Date Night Disasters

Since I am all caught up on the normal, happy moments that have been our lives for the past, two years, I thought I would take a moment and share a few stressful moments that have occurred this year. First, I would like to give you a little background of life before Alexander. Before Alexander came along, Scott and I were very committed to having a date night at least once a week. We would go out and do something fun together just the two of us. They usually included dinner and some activity. Sometimes they were as simple as going to a movie, or playing tennis together, and sometimes they were more elaborate like eating at the revolving restaurant at the Space Needle. Well, since Alexander was born seven months ago, it has been a bit of a challenge to get those date nights in. Luckily we have been able to get away at least once a month for a temple date night, or just a fun night out.

Well, there have been two specific times that I can think of that we planned a date night, and they turned into absolute disasters! The first happened a few months ago. Scott and I really wanted to go to the temple with our ward. So we asked our neighbors to watch Alexander. Well, a few days prior to this, Scott had been having a little pain in his mouth. He thought that it was due to the fact that he hadn't worn a retainer in years, so the night before our date night, he put it in to see if that would help. He woke up in lots of pain. The day of our date night, he went to work and was complaining that his mouth hurt still. So I cancelled our date night, and picked him up from work, and twisted his arm to go to the dentist. We went to the dentist and they did some x-rays but didn't seem too concerned. That night, Scott was in so much pain that he couldn't sleep and started throwing up. Since the dentist didn't catch anything, we were scared and took him to the ER at 4 am. Well, they couldn't do much since it was a dental issue, so the next day, Scott took off work and we went back into the dentist. It turned out that he had an abscess on his tooth, so that his gums were filling with infection and causing tons of pain and pressure to his tooth. The dentist cleaned it out, and gave him some pain meds to tie him over until his next appointment (which was in a week) when they would finish the work.

That evening, Scott's pain increased and his high level meds weren't helping. I had gotten the dentist's cell phone number, so we called him up. The dentist agreed to look at it the next day, which was Saturday, even though the office is closed on Saturdays. So we went back to the dentist for the third day in a row. The dentist then realized that the infection was over two touching teeth instead of just one. It took an hour and a half to drain the infection on the other side. Because it was so intense, he left a small hole so the infection could slowly continue to drain. Anyway, when we went back in the following Monday, the infection was still draining! It was so bad that the dentist said he hadn't seen a case like Scott's in years! Scott ended up getting two root canals and started feeling much better after the visit Saturday morning. We had to go back to the dentist a couple more times for follow-ups, but he hasn't had a problem since.

The crazy thing is that Scott had his very first cavity in November and had x-rays then too. This only happened in January, so it was weird that it developed so fast! The dentist said that these kinds of things usually happen due to cavities or trauma to the area. The cavity he had was in a completely different area of his mouth and there was no trauma to the area. It literally came from nowhere! It was so scary and sad to see Scott in so much pain, and it was a good thing we cancelled our date night because there is no way he would have been able to enjoy the temple with the amount of pain he was in. That is what I call a date night disaster!

The second date night disaster, occurred last weekend. On Friday, we had planned to have a date night and it was going to be the first time we had one of the young women from our ward watch Alexander. We haven't been to a movie since I was pregnant, and thought it would be fun to go see the new Lorax movie, since it was one of my favorite Dr. Seuss stories growing up. Well, we were all set to go to the date night, when I realized only half an hour before Scott got off work, that Alexander had a temperature of 100.6. He had been dealing with slight cold symptoms for about a week, and they had gotten a little worse that day. I had called the doctor earlier to set up an appointment, but they were booked until Monday. When I saw his temperature, I called the office and they recommended going in to Urgent Care. So we cancelled our date night and promptly took him in. The doctor looked him over and said that though he looked sick, he was still overall happy and content, so we shouldn't worry too much. They took samples to test for RSV and the flu and both came back negative. So we took him home, thinking that he would be fine. Well, that night at 2 am, he woke up crying. I assumed he was just hungry and fed him. As I was feeding him, I noticed that he was really warm. So I changed his diaper and took his temperature and discovered it was 102.4! I totally freaked out and woke Scott up. Scott got up and held him while I got dressed to go to the hospital, and Alexander promptly threw up on Scott four times in a row! I have to admit I was so scared that I was crying. Our little boy had never had a temperature before and it was super scary!

Anyway, we headed to the hospital and they saw us right away. They ran some tests and took some x-rays. They determined that he has bronchiolitis, which is where a virus enters the bronchioles of the lungs and blocks the lungs from being able to take in adequate oxygen. We were at the hospital for four hours that night/morning while they monitored his temperature, heart rate and oxygen levels. His temperature took the whole four hours to start dropping and his heart rate was at about 200 for most of the time there. It was super scary! They also had to use this tool to clean out his nasal passages. It did not look like fun at all! They gave us a prescription to come back to the hospital as often as needed and visit the respiratory clinic so he could get cleaned out. Unfortunately, we had to keep coming back at least twice a day until Monday.

The good news is that Alexander's temperature never got above 100 after we left the hospital. The bad news is that he has struggled a lot with eating. He refuses food and when he does eat, he will only eat for about two minutes. It has all been so hard. Another scary thing that happened was on Sunday night. Sunday morning we took him in to get cleaned out and they said he was looking good and on the way up to normal health. Sunday night, we figured he looked really good and was improving, and we decided not to take him into the clinic. An hour after he fell asleep he was crying a ton and Scott had trouble cleaning out his nose. So we went back into the clinic and discovered that his oxygen level had dropped to 83! Normal levels are between 90 and 100. We were grateful we had brought him in, but that experience got me even more worried because we had thought he was fine only an hour earlier. Anyway, Monday morning we took him back in because he was refusing food and seemed stuffed up. They said he was much better and we haven't taken him to the hospital since.

We did do a follow up with our pediatrician on Monday and discovered that he also has an ear infection! She also gave me some tips on to how to help him eat better. So currently we are using a bottle when he struggles to eat. It is now Wednesday and things are really looking up. The last two nights he has woken up for food in the middle of the night, which I would normally be annoyed about, but am super grateful for! The nights before he would sleep up to eleven hours, wake up, and refuse food. Today, his nose is much better and he not only took milk normally, but he also ate bananas and rice cereal! Things really are looking up and I am so grateful that my little man is getting better. I have to say that it is the scariest thing in the world to see your child sick and in pain and not be able to do anything about it. That is what I call a date night disaster!

So far, both date night disasters occurred when we tried to ask someone new to babysit Alexander. Hopefully, despite our date night disasters, we can still find extra babysitters for our little man, so the hubby and I can enjoy some time for just the two of us. I am so grateful that Scott and Alexander are both healthy now and not in pain. It is so sad to see the ones you love hurting. Hopefully that is the last time we will visit the hospital for a LONG time!

Well, that is all for now! Tune in next time for something else new and uplifting :)