did look like a suture (stitch) had been left behind all this time!

We got Dr. Edmonds, the neonatologist on for the day and headed back to a NICU room. They had some suture removal kit but all it took was a little alcohol and a brave Dr. who knew what he was doing to pull the stitch out. Thankfully we had a best case scenario where it was just a stitch, not a vein or artery, and it came out in one piece. I was also lucky that the area had not become infected in the THREE MONTHS that the stinkin thing was left in!

The Dr. and nurses were very nice, yet again. We even got to sit and visit with the Charge Nurse, Suzanne for quite awhile and talk about how good Adam is doing now.

I'm glad my little guy is still doing okay. It was exciting to see the Dr. and nurses gush over him and how healthy and strong he looks now. As strangely emotional as it was to go back there it was nice to be reminded how blessed I am to have a healthy baby boy at home with me now.

I really need to find time to journal more because life has been very full. I know most of the things that end up on this blog are the good moments, but honestly, that is because it is in those happy moments that I have time to sit and think. Most days are challenging with an almost 4 year old who thinks he knows everything, a 2 year old who gets away with almost everything, and a baby who needs fed, changed, and loved in between teaching life lessons to the other two. Life is full- very full, and for now, that is a good thing.