Day 91

It's been a whirlwind weekend, with lots of highs and lows. I'll start with the lows and get those out of the way. We STILL don't know what's causing Holden to throw up so much. (Are you getting as tired of reading that line as I am of typing it??) We started him on erythromycin with the hope that it would help his stomach empty faster, and therefore reduce his vomiting. It causes diarrhea, which they actually wanted to see in Holden's case. As it turns out, that wasn't really his problem. He doesn't have a problem going to the bathroom, he has a problem with throwing up. I'm pretty sure they know that, but they're trying all sorts of things at this point trying to make something stick. He's been on the med since Wednesday, and we haven't seen any positive changes. The only thing we've seen is increased pain and stomach cramps. :(

I had a fun little raving-lunatic-mommy moment with the doctors early this morning. (In my defense, nights and early mornings are really bad for Holden, and I've been by myself for those bad times this weekend. I haven't slept for two nights, much less showered. He screamed, cried and whimpered for five hours this morning before the doctors came in... So does any of that make my ranting attack justified??) I pretty much screeched this at the doctor this morning: If Holden doesn't get an order written for pain meds by this evening (something besides Loritab and Tylenol, which don't do anything for abdominal pain like this, per the pain management team), he won't be getting the erythromycin. Or they can stop the med a day early and call it a wash. Up to them. I'm still not sure what they've decided, but we'd better have that morphine PRN in our back pocket by tonight, just in case.

His oxygen saturation continues to go up and down, but we haven't really been very focused on his lungs lately. Once we get his digestive issues under control, that will have to change. I'm sure he'd appreciate having one less tube in his face!

Now for the good part of the weekend... After Holden's bad morning yesterday, he had a really great afternoon. Luckily, his company waited until the afternoon to join him, and he had such a good time. Trent's Granny, Aunts Karen and Billie, Kristen and Taylor came up first, and they started off the present opening. (I'm going to sidetrack a little- One of his gifts was a Build a Bear teddy bear specifically designed for kids with medical issues. A portion of every sale goes towards charitable grants too. Holden's bear has stitches around its heart, just like him. I didn't even know about that line, and I think it's so cool!) Trent's aunt Mary Sue, her husband and their granddaughter Brooklyn followed and brought more gifts and a card Brooklyn made for Holden and had signed by her class at school. It's always a little extra special when a young kid thinks of things like that. :) Amy and Rachel arrived shortly after and filled the last space left in the room with more sacks full of gifts. Holden's crib is now full of every noise-making toy ever produced, and I don't think he's going to be bored any time soon!! His official big day isn't until Wednesday, but he's already had a great birthday. I wish I had known we were going to have an early party, and we could have had an early cake to go with it!

It still breaks my heart a little bit to be celebrating such a huge milestone here in this hospital that we've come to love/hate, but you all helped make it a little brighter in here. Thank you for that!

He had everything off of his face for a few minutes while we put a new NG tube in, and I had to get a picture of my sweet boy without tape on his cheeks... Aren't they just so kissable?? And his eyes look really green/brown in this picture.

 Attitude

 I love how he throws his arms back when he's not sure what's going on. One of his little quirks.

 Overwhelmed?

 Three people taking pictures at the same time. He's a popular subject.

 Digging in his doctor box.

He loves his tool box!

 He likes to eat baby wipes. Is that normal, or another one of his quirks?