Fun with E.Coli

Two weeks ago, I was down and out because of some nasty flu that rendered me practically useless. I felt slightly better on Wednesday (the 17th), which was Nehemiah's 100th day of life, so we went over to Igloo to take some photos. I'll have those up eventually. I want to edit them before posting. The bug still hasn't completely cleared up, but all is well.

That weekend, we noticed Nehemiah was running a pretty high fever. He was acting out of character, so I felt his head and took his temperature. When it read close to 39ºC, I immediately said to Hee Suk, "Honey, open the window right away." This was Saturday, if I am not mistaken. On Sunday, he was still feverish, so I started giving him some baby Tylenol. We went out that night with my brother-in-law's family to have dinner to celebrate his 100 Days, and he did just fine.

His fever was much better on Monday but still not gone. With him still a little out of character, we decided to head to the doctor. When we left, it looked like just a simple fever, so instead of waiting around for the urinalysis results, I went home and Hee Suk dashed off to an appointment. When some phone number I didn't recognize called me on my phone several times, I finally answered. It turned out that an over-abundance of something or other was in his urine, showing that he had a urinary tract infection. My jaw pretty much hit the ground. I didn't even know it was possible for babies to catch them. His doctor wanted to admit him and told me to talk it over with my husband.

After Hee Suk finished his appointment, he went back to the hospital to talk to the doctor and wound up getting him to just give us a prescription. With me questioning the prescription and Hee Suk's overall concern, we decided it would be best to just get him admitted to the hospital and cared for there since it's how they handle it best.

We were admitted Monday night, and I think I cried more than Nehemiah. I wanted to be with him while they inserted the IV, but the nurses felt it would be better if I weren't there. They instead called me right after they got it in and were wrapping it up. They did it so quickly that I had to compose myself in a flash to follow the nurse who came to get us. He didn't even shed a tear! He was just very loudly complaining. He is his father's son for sure.

We were there from Monday night until Thursday morning, and it was pretty uneventful. He was almost too thoroughly examined, but it was definitely a good thing to know we caught the infection early so that no damage occurred to his kidneys.

There was a mother there with her 6-month old son in our same room, and we felt so bad for her. She had been to Severance Hospital because her son's fever was even higher than Nehemiah's, and they sent her home with just some fever medication. When the fever didn't go away, she went to another small hospital where they were able to diagnose him with a UTI and refer her to our hospital for care. He is probably still at the hospital, as his urine was backing up into his system. She hardly got a wink of sleep because her son was just crying all of the time. For some reason, the nurses weren't able to get the IV into his foot like they did for Nehemiah, so he had to have it in his arm/hand (I'm not sure which.)

As briefly mentioned above, we stayed in a non-private room. I'm actually thankful no private rooms were available, as it wasn't that bad. We started out with four people, then one family left the next day, so we were down to three. Another family came later, though, and a fifth family came on Wednesday who wound up right next to us. (Everything is sectioned off by curtains, of course.) It was fine until that fifth family got there. The mother was very...strange. She seemed to be Korean and spoke Korean most of the time, but she read stories to her daughter in English and randomly spoke to herself in some language that sounded similar to Russian but didn't seem like Russian (unless hers is just that bad).

That woman would not get off of her phone doing whatever business she had to do. She wore a hospital gown, even though it was her daughter who was admitted. And her English. Oh, her English. She is referred to by us as the witch from Snow White, and it was Hee Suk who came up with the nickname! She sounded positively evil, as if with every sentence, she was offering her daughter a poison apple. Hilarious stuff. We could not stop mocking her and still do on occassion.

Her daughter is definitely her little princess, though. On Wednesday night, Hee Suk was entertaining Nehemiah with a monkey toy that has three thick plastic keys attached that his grandmother bought for him. It is not noisy in the least. Even with the keys clicking together, the sound is quite muted because they are thick. We put up with her witch-voice, and incessant phone chatter and her daughter's whininess all day, but she just couldn't have us playing with the monkey because her princess was in a coma from the poison apple, I mean, sleeping. I was not there when this happened, and it's probably a good thing I wasn't.

