I think some part of me expected it. With four boys, an emergency room visit here and there is almost inevitable, given that one of our boys’ primary means of communication is wrestling. What I didn’t necessarily foresee was that every single one of our boys would have an emergency room visit within their first three years of life, for reasons totally unrelated to roughhousing. Milo had a staff infection at 10 days old, Owen (3) and Wyatt (18 mo) each had croup about two months ago which required ER visits, and now Lincoln has been inducted into the club, all because of a single fever.
Normally it wouldn’t have been a big deal, but because of his age, a hospital visit is standard, as is taking many tests- including a blood draw and lumbar puncture. LUMBAR PUNCTURE. On an infant. I realize that these are required for a reason, that if he had meningitis it would be very serious, but my heart could only focus on the fact that my baby had to endure a painful test; and, as it turns out, he would have to endure it twice, as the first didn’t produce the necessary spinal fluid. That was by far the worst part of the stay- more so even than thinking through the worst case scenarios was sitting in the ER, separated by a thin curtain from my baby as he cried. As my heart was breaking for him, though, I could feel the Lord holding the pieces together as I prayed and wept for my baby. There were so many people praying for him, and we felt so loved, both by the Lord and by the many people who were lifting us up to Him.
It was a long couple of days, but praise the Lord, all his tests were negative (although that included the test for viruses, which meant that our 48 hour stay turned into a 72 hour stay)! Though there were lots of pokes and hurt feelings (even though we had wonderful care!), we ended up once again bringing home a healthy baby boy, and a Mommy who was admittedly a little stir-crazy, but overall none the worse for the wear!
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