Off we go…

To MUSC! We had an appointment for a routine post birth visit today.  Remember the bruise I spoke of in the previous post?  Well, it became quite red, warm and swollen basically overnight.  Our pediatrician consulted with another doctor in the practice and the consensus was for us to take our little man to the Medical University of SC Children’s Hospital.  The doctor’s suspected a blocked/infected tear duct and that he would need IV antibiotics and possibly a probe procedure to drain the area.  I know this condition is common in young children but not my FIVE day old.  I was nervous but knew it was for the best. We arrived at the MUSC ER department around 2:30pm and there we sat until around 8:30pm when they moved us to our room.  Ethan was a trooper and thankfully won’t remember all he had to endure, although his momma might.

This was a picture, Monday night in the ER and then our sweet boy in his hospital crib.I didn’t take a lot of pictures in the hospital, as 1) I did not like the hideous yellow gown, 2) I did not want to remember the IV in his arm and the board his arm was taped to, 3) there wasn’t much to take pictures of – no pretty view from a window, and Ethan didn’t do much but sleep and 4) our little man looked like he had a black eye until day three. 

Here’s Tuesday.   He woke up with a cute little smile and I caught it just in time!  The ophthalmologist came in Tuesday evening and evaluated Ethan’s eye.  The area to the tear duct was not any better and when he left the room, he said, “We’ll see you tomorrow at 11:30am for the probing procedure.”  Not what I wanted to hear.  We were told the best way for this to be done on an infant his age, was to keep him awake and hold him down for a 10-15 minute procedure. I couldn’t imagine how this was going to be done but I was trying to accept it.  Prayers were being said from SC to Michigan to Georgia for our sweet boy! And Wednesday!!!!! Prayers worked! No more knot, no more redness, no more swelling.  We even got a white shirt to put on instead of the yellow gown.  The antibiotics worked! There was nothing to do any probing to.  The doctors were surprised at how fast it cleared up.  It literally cleared overnight as fast as it became infected overnight.  I. COULDN’T. HAVE. BEEN. HAPPIER!!!

Doesn’t his sweet face look as if he’s thinking, “enough is enough!”  He slept very well while we were in the hospital but between all the vital sign checks, doctors and nurses poking and prodding, and multiple diaper changes from antibiotic use, we were ready to go home.

When the ophthalmologist came to the room at 11:25am on Wednesday, he was ready, with tools in hand to do the probe procedure.  When he left the room at 11:40am, he said, “okay, there is no justification to do the probing and the area shouldn’t become blocked anymore.  We will keep him here overnight to evaluate post antibiotic use and you can go home in the morning.”  Those words made my day!  We were at MUSC for three and a half days with IV antibiotics every eight hours and left with a prescription for oral antibiotics for seven days.

It was nice to bond with my son, just me and him in that hospital room but boy, did I miss Kendall and Ryan and my bed! Ryan came back and forth to hang out but also had to work and help to keep Kendall on her schedule.  I am so very thankful the antibiotics treated this infection and I want to thank everyone that was thinking and praying for us as well.