Where to begin...

I realize that I have been absent from the blog world for quite some time and I'm sorry to say that it hasn't been for a happier reason. I'm not even sure where to start as it is all a very long story so I guess I will just stick to the important information and leave it at that. Due to a couple of reasons that I won't go into, we had to take Cameron to the Pediatric Emergency Room in Des Moines on Saturday. Thinking we were going to be there for a few hours, maybe be admitted for a day at the most, we were told after a few hours that his white cell count was sky high, he had an infection and would have to be admitted for 48 hours. This, of course, was after they had poked and prodded him quite a bit, which was very hard as a parent to watch. They hooked him up to an IV and started giving him antibiotics as soon as we got to his room. He seemed to be doing well, never even having a fever, and still nursing like a little champ. So we were told that we would hopefully be able to take him home on Monday afternoon/evening. This was after even more poking and tests were done. On Monday morning the doctor came in and said that the culture came back positive for MRSA, a type of staph infection that is very resistant to antibiotics. She said that there was only one antibiotic that we could use that could be given orally and if that didn't work, we would have to try another, which could only be given intraveneously, meaning a longer hospital stay. Unfortunately, the results came back that the MRSA was resistant to the oral antibiotic and we would have to stay another 7-10 days to receive the full treatment of antibiotics. I was devasted but assured that it wasn't as threatening as it sounded and, thankfully, only showing up in his urine and not in his blood or spinal fluid. So I prepared myself for a long stay. Then yesterday we opted to insert what is called a PICC line. It is just a better IV and can be used for a longer period of time than a regular IV. It can also be used to draw blood, lessening the times he would have to be poked. Things went well when they put it in and then once he got back up to his room it started bleeding at the site. It continued to bleed for two and a half hours. They could not get it to stop. They called a NICU nurse up and she stood there putting pressure on his arm the entire time trying to get it to stop. His arm turned purple and is swollen but it did finally stop. There is still no real cause for the long term bleeding but we are all just very thanful it stopped. Unfortunately, they had to remove the PICC line so it was really all for nothing. In turn, he ended up losing quite a bit of blood so they had to do a transfusion in the middle of the night last night. It went well and his hemoglobin levels are back to where they should be. He is now at the hospital with an IV in his head because that was the only place they could find a good vein. He seems to have survived it all well, save for the pain in his arm. We are praying that no other complications ensue, the antibiotics will work and we will be able to take him home sometime next week. It has been hard on all of us as Cody has had to be at home with Owen and I have had to be 45 minutes away at the hospital with Cameron. I came home this afternoon for a bit to spend some time with Owen and Cody went to be with Cameron. I'll head back tonight and thankfully, my wonderful mother (who has already gone above and beyond the call of a mother) and my wonderful aunt are coming tomorrow to stay for a few days and help us out.

I can't even begin to say how scary all of this has been for us. I am still in shock that it is happening and I am praying constantly everyday that Cameron will make it through all this without any long-lasting effects and that we will soon be a family again. My biggest reason for posting this is to ask all of you to do the same. Please keep us and our brave little guy in your prayers. I will try to update when I can or have Beth do so for me.