Evan's Hospital Adventure

We had an interesting weekend over here. On Saturday afternoon, Evan woke up from his nap screaming. He said that his tummy hurt. Elbert held him for awhile, and he seemed fine. About 45 minutes later, he started screaming again and pointing to the same area of his tummy. After another episode before dinner, we called the doctor.

The doctor said to give him clear fluids and a bland dinner and watch him. He wanted us to call back if the pain seemed to move below his belly button. We ate dinner, and Evan played swords with his brothers and seemed fine. We put Evan to bed. He slept for about an hour and a half and woke up screaming again. He started waking up every 20 minutes and then every 10 and then every 5 minutes. We called the doctor again, and he said we needed to bring him to the ER.

Thankfully, my sister Pam and brother-in-law, Jeff live only 5 minutes from us. We called Jeff to come and sleep on our couch so that we could both take Evan to the hospital without waking up Nathan and Andrew.

We got to the hospital around midnight. They got us right in to see the doctor. He ordered an ultrasound to see what was going on. He suspected it was intussuception. This is a condition where the small intestine basically telescopes into itself. When the intestine telescopes, it causes intense pain. When it goes back to normal, the pain is gone. The doctors don't really know exactly what causes it.

The ultrasound confirmed intussuception. So, they ordered a procedure to blow air into his intestine to hopefully fix the problem. They said the procedure works in about 75% of the cases. I couldn't go with Evan because the procedure was guided by x-ray, and I couldn't put the baby at risk. So, Elbert and Evan headed down. Elbert said that while they were doing the procedure Evan said, "No, no! You're hurting me. Please stop hurting me!" It lasted about 5 minutes, and the nurses offered him a prize afterward. He refused; I don't think he wanted anything to do with the people who hurt him. Elbert said the first thing he asked for after they were done was to see his brothers. He missed them!

Thankfully, after the procedure, he had no more bouts of pain. By this time, it was after 3am. They admitted Evan to the hospital for observation. They said there is a risk of it happening again. If it did, they would have to do surgery.

Elbert went home, and I stayed at the hospital with Evan. We each got 1 1/2 - 2 hours of sleep on Saturday night.

Here's Evan in his cute hospital gown.


Evan seemed to enjoy his time in the hospital. He got to eat ice cream for lunch and dinner, which never happens at home. He enjoyed the play room full of toys and games, and we watched more movies than we allow at home. One of his favorite things to do in the hospital was call his brothers and talk to them on the phone. The first thing he said when he woke up on Monday morning was, "Let's call Nathan and Andrew!" I think he felt like such a big boy talking all by himself. He loved sharing his adventures with his brothers (and Dad!).


Nathan and Andrew came to visit on Sunday morning. They all enjoyed watching a movie together.


As you can see, Elbert was exhausted from a long night at the hospital.


We had to stay Sunday night also. On Monday around lunch time, Evan was discharged. Here is the nurse taking Andrew and Evan for a ride in the wagon to the car.


We are so thankful for all the prayers during this time. We felt God's care through the entire time. We have to watch Evan carefully for awhile to make sure it doesn't happen again. But, it appears that he is healed. We are so thankful that the procedure worked and that he didn't have to have surgery!

Evan still says, "Some doctors hurt me." We keep reminding him that they had to do that in order to make him feel better. He can't completely comprehend it all, but I don't think he has a negative view of doctors or hospitals.

Visiting Family Out East

It's been awhile since I've posted. I'm finally starting to feel more normal. It took until 18 weeks with this baby, which is a bit longer than with the others.

Over Spring Break, our family took a road trip out East. We logged 1900 miles on the van in just a week. We were amazed at how well the boys traveled. They had good attitudes even though we spent two 12-hour days in the car. They also adapted well when they didn't get nap time and went to bed late.

On Thursday night, we drove from Grand Rapids to Auburn Hills to pick up Elbert's mom. We left bright and early Friday morning and drove all the way to Potomac, MD. We stayed the night with Elbert's Uncle Herbert and Aunt Flora.

On Saturday, we went to the nursing home to introduce Elbert's grandpa to the boys. His grandma had met the boys last summer, but his grandpa had never met them. Although he can't speak English, we knew he was excited to see the kids. He had a huge smile on his face when the boys came up to give him a hug.


We also visited Elbert's grandma at her apartment. It was fun for me to see some pictures she had of Elbert's mom when she was in elementary, middle and high school.


While in Potomac, we stayed with Uncle Herbert and Aunt Flora. Elbert's cousin, Jessica, came home from college to see us. His cousin Aric joined us for lunch one day.


On Easter, we took a drive from Williamsburg (where we were staying with friends) to Virginia Beach to visit my Aunt Mary, cousins Alyssa and Zach and my grandma. Zach had hid Easter eggs around the front yard for the boys to find. They loved hunting and finding them. They also enjoyed the Easter baskets that Aunt Mary and family had made for them. It had been awhile since we had seen Aunt Mary, so it was fun to catch up.


Andrew and Nathan were in awe when they found out that Alyssa was in the army. The first question that they asked was if she had her gun. Andrew sat next to Alyssa during dinner and peppered her with questions about boot camp and life in the army. She was a great sport and taught us many things. It was fun to hear about her adventures jumping out of airplanes.

Zach taught us about CERT. He and his mom are neighborhood first-responders. It was interesting to hear their stories about training.


It had been 2 years since the boys had seen their Great-grandma. They loved giving her hugs.