Is July Over Yet?!

It's been a rough past several weeks. Our family and some friends know what we've been going through, but I just cannot wait until we can put the recent past behind us. Have you ever been one of those people who say, "Wow, those people have such hard trials; I'm so glad we don't have to go through anything like that?" Or, "We've never really had to go through tough times?" Well, if you are one of those people, don't say it out loud. We did. And seriously, in a matter of weeks, we got hit hard.

One morning a few weeks ago Eric and I found a dead bug in our bed. Gross, right? The problem was that it wasn't just any bug--it was a bed bug. And it wasn't the only one in our room. Or the house. After discovering one, we ended up finding another, and then more. It has been a nightmare. When you find them, you have no idea how you didn't see them before. And then you get paranoid every time you see something that looks remotely like a bug. We had no idea where they would have come from. But then later that morning that we found them, the neighbor girl, who moved in just a few months ago, came over to play. When we told her why we couldn't play upstairs, she said at her last apartment they had bugs in their house too and had to sleep downstairs. Yeah. Maybe it was them, maybe not. But we got them. And it's awful. We threw away Henrik's pack-n-play, all of our box springs, and some articles of bedding. We put belongings into garbage bags to be heat treated by sitting in the van all day, getting over 120 degrees. We put our mattresses in plastic moving bags and put them in the van to be heat treated. We sprayed pesticide on all the walls, baseboards, door frames, dressers, etc. All five of us have been sleeping downstairs, and living like you're in a hotel every night has not been fun. We have to wait a few more days until the pest control people come to treat the apartment. Waiting for them for three weeks has been the longest ordeal ever.

Then, on top of that, as difficult as it was to see Henrik go through his surgery and then UTI, the last thing we expected was a repeat. One morning Henri didn't seem to be acting like himself. We thought maybe he was getting a cold. But in the late afternoon he was feverish, and I began to panic. He vomited not long afterward, and all the signs of the previous UTI were there. I called the doctor immediately, but our pediatrician wasn't in that day. I opted to see her the next morning, but then changed my mind and called back. The only open spot that night was now gone, so I would have to go to Urgent Care or wait until the next morning. We watched Henri carefully and he was doing okay, so we waited for the set appointment. They took another urine sample, and there it was again: a UTI. The pediatrician wanted to touch base with his urologist, so she sent us on our way with a promise that she'd call as soon as she had any more info. I took the kids to the Easton fountains while Eric attended a meeting there at the Hilton. Henri couldn't rest or be consoled the whole time we were there. I dragged the girls away, hoping Eric would get done sooner than later, and we drove around looking for a pharmacy to get Henrik some more medicine. Not long after, Eric texted me and we picked him up, then got a call from the pediatrician's office: go straight to admitting at Children's Hospital. We had nothing with us except what was in the diaper bag, but Eric dropped me off with the kids while he had to take a friend to the airport and then came right back. The girls were able to stay in the sibling clubhouse while I got Henrik checked in. His temperature when we arrived was 103.8. They gave him some Motrin first thing, then started his IV and later began the IV antibiotics. It was so hard being there watching him suffer again. They had to give him Tylenol along with the Motrin to try to control his fever. He kept vomiting, but at least wanted to nurse. It was so hard to try to get him to sleep, and then we couldn't move around very well because of the IV. Of course every time I finally got him to sleep, the nurses had to come in and do vitals. But he was gradually getting better.

Eric was superdad, taking care of the girls, going grocery shopping, trying to work and be at the hospital for Henrik and me, bringing me food and trying to keep the family together as much as possible. We had a friend from Church offer to watch the girls one morning so Eric could get his poster and presentation finished for his conference in Boston a few days later. My sister called and offered to do anything for us. We had family members call to check in on us. We are so grateful for the prayers and support shown by everyone! We stayed two nights at the hospital, and Henrik was doing well enough to leave with another oral antibiotic, this time doing a course twice as long as the first time. He'll be on another daily one after that, as well as being tested for urine reflux. This poor kid. We really hope he will be ALL better soon.

Too bad his sisters can't stay healthy while he is sick. As soon as we were discharged and returned home from the hospital Saturday afternoon, we looked at Mierae and just knew she had pink eye. Eric turned around and went to the urgent care. And thankfully, the third pharmacy Eric tried was still open to get Mierae's meds, which were unfortunately almost $100. Yeah.

So, Eric had been trying to get things ready for his conference in Boston when we got hit with Henrik's hospitalization. We had bought a plane ticket for me, and Henri, to go along with Eric. My sister graciously offered to watch the girls for the three days we would be gone. She sent us off with every hope that we could forget about our troubles and just relax and enjoy our trip. We were definitely looking forward to it. But we should've known bad luck would chase us down. We boarded our first flight through New York a half-hour late and sat on the runway for almost 2 1/2 hours as we waited and waited to be cleared to fly despite thunderstorms throughout the east. Enough time had gone by that we had to be brought back to the gate and de-plane, where we waited for another two hours. We were re-routed through DC, another delayed flight. Once we got to DC, our connection to Boston was also delayed. Once we finally boarded our flight to Boston, we sat on the runway again, only to be told that the runway had been closed at 11:00 pm, minutes before. Our plane was too heavy to go on the other runways, so we sat for another 45 minutes while they figured out where the plane could take off from. We finally got into Boston at 1:30 am, and a very patient Henrik had just had it and really began to cry. The train was closed, so we took a taxi to the hotel and arrived just after 2:00 am. At least our hotel was beautiful (Marriott at Copley), and there was a pack-n-play for Henrik to have a bed again for a few days. Our Tuesday was actually lovely--relaxing, enjoyable, productive (for Eric at his conference, and for Henrik with naps), and fun. We ate out three times, got dessert because we could, walked with the tourists, saw Trinity Church, and watched TV after Henrik had gone to bed. Wednesday morning was also fun with a walk down Newbury Street to the Public Gardens to see the swan boats and George Washington's statue. We ate lunch at the public library garden and toured some of the beautiful murals on the inside.

But we were dreading our flight back home. We got two calls on Eric's phone that our connecting flight to Columbus was going to be three hours late. Grrr. We got to the airport as early as we could, hoping that we could maybe catch an earlier flight out and an earlier connection. But by then, our connecting flight had been covered by a different plane and was supposed to come in on time. So, we prepared to board our first flight. And guess what? It was delayed. Of course. When the plane finally came in, we sat on the ground for who knows what reason for a long time. So when we finally got into DC, we had to sprint off the plane (yeah, right--we were in the very back), catch a shuttle to the other side of the airport, and run to our gate. And we got there, just in time to watch our plane back away from the terminal. The only on-time flight of our trip. Yeah. But we eventually made it home, even if it was a lot later than we'd hoped. Henrik did so well. I can't believe we put him through all of that.

And guess what the lesson topic for the third hour of Church was today? Stress. Yeah.

I will never again complain that I don't get any trials.

Here's looking forward to a new month: a pest-free home, a healthy baby boy, a wonderful family vacation to Utah, and a great start to a new school year.