Our Spring Break miracle

It's spring break in Colorado. And in the life of a youth pastor, spring break can be one of the busiest weeks of them all.

So I had made plans, months ahead, to spend spring break at my parents house in Jefferson City, Missouri. Its about an 11 hour drive, so Ben drove us half way and my dad picked us up and drove the remaining distance.

I had lofty thoughts of spending the week shopping with my mom, getting pedicures and haircuts, and swinging with my kiddos on their backyard swing set.

God had other ideas.

On Tuesday, April 28, my mom mentioned how warm Parker felt. I didn't really think much of it, just assumed it was warmer here in Missouri than it ever is in Colorado, and his body was just adjusting.

Later that day, we took him to my brother's high school track meet. It was beautiful outside and I thought some Vitamin D from the sun would do us all some good. Parker screamed the whole way there, the whole 20 minutes we spent there, and the whole way home. I assumed he was still tired from our car trip a few days ago and thought it best to take him home to nap.

He napped, slept decent at night, but woke up in a fretting mess. Nothing would console him. I tried nursing him, rocking him, josseling him - everything except spin him on his head - to get him to calm down. My dad suggested I call their local pediatrician. So I called our insurance to find out how that worked out of state, and much to my surprise, they told me to take him to the ER - that was all that would be covered.

What a God-send that phone call turned out to be.

It sounded a little ridiculous to me considering all this baby probably had was gas or an ear infection.

I finally got him to sleep, put him in his bed, and shoo-ed my dad off to work. About two hours later, my normally happy, coo-ing, perfectly content little boy was a screaming mess. I left EK, P, & S with their big uncle, called my dad at work (who then insisted that he go with me) and took little Parker to the ER.

I second guessed myself the entire way. I thought for sure they would send me home with instruction to give him some Tylenol for fussiness or at worst with an antibiotic for an ear infection. I was so worried that I was making too big of a fuss over some crying and a little warmth, but my dad assured me that it would be better just to have him checked out.

We made it to the ER and sat in the waiting room.

FYI - people in the ER waiting room are strange. I had a 3 year old who had swallowed glass on one side of me, and an elderly gentleman insisting that I eat some of his onion rings on the other. Of course this just furthered my desire to get the heck out of there.

But then I would look at this sweet boy, and remember that I needed to get some answers.

They finally called our name and took us to a pediatric ER room - which basically was a normal ER room that happened to get the Disney channel.

The nurse came in and immediately took him temperature. It registered 103.5

I was in shock.

We spent the next three hours undergoing tests for RSV, Influenza, ear infections - all of which came back negative.

We then underwent bloodwork, chest x-rays, spinal taps, urine samples, catheters - every pain inducing thing you can think of - and I had to watch my baby go through it all.
I eventually couldn't watch it anymore, and my amazing dad took over. He held him during every blood sample prick, every IV attempt, every throat swab - and I went out into the hall and balled my eyes out.

There is nothing more painful for a mom than to hear her baby scream and yell, and realize there is not one single thing she can do about it. I just wanted to take his little body out of that room and rush him home and never let go.

They finally made my dad leave the room when doing the meningitis check - which entailed drawing spinal fluid from his back. Even my dad had seen enough.

After hours in the waiting room, they did finally admit us. But with no diagnosis or prognosis.

That first night was really hard. I was away from home, away from my husband, away from my church family and friends, and watching my baby hurt.

He went through 3 IV attempts before they finally placed it in his head. He went through 5 catheter tries before finally getting success. And he went through 4 blood draws before they finally got one that was deemed uncontaminated.

I remember visiting orphanages in 3rd world countries, and you walk in expecting to hear the cry of babies desiring to be held, but in fact, what you heard was much worse. For what you hear is silence. Babies given up on their desperate cries for help and attention, and eventually just laid lethargic and still in a lonely metal crib.

That was my Parker that night.
He laid in that bed, completely exhausted, completely void of trying, and his eyes were unable to focus anymore.

I cried so much that night I thought I wouldn't be able to open my eyes the next morning.

I needed my best friend. And the next afternoon, Parker and I both got our wish.
Once Ben got there, the heaviness of the task before us seemed to lighten. As my friend said, my joy was doubled and my burden was halved - and that is exactly how I felt.

We spent the next several days in that cold hospital room.

Parker spent a majority of his time in this crazy contraption.

We were cared for by some of the most amazing nurses I have ever witnessed. I watched those ladies cry with Parker, try to make him smile, bring me cookies during my darkest moments, and yell at a lab tech who demanded another blood draw.

They were my advocates and I will always remember what they did for my baby.

Parker spent the next 3 days healing, and being tested for just what kind of sickness was taking such a toll on his little body.

The diagnosis as of right now is still unknown, but I do have a much happier baby on my hands!

God healed our baby and we are now out of the hospital and at my parents house! Praise the Lord!

While there are still so many questions left unanswered and so many fears of what lies ahead - I am praising God for bringing healing to my sweet Parker Reid.

So many of you prayed, sent messages, cared for my oldest 3, gave gifts, and loved on my family this past week. We are eternally grateful. God hears the prayers of his people and you better believe He heard the prayers of hundreds who were petitioning the throne of the Lord on behalf of our son.

We know this journey is not yet over, but we do know God must have big plans for our little man.