Anyway, I am derailing my train of thoughts. In the end, Nehemiah's case was mild because we caught it so early, so we were able to leave on Thursday morning with a prescription for some antibiotics. The cause of his UTI was E.Coli. I said to the doctor, "How? Isn't that from raw chicken and the likes?" "Yes, but it is also very common in, well, poo poo." I almost died trying to contain my laughter. He didn't say poop: it was "poo poo."

I was very concerned about the antibiotic and braced myself when we gave it to him the first time, but he pretty much enjoys it. We call it his orange juice. He needs to take it twice a day, so that is very manageable.

At any rate, this is getting choppy because he is getting fussy. I hope to get my act together to finish editing the photos soon.

Definitely giving thanks and praise to God for keeping our little guy safe and sound!

Pre- and Post-Bath Antics

If you are viewing from facebook, you will have to click "View Original Post" in order to see the videos.

My (Teething) Valentine

3 Months Old

Nehemiah turned 3 months old this past Wednesday (the 10th). We went to the doctor on the 11th for his Hib shot, and these were his stats: 7.36kg (16.2 lbs) and 67.3cm (26.5in). He's a big boy, to say the least! He took the shot very well, letting out one simple loud complaint and then smiling.

It seems that the shot caused him to be slightly feverish on Friday, though. Early in the evening, he was about 37.7º, but it went up to 37.9º, which is borderline need for concern. That day, I noticed that he was eating more than usual, and apparently while I was away teaching, his Appa noticed he was having more #2 diapers than usual (most notable was the frequency). When we were trying to put him to sleep, he kept waking up every so often and pooing (I can't tell you how many diapers I changed, when I usually don't change any until about 6 am, if even), so something was definitely up. He woke up at one point somewhere around 4 or 5am, ate, needed a diaper change, and at that time spit up all that he had eaten, some of which came out with a little bit of force. After composing myself, we decided to just put him in a short-sleeved onesie, help him back to sleep and cover him with a thin blanket. He dropped back down to about 37.6º, and a few hours later, it was showing more of a decline. Thankfully, he was super bright and chipper when he woke up for the day.

His father wasn't too keen on swaddling, so I stopped swaddling him some time last week. He's back to being swaddled as of last night, though. He loves his hands, and I think just being able to have them free is motivation enough for him to fight being put down for the night. He sleeps so well when swaddled, too. I am breaking him away from one of his nighttime feedings (around 3 or 4am) so that he can just sleep through the night. I think it's going well. He eats around 6am, then, which works fine because I am up anyway twice a week at that time getting ready for a morning class and always feed him before I leave.

These are Nehemiah's current favorite things:
- His hands
- His Appa's voice
- Squealing/sort of screaming with delight (hilarious)
- Grabbing things out of thin air (I don't know how he is able to reach some of the things he ends up with in his hands! He knows magic, I tell you.)
- Being sung to
- Pulling his hair
- As always, nakey and bath time

Anyway, today is both the Lunar New Year (Seollal) and Valentine's Day. I will try to get some pictures later. El Crankazoid is currently sleeping, so we shall leave him there for now.

Happy New Year and Happy Valentine's Day! Many blessings to you all~

Holiday Woes

Seollal (the Lunar New Year) is one of the two biggest holidays in Korea. If you are in the states and think you know what bad traffic is, you haven't sat in traffic on Seollal in Korea. You just have no idea.

I've been excited for Seollal this year because it will be our son's first. He's too little for a hanbok (Korean traditional wear), so I bought some little hanbok accessories to pin on him to add to the festive mood. As such, we've been asking for months what the plans are for the holiday since my husband and his brother are in Seoul, but their mother is in Busan. Train tickets sell out way in advance of the holiday, and I don't know a single person who is willing to sit in 8 hours of traffic that hardly even creeps along at times with a 3-month-old baby.

