I mentioned earlier this week that we had been in the hospital briefly and if you follow my family on Instagram, you were able to keep a bit updated through our journey but I thought I would share a bit of our adventure, our reminder of advent, and our little trooper.
Last Sunday (the Sunday before Christmas), I woke up at our normal time to feed in the middle of the night. Ollie ate, but something wasn't quite right. I put him back in his crib and went back to bed but he remained extremely fussy. I thought he might need a diaper change to help him back to sleep and that's when I found the blood... lots of it. His whole diaper was filled with blood so off to the emergency room we went. We first started at our local hospital down the road where Ollie was born; however, we were quickly transferred to the nearby Children's Hospital downtown.
It was a long day and several more bloody-filled diapers before they determined that Ollie was born with Meckel's diverticulum which we didn’t know prior. Honestly, nobody would really know if they had it unless they were specifically tested for it and you really aren't from my understanding until you started pooping blood clots! Although rare (about 2% of people), the doctors and nurses seemed to be very familiar with the issues and resolution. All they had to do was remove it, and then he wouldn't have it anymore... okay, simple.
The next morning, Ollie went into surgery. He really wasn't in any pain unless he was getting ready to fill his diaper... and he was hungry. However, after the surgery, he slept for almost 24 hours! He still couldn't eat and he was so sore from the cut in his tummy. The hardest part as a parent is seeing your little one attached to all of those wires; I'm not quite sure how parents who have to be in the hospital for a longer time do it! Because Ollie is always on the go, rolling, or now crawling, somebody had to hold him constantly for over two days. Honestly, this was exhausting. After being sleep deprived from the whole house having colds and being up all night the first night, we were just so tired. Thankful my parents stayed at the hospital the majority of the time to help stay up with him overnight.
I cannot say enough about the St. Louis Children's Hospital. Being in the hospital is a pain. Nobody wants to be there, especially at Christmas time. I cried at the thought of not being home at Christmas and having Ollie's first Christmas in the hospital; it's just not how I pictured it. But from the carolers to the volunteers at Santa's Workshop to the nurses and those in the Ronald McDonald House, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I wish I could have hugged each one of them. It was such an honor to get to experience the magic at Christmas time at Children's and it warmed my heart up so much during those days.
We are so thankful that Ollie is better now. Only four days in the hospital and we were allowed to return home and travel for Christmas. It was such a blessing! I’m super grateful to have it done and over with and not have to do all of it when Ollie’s older. It’s gone and we shouldn’t have any complications from it.
I have been praying a lot on how to use this experience. It is not what I pictured as part of our story, but it had been written all along by God in our story. I am tearing up just thinking about how Christmas at home, and not in a hospital, makes me feel so thankful, so blessed. And as we sat in a week of waiting for Ollie to get better, we sit daily awaiting for Jesus to return. A season of advent. A season of waiting... perfectly written and orchestrated through our little trooper's surgery.
