Levi's hospital visit and initial results

Well, it's all over with.
Soooooooo glad I can say that.

To those of you wondering how in the world you never knew this whole testing bonanza was coming, I have this to say: Neither did I!

When Levi had his UTI about two weeks ago we were told it was "no big deal". He hadn't even spiked a fever to fight it off before we began antibiotics. But then I received a phone call with the full story... because he's so young, and because they want to prevent further UTI's (which could potentialy be more serious and could require hospitalization) they have to do this whole battery of tests.

No problem, I thought, we'll take care of that next month - or sometime later on down the road. I'm not going to worry about it right now. His birthday is coming up, and his grandparents are traveling in, and I have enough on my plate.

Then I received yet another phone call. This time I was informed that I needed to have the testing done prior to his 12 month appointment so they would have the results to discuss with me. What? Excuse me? His 12 month check-up is next week. hmph.

So, I decided that if I had to do it soon, I may as well do it really soon, and I scheduled it for the following day. Now, mind you, hubby makes cheese Tuesdays and Thursdays this month, so he was out the door at 2:30am, not to return until 7:00pm meaning he wouldn't be joining us. Thank the Lord for my friend Rachael who stepped in to fill his shoes for the procedure.

We arrived to admissions at 1:00. The ushered us back to ultrasound around 1:10. This was supposed to be the easy part. No pain, no catheter, just an ultrasound... and then I realize that the tech will ultimately need him to be perfectly still. A 12 month old, perfectly still? Riiiiiiiight. Rachael held his hips down while I put my weight on his shoulders and he screamed like a skinned cat.

As I was beginning to wonder how on EARTH this ultrasound could last TWICE as long and be TWICE as involved as my 20 week pregnancy scan, a thought came to me. Why not just nurse him through it? I mean, sure it would involve a little contortion on my part, but it might just work.

And work, it did! I had never nursed him from quite that angle before, but apparently novelty has its perks. He stayed still and quiet for the remaining (eternity) 15 minutes of the ultrasound. Brilliant!

Then came the tough part. As I took him across the hall to the I knew this wouldn't be pretty. I stripped him down and they put him into this rotating harness. They put his hands up by his head and strapped them next to his ears. With a strap across his abdomen, and another across his ankles, he was perfectly immobile - and none-too-happy about it. The nurse came in to catheterize him for the secondary urinalisis and I shot up a quick prayer. This has been traumatic in the past, and I didn't think it would be any easier this time. As God would have it, she made her way into his bladder on the first try and got a clean catch" of urine.

After the urinalysis they began pumping dye into his bladder to fill it up. The goal here was to get his bladder very full and then see if, while he urinates, the die shoots up the ureters and into the kidneys. It took the Dr. a few tries to fill his bladder. The first two times he urinated right away and wouldn't allow the bladder to fill completely. On the third try she got it very full. Meanwhile, Rachael and I were up by Levi's head, singing to him, holding his little hands, and praying. He was too busy screaming bloody murder to hear a darn thing we said.

After about 15 minutes of what I considered torture (although I'm sure it was harder for me than it was for him) The nurse removed the catheter, removed the straps, and let me take off my lead jacket and grab my little boy. He was a mess, an angry, irritated, mess. And I don't blame him. I knew his bladder was full so after holding him naked for a moment I put him down to put a diaper on him and, man, did he read me the riot act. We sat in the changing area, the three of us, and I nursed him for a bit. Would you believe that, after all the commotion, my kid
was smiling at the receptionists as we left? Wow.

I thanked Rachael profusely and we headed home. On our way into his nursery I offered Levi some diced peaches and toast which he vehemently refused. We sat in the rocker, in the dark, and nursed for no more than 3 minutes before he was in a deep sleep. I sat with him for a while.

I carefully placed him in his crib and then, the unthinkable happened. My son (at least, I'm pretty sure it was my son) took the longest nap he's ever taken. After nearly 3 hours I went in to check on him. Still sleeping... I began making normal dinner-making noise and within another 15 minutes he was stirring. I anxiously went in and grabbed him in his dazed state to cuddle him more before he'd want to get down and play.

What a trooper!
Thank you all for your prayers,
We serve a God who is sovereign in all situations, but I'm particularly grateful that the Doctor saw no reflux into his kidneys. Hopefully he'll never have to go through this process again.

-M