One of these things looks exactly like the other...

The one of the left is Andrew the other is Leo...I'm experiencing Deja vu!

Everyone, Meet Leonidas :)

Drew's little brother is finally here! He was born at 7:03pm weighing 6.6 pounds and measuring 19" long (which I might add, was the EXACT same measurements of Andrew when he was born). Drew is the best big brother and already loves him so much! I can't even begin to express how blessed I am to have two of the most beautiful boys I have ever seen!

Andrew is getting ready for his little brother!

Leo could arrive any day now so we have been keeping the carseat in the car just in case. Drew is checking it for manufacturer defects...

Big Man is Recovering Nicely!

This whole dog bite ordeal is nothing a squishy from 711 can't handle :)

He's actually recovering great. No trauma in regards to how he feels about dogs...I think all of this is finally behind us!

Not Quite Done with the ER...

Well even after having a stellar follow up doctor visit, Drew seemed to come down with a viral stomach flu from the hospital (I figured this was bound to happen with all the antibiotics this poor kid has been ingesting, his immune system is super down). He started throwing up Monday night and didn't stop through Tuesday morning. He couldn't keep any fluids down, including the antibiotics he needs to heal his face. I was concerned with dehydration and considering what he has been through the last week, I didn't want to take any chances and we decided to take him to the ER again. They admitted him and started the whole process over again...blood test, insert an IV in his hand, waiting and waiting, then moved to the same room in Peds. He was put on a liquid only diet and they started fluids via his IV. The nurses even made some cracks about Drew missing them and wanting to come back already...great staff they have there, we love them! Drew made it through the night without vomiting or having diarrhea and his face still looked great so things were looking good at that point! He got to eat Jello and a Popsicle for breakfast...not too shabby of a deal.  The doctor came in the next morning and said she suspected it was a viral stomach flu and I agreed. He started to ask for solid foods and she said they could order something and see how he handles it. The IV fluids helped tremendously, he was perking up and ate about half of his solid food lunch and thankfully we were released about 24 hours after we initially checked in. Let's try and stay home more than 2 days from this place, Andrew...even thought we love our Peds unit!!

Right after getting his IV. His poor little veins were so blown from just having been poked the couple days prior it took a really long time to find a vital one. She had to poke him a couple times...it was really hard for mommy to see him in so much pain :(

This is in our peds room and Nurse Jane scored Drew this Despicable Me coloring book to pass the time since we've seen almost every movie in their collection

First Follow Up Appointment

Doctor Cohan said his wounds look great and he couldn't believe we were at the hospital so long! He said to wait to take off bandage until the plastics doc has his follow up appointment with Andrew in 10 days.

Drew's First Journal Entry Since Being Home

Drew was adamant about getting back into routine from being stuck in the hospital for so long so we decided to try and go back to summer class today. This was what he chose to write about in class and it melted my heart yet again :) I love this boy something fierce!

A Special Thank You

I wanted to thank everyone who came and held Drew's hand and showered him with gifts, listened to me blubber like a baby, and those who brought us food and showed their love through Facebook, phone calls and text messages. Drew has such an epic family support system and I wouldn't have handled this last week so well without these three especially. A HUGE thank you to Brad, Jaime and Sotirios. When the common denominator is someone you love, you'd be surprised who become your biggest allies in times of need. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!

And thank you Leo for not wanting to make an early appearance and add to the madness ;)

Hospital Log: Day 6

Pediatrician came in and said we are good to go home today, just waiting for our official release papers!! The plastics doc came in and took the remainder of the drain out (the sticky medical tape removal on his face has been the worst part for Drew thus far). He's being sent home with 10 days of antibiotics but depending on Drew's primary care doc's opinion, it could shorten to 5-7 days (although the Plastics doc and I agree, more days might be better in this case). Baths only, no soaking wound. If it crusts over that's ok, but we need to watch it for infection since there is still some goo inside his cheek. He also said once it does close on it's own, we need to put sunscreen on it every day so it doesn't heal dark brown (Drew will most definitely have a scar but if it bothers him when he's older, he can get it fixed by a plastic surgeon). I'm calling the plastics doc's office tomorrow for a 10 day follow up appointment.

Pic is of Drew and his one ray of sunshine for his hospital stay...automatic bed!