Well, until yesterday, it seemed like everyone was working hard to get my mother-in-law up here for the holiday. It only makes sense: holidays are spent with the husband's family, and considering both of her sons live up here, it's far easier to transport one person than it is to move six people (which includes a baby) along. Complicating matters, though, is my brother-in-law's wife, who wants to visit her family (in Busan) and now my niece from Busan, who is staying with my brother-in-law's family for two weeks as she starts job training here in Seoul. She, of course, would make seven people.

As I am sure you've deduced by now, my brother-in-law will be driving down to Busan with his wife, son and our niece. When we talked to him, it sounded like we weren't expected to make the trip down since we have a baby.

Hee Suk's mother called last night, though, and she is none too happy. As expected, she pulled out, "But you went all the way to America with him!" Airplanes have bathrooms with changing tables, and we can get up and walk around any time. Airplanes don't sit in traffic (well, unless the runways are busy, but still). And I don't know about you, but I actually kind of like airplane food. Oh, yeah, and my parents provided a car seat for us. Despite having a large family, we never tried to cram seven people (remember, we are adding in our niece now) into one car with the baby. The longest car trip we took with Nehemiah was, what, 30 minutes?

I'm really disappointed, too. As I said, I was really looking forward to his first Seollal, but no matter how upset she gets, I am NOT taking our son in a crammed car for a minimum of 6.5 hours in traffic, which will later mean that we'll be looking for some sort of a motel/hotel for our stay in Busan that doesn't include an Austin Powers-style love bed in it. I can't even handle it.

I guess we'll just pretend like it's not his first Seollal and just focus on Valentine's Day (same day this year), setting up hearts all over the place and taking ridiculously adorable pictures of him.

Sleep

It's been a very exhausting past couple of weeks with a couple of new classes starting up and some filmings mixed in there. To date, I've never really felt exhausted because of anything to do with Nehemiah--a true blessing indeed. Though I wish I could sleep in more many days, I feel fine throughout the day.

I just learned very quickly, though, that catching up on sleep is a whole new ordeal.

I find it very difficult to sleep during the day. For the past couple of weeks, when time has permitted, I've tried to nap a little while Nehemiah was playing with his Appa or while the little monkey was sleeping, and it just was not happening, leaving me feeling even more tired and groggy.

Yesterday, though, I was finally able to get a nap in. I fed him in the side-lie position, which sometimes help him get to sleep better, and decided that instead of moving him, I would just try to lie with him there (which I obviously felt comfortable doing). Wouldn't you know, I was able to catch what might have just been a cat nap, but it was exactly what I needed. I felt so incredibly much better after that. It's amazing what a difference a little extra sleep can make.

Otherwise, all is well. Nehemiah continues to thrive. He grabs things so well now and has great focus while playing the "crane game." He sure does have a lot to say as well. In just a few days, he will turn 3 months, and in 10 days, it will be his 100-day birthday (which is hugely important here). We are taking him to the doctor next Thursday for his first Hib shot, so I will have some updated stats then. (We've decided to pass on PCV and Rotavirus for now.)

That's about it for now!

Dear Lord, there is nothing we could have ever done to warrant such incredible blessings from You, but You continue to bless us more and more each day, through every little giggle and smile and even in those moments where it's hard to figure out what to do. I pray we never take for granted any of these things. I pray that our lives might serve to be a testament to Your faithfulness, your love and mercy, and that day-by-day, we might glorify You through every decision we make.

Crane Game and Giggles

This video is of what I like to call the "crane game." Nehemiah is learning how to put his hands together to grab things and likes going after the turtle mirror on his bouncer. The first time I saw it (yesterday), he had grabbed it and wanted to try eating it. It just reminded me of a crane game with how easily those prizes can slip through the grabber.




As I mentioned a few posts ago, Nehemiah is actually laughing nowadays. Yesterday, he laughed more than ever. As I was holding him before feeding him and putting him down for the night, he was looking at the flowers on the wall that he has always loved to look at and just started cracking up. I had Hee Suk hand me the camera as quickly as he could so I could record some of the action. I was holding Nehemiah with one hand and filming with the other, but what's most important is what you hear. ^^