Judah Budah

Some recent, and not so recent, pictures of my baby boy:

Talking on the phone, April 21st

In the Tub, April 7th

Do ya like my new top teeth?!

Some pics by Sissy, April 2nd

At my brother and sister-in-law's wedding rehearsal, March 28th

(Just for comparison, Grace with Moses, May 2007)

The boys hanging out at the rehearsal.

Watching the rain, March 21st

Funny boy

The Observer, as always.

I love this boy!! He's so sweet and such a delight.

Grace's Birthday Montage

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Grace is Ten!!

Happy Birthday, dear sweet daughter Grace!
I can't believe it's been 10 years since you came into my life,
a blessing to me forever.
I love you!

Ten Years Ago

This is me, 8 months pregnant with Grace, 10 years ago! I cannot believe it's been a decade since that darling girl was born. I remember how energetic and fit I felt while pregnant with her, something that I don't quite feel so much this time around...

Sweet Baby, Sweet Girl

This sweet little baby is turning ten years old on Friday!

Meet #5

Due to join the
Mailly Family
mid-October, 2009.

Easter

"Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end."

~John 13:1

Update on Judah

This is a tardy update, but wanted to post it:

We took Judah to the ENT after his stay in the hospital, and lets just say it wasn't an extremely helpful visit.

First of all, I hate having to pack up 3 kids and go downtown for appointments. It means:

• leaving really early to get there on time in rush hour traffic
  
• bringing snacks
• and extra clothes (you never no when your almost 3-year-old will decide to have one of his very rare accidents)
• and water bottles
• and books and toys
• and the checkbook to pay for parking
• and everything else you can think of
• then parking in a ramp, which I also hate
• and finding where you have to go in this huge professional building
• and keeping your kids from running and screaming
• and waiting for your appointment while trying to keep your kids from playing with the germ-infested waiting room toys
• or knocking on the fish tank and yelling "HI FISH"
• then waiting in the exam room for the doctor while trying to keep your kids from pressing all the buttons and switches on the cool machines and eating spilled Cheerios off the floor
• then trying to talk to the doctor and ask him all your questions while corralling all your kids and trying to sweep up all the spilled snacks on the floor
• then gathering all the stuff you brought, plus a now crabby little one and exiting the building
• and finding your car in the ramp, which I can never do.

I guess I should have gotten a babysitter for the older ones.

Anyway, the ENT found that Judah had ANOTHER ear infection - double, actually. He also was a bit huffy when I told him we hadn't filled the $90 prescription for Zantac that he had prescribed for Judah in the hospital. I told him Judah has NO signs of reflux, and Zantac seemed like a pretty heavy-duty drug for a little one, and it was really expensive, and we wanted to talk to him about it before giving it to Judah, but he seemed offended that we wouldn't just follow directions like good patients.

Also, he said Judah needs (as we expected) to be put under for a bronchioscope to check his upper airways and find out why his croup has been so bad and not responding to meds. But he also said that at the same time we should also put in ear tubes, since Judah has had 3 ear infections. Basically, he said, Judah will already be "under" so it would be the perfect time to do both procedures. This was a shock to me, even though I was cancerned about all Judah's ear infections. Neither of our other kids have ever had a single ear infection, so why Judah is struggling with them has been perplexing. But to say he needs ear tubes, at 13 months old, seemed drastic and scary.

I left feeling confused, concerned, and overwhelmed at all this. I felt very sad for little Judah, that he may need to be on this reflux drug for several years, have these two procedures done, be put under anesthesia, be on more antibiotics for the new ear infection, etc. etc. And I also was worried about how we would pay for $5000+ in new hospital bills for these procudures. And I was just stressed with the whole trip to the doctor in the first place. Plus we had to stop at the pharmacy to fill Judah's antibiotic, and Judah had missed his morning nap, and the kids were hungry for lunch by that time. So when we finally got home and I called Richard, I cried.

Richard, in his very calm, helpful way, said, Melissa, it's going to be fine. The fact that Judah is sick isn't your fault, and we'll find a way to pay for whatever he needs, and it's going to be alright. I sniffed and wiped my eyes and said, okay.

Then I called my mom, and she also helped me by saying we didn't have to just jump into the ear tubes. She said ear tubes are an ENT's bread and butter, and of course he's going to suggest them, but that doesn't mean we have to get them. She advised me to do some research before scheduling the surgery. I was like, of course! Do some research on alternatives to ear tubes! That's exactly what I need to do!

What I found was fascinating. I think it calls for a separate post to share it all, but suffice it to say that 1) chronic ear infections can be casued underlying issues that can be eliminated, 2) there are other treatments that are more effective and less invasive than ear tubes, 3) often antibiotics are not neccessary and can be counter-productive, and 4) ear tubes can be a good thing for some kids but aren't beneficial for many and are over-prescribed.