Hospital Log: Day 5

The Pediatrician came in and said the plastics doc will be here later on to pull the drain tabs out a little more but she suspects they will keep the rest of the drain in until tomorrow and POSSIBLY release him depending on how he does with everything. No more blood tests at this point and if the IV comes out again (it was shaken loose yesterday from the bend in his arm so they moved it to his hand...ouch), she said they could switch to oral antibiotics so he's done with needles...yay! He's also been prescribed a probiotic to combat all these antibiotics he's been given and she is going to up the dosage to twice a day and then she said try a probiotic yogurt each day at home too. The Tooth fairy came last night and left him $5.25 and a sweet Hero Factory lego set along with a note telling him how brave he has been these past many days!

 

 

 

Catching up on some much needed rest

He built his Tooth Fairy prize all by himself!

I love when he's proud of himself too :)

 

Hospital Log: Day 4

The Plastics doctor was just here to shorten Drew's cheek tab, which wasn't too comfortable for Andrew but he handled it like a champ. Doctor is still thinking Sunday as a go home date and said the cheek looked great and a lot less swollen. Blood was also drawn at 5:15am...über fun to wake up to that daily.

He also just lost his 2nd bottom tooth!! I wonder if the tooth fairy visits hospitals...hmmmm :)

As you know, tonight is 4th of July. We pleaded with the doctor if we could bring Drew at least outside to watch the fireworks and she gave us the thumbs up! He has been experiencing a little cabin fever, if you can't tell from the picture :)  

The next set of photos are all of us trying to make the best out of a pooptastic situation. Next year will be funner, Andrew. I promise!

 

Hospital Log: Day 3

The morning was mostly spent watching more movies. Especially was a fan of watching The Care Bears movie with daddy! Plastics came in and decided to go ahead with the surgery and he will be here for 3 more days to recover. They are going to open, scrape out and pack the wound with a wick like cloth that will keep the wound open and help it drain out. The doctor will pull a little bit out each day to encourage healing from the inside of the cheek, out.

This is just before they brought him back for surgery. Brad and I were able to come back with him and keep him relaxed while we waited for the medicine to make him sleepy.

This is just after surgery. Again, Brad and I waited for him to wake up from being put out from the medicine.

Drew just got this present from the hospital! There is a tag that says the river city quilters guild. They got a new shipment today and nurse Jane said she went though and picked this one out special for Andrew because it was obviously the best one :)

Hospital Log: Day 2

The day started off with a nurse checking vitals every 2 hours throughout the night and a blood draw at 6am. Super fun to wake up to, right? Ugh. Poor guy!

The doctor decided to remove the stitches and suspected the infection was trapped. The stitches were taken out and the most foulest smelling green puss oozed out from the wounds...so bad, in fact, I had to step outside the door to get some fresh air. Andrew said it smelt like "fish food"...gross.

Despite the situation, Andrew has maintained good spirits (this was one of his first smiles in days). He is wise beyond his years and this whole experience just proved it. We were told to try and keep the wound open so it could drain...which wasn't happening very easily. The air would make it crust over and close unfortunately. The doctor said it would be a good idea to get a referral from a plastic surgeon to see what he says about it. Enter Dr. Semlacher. He told me he would be back to drain the wounds around 7pm this evening and I thought it was perfect because I had a doctor's appointment for myself at 3pm and I would be back in plenty of time! Jaime came to sit with Andrew while my mom and myself left for the appointment. We literally were not even pulled out of the parking spot when Jaime called me and said the Plastics doc was there and they wanted to drain the wound. Of course. Jaime put me on speaker phone and I heard the whole painful procedure. Dr. Semlacher told me over the phone that he got a lot of the infection out by manually draining it but he wanted to talk to us about surgically reopening the wounds and putting a drain in. After the whole draining experience, the excellent nurse staff brought Drew some swag for being so brave...they even had a DRAGON stuffed animal. What are the odds of that??

Hospital Log: Day 1

We arrived at the ER and waited what seemed like an eternity as it was being decided if we were to be admitted or not by the nurses and doctors. Drew had his blood drawn and the staff decided it would be best if he was kept overnight for observation. They brought him back into the first triage room and started an IV line with some antibiotics. They also outlined the infection on his face and neck with a black sharpie marker to get a better gauge on the size of the swelling and redness and its eventual progress with the medicine. We ended up staying there for almost 5 hours...thank goodness for Netflix and dad's cell phone!

After our stay in triage, we were brought up to the Peds floor and given a room with a small pull out couch and a regular chair. No question that I would be staying with him tonight so I settled into his hospital bed right next to him (being so pregnant, it was definitely a challenge to get any kind of comfort in positioning but it was worth it to be next to him and snuggling). Dad stayed and watched movies with us until 11:30pm or so and went home and Sotirios slept on the tiny pull out couch for the evening. No one slept much.