We've been released.

Today we were released from Riley after being there since late Monday night. I don't know how to make this story short, but I know many of you have questions and I'll try my best.

Big Joey went to Canada the first weekend of June. He got home Sunday the 7th- Tuesday he had a bad fever, then Wednesday he was fine. Wednesday night LJ got a fever and Thursday night I got a fever for about 6 hours. LJ didn't get over his fever. We were alternating Motrin and Tylenol every 3-4 hours, and still there was a fever. He continued to get worse- he was eating less, drinking less, and sleeping a lot more. We thought he had a bad cough with a fever. Our pediatrician put him on an antibiotic Friday afternoon, and then on Saturday he kept getting worse. He was waking up in the morning burning up and wanted to lay in our arms for most of the day. Sunday he only had a few sippy cups of Gatorade, and Monday was worse. He was sleeping about 18 hours a day. He drank 2 sippy cups of Gatorade Monday night before bed, but after he was asleep for about 30 minutes I went back there because he was breating harder and taking shorter breaths. He had a hard time opening his eyes and he was burning up. We took him to St. Francis ER (which I don't recommend EVER bring an infant there). We sat in the lobby for abou 2 hours, then they put us in a small room for another hour. LJ was getting worse by the second. My mom met us there. By 12am he was laying limp in her arms and turning deep red. We kept asking nurses and doctors for help, but we just kept getting put off. They kept telling us he'd be ok. Finally LJ laid completely limp and it looked like if we were waited any longer, it'd get really bad. My mom went yelling in the hallway for help and I really don't remember a lot after this. We flew into another room, and about 6-7 nurses started trying to get an IV. They were trying in his head, his hands, and feet- no luck. I felt like they had never seen a baby before. None of them could get an IV started. I felt hopeless. Finally the doctor on staff called Riley to get their transport team to lifeline LJ to Riley. Twenty very long minutes later, LJ was lifelined to Riley. During transport they were able to start an IV with fluids and an antibiotic. I truly felt as if they saved us. It's about 2am now and we are in the ER at Riley (awesome nurses, I might add). They started taking blood and nose swabs. They weren't sure what he had- they were throwing around terms like meningitis, pneumonia, leukemia, and lymphoma- very hard things to hear. About 6am they put us upstairs in isolation. After more labs on Tuesday we found out LJ had a very bad virus and his white blood cell count was extremely low. We continued to keep in on fluids and love on him as much as we could. He really only could just lay in our arms until Wednesday morning. He wouldn't even budge if someone was drawing blood or checking his vitals- it was awful. We just felt like we were living a nightmare. Wednesday afternoon we took more blood work and his white blood cell count was lower and the doctors felt his liver was enlarged. They wanted to keep monitoring him in isolation. Have you ever seen the movie Outbreak?? We were like that... in a room where only a few visitors came in a day wearing masks, shields, gloves and gowns. They never stayed long. LJ continued to improve and they took him off his fluid IV to see how he was doing. He continued to get stronger. I felt like he was such a fighter in there. The nurses felt like he was such a "soldier." We were woken up at 5am Thursday morning because they wanted more lab work. Now LJ was able to put up a tiny fight, but really not much. The blood in these labs clotted, so they called in the IV team at 11am because there was only 1 vein left they felt had a chance. They got blood, lab work back at 3pm, and the news was good. His white blood cell count had improved. We found out we would be getting released. So now we are home. LJ is still pretty weak and we are working hard to make sure he gets plenty of fluids. His immune system is down, so we have to stay away from visitors for a week or so. I'm so happy to be on the upswing of things. Now can I talk about the power of prayer that I have never felt before. Every moment I sent out a mass text or posted on facebook- within minutes I felt an upswing, I felt hope, and I'd see a light. It was truly amazing! I felt the comfort about my friends and I felt God's comfort this whole week. We feel so blessed to have had this many people thinking about us. We are so lucky, and all of out there who prayed for us are truly special people. I can't thank you enough.

Don't let this pictures fool you. They were taken minutes before we were released. I wanted these pics to remember how small he was when we were at Riley. There really wasn't an appropriate time to take them earlier on- ya know?

He was such a big boy all week. Did I mention how much we loved Riley?? The staff was amazing. They were very good about educating us and the volunteers were priceless. They brought us games, cards, activities, and we could even play Bingo on the TV with all of the other patients without leaving our room. There was even a distraction team who came in to play with Joey when he was getting poked. If you are ever asked to donate to Riley- just do $1. A lot of that goes toward their activity cart, which brought such a big smile to our face when they came around. We just felt like someone was there for us when we couldn't have visitors.

Here we are... soooo happy to hear we are coming home. Who knew how nice it'd feel to get back to our day to day grind? I'm so excited to be back, so excited!!!