The bottom line is that we are trying other courses of action with Judah first, and will only schedule these two procedures if more natural treatments don't work. And I feel SO much better about the knowledge we've gained and the direction we're taking with him! And although in one sence what we're doing involves more "work" and lifestyle changes than just getting ear tubes would, I feel it's a MUCH better approach for us.



It's a good thing he's sooo happy!

A Hospital Stay

Well, I feel sufficiently recovered from last week's drama to write about it! Judah had a stay at Children's Short Stay Unit for severe, recurrent croup. If your child has ever had croup, you know it sounds like they're dying, but usually isn't serious. Most of the time letting them breathe cool, moist air clears it up.

Judah has had croup several times this fall/winter, and except for the first round where we freaked out and took him to the ER, we've been able to treat it at home. But last Monday night when he woke up with the typical barking cough and stridor (a harsh, raspy, whooping, gasping sound when breathing in), not only did the cool, humid night air not help, he actually got worse. At 10pm we woke up Moses and Grace and all piled into our new Honda Odyssey.

The doctor who treated Judah in the ER said he had the worse case of croup she'd seen in the last 50 cases that had come through. He was nebulized with epinephrine and then given a steroid to ease the inflammation of his upper airway.

When the neb wore off an hour later, he relapsed. He was nebbed again. An hour and a half later he relapsed. He was nebbed again.

All this time, Richard was in the van with the two older kids, watching movies. They were so excited at being up in the middle of the night that they stayed awake the entire time!!

We finally were able to go home at 3am Tuesday morning. They warned us that if he relapsed at home, he would have to be admitted.

Tuesday night he relapsed again. I was able to get him stable when he woke up at midnight and 2am, but at 5am we finally had to bring him in again. My brother Caleb graciously came over on his day off to stay with Moses and Grace so Richard could go to work. (Thank you, Caleb!!)

Judah and I had to stay in the ER most of the day because the hospital was full. At 3pm on Wednesday we finally got a room in the SSU and settled in. Because croup is contagious, Judah was quarantined the whole time. That meant that if I had to go to the bathroom or get food, I had to call a nurse to come stay with him. Needless to say, I pretty much never left the room.

Judah did well on Wednesday, and all the nurses and doctors commented on how cheerful, smiley and active he was! Even with all the nebulizing, medicating, poking, prodding and being tied to a pulse oximeter, he was smiling, waving and saying "hi" to everyone. I was definitely thanking God for Judah's easy-going nature. This whole thing would have been much more difficult with a more high-needs child!

Richard brought the kids to visit us that evening. We had dinner together and my parents came to pick up the kids from the hospital later on so Richard and I could watch Lost together. Awww. Too bad it was a rerun.

Judah was great all night and on Thursday morning it looked like we might get to go home. Sure enough, we were discharged around 1pm and finally able to go home! What an exhausting few days it had been! My wonderful parent's stayed with the kids on Thursday so Richard could work (so we could pay the hospital bills!), and my dear soon-to-be sister-in-law Trish brought dinner for us! What a blessing to be so well cared for in times like these!

Judah is getting better every day, and has not relapsed. However, because he has had "recurrent" croup that hasn't responded to normal treatment well, he has to see an ENT (Ear Nose and Throat) doctor on Thursday. He will most likely have to have a tiny scope put down his throat to check his trachea. Possibly he has an abnormally narrow trachea, which would account for the problems he's having. Please pray that we figure out what's wrong and how to treat it! I don't relish the thought of hospital stays every time he gets a cold!

So, this was my first long stay in the hospital with one of my kids, besides after childbirth. Although it got very loooong and boring, (at one point I was reduced to blowing up rubber gloves into balloons to keep Judah happy) there were a couple nice things about our stay.

First, I got to spend more alone, one-on-one time with my youngest child than I have since he was born! It was just me and him, all day, no distractions or interruptions. My life simply revolved around keeping Judah happy, seeing to his needs, and loving on him. It was really sweet! I came away from it feeling a renewed love and affection for my little boy, and treasuring that time we had together, even though there was stress in it.

Also, I got to watch Jon and Kate Plus 8, which I love but never get to watch because we don't have cable. I also learned it's good that we don't have cable because I might end up watching TLC all day.

So there you have it. Our first holpitalization. God was faithful through it all, we survived, friends and family cared for us, and the kids got to watch movies in the van from 11pm to 3am one night.

I'll try to post again after Judah's appointment for an update on his status! Thanks for praying for us!

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Bath Buddies

Yes, the floor was flooded after this. But a good time was had by all.