A scary parenting moment

As many of you may already know, Sam had a horrible stomach virus which left him so dehydrated he had to be hospitalized. After a few days of non-stop diarrhea, I scheduled an appointment to see his pediatrician on Tuesday afternoon. In between the time I called to make the appointment and the time the appointment actually took place, he vomited three times. Ugh!

So we made it to his pediatrician's office and Sam vomited two more times during his examination. His pediatrician wasn't 100% certain what the problem was, but he thought Sam was definitely dehydrated and recommended that I take him to the ER immediately so that he could be tested and hydrated.

As soon as we arrived to the ER he was examined and it was determined that he was indeed dehydrated. His electrolytes levels were WAY lower than normal, so he was immediately hooked up to an IV. Can I just say, that was NOT a pleasant experience! But I held him and kissed him and talked to him and prayed and somehow managed to keep it together during the entire procedure. Shortly after this, we were informed that they wanted to admit him and keep him overnight to ensure that he was properly hydrated. Yeah, SCARY!

Side Note: I hate that I don't have any good pictures of the first gown they gave him when we arrived at the ER. It was peach and very short. But it looked super masculine when he wore it with his camouflage Crocs. HA! Priceless!

Luckily, my mom had picked Isabella up earlier in the day so she kept her overnight. Scott and I spent the night in the hospital. Scott on the sleeper sofa. Me on the twin size hospital bed with my baby boy. Sam had the most explosive diarrhea. We had to change his gown and the bed sheets twice during the night. My poor boy was miserably uncomfortable.

Fortunately, he was a new boy on Wednesday and unfortunately, he was a new boy on Wednesday. He wanted nothing to do with his IV. He did not want to watch TV. Or sit/lay on the bed. He wanted to walk around. All. The. Time! He was a juice drinking machine, and he finally felt well enough to enjoy some yummy snacks ~ Cheerios, crackers, and Jello.So, what does an almost 2 year-old do to pass time in a very boring hospital room? Well, applying ChapStick, and a lot of it, is one way to go:
But this is also as good a time as any to catch up on calls::And then there's this,... can someone please tell me why, in the pediatrics wing, the Nurse Call button has to be the biggest and brightest button on the bed?
Seriously! Wanna know how many times he pressed the big red button and therefore called the very busy nurse? Well, I can't give you an exact number because I lost count after the 9th time. I was MORTIFIED!

One of the nurses actually unhooked his IV for a while so that he could get around a little more easily, and he took FULL advantage of that time.All I can think of when I look at this picture is Jack Nicholson in the movie Something's Gotta Give.

Anyway, while we were in the hospital, Sam's peeps sent him this, which is not only beautiful, but also deeelicious:

Which made him oh so very happy:

Wednesday afternoon we got the great news that Sam's labs came back normal and he was well enough to go home. He's on a strict diet for the next couple of days, but I think we're all glad to be home and to be sleeping in our own beds. It's all about the little things, I tell ya!

We are so grateful for all your calls and prayers ~ we are so blessed to have such unbelievable people in our lives.