We are together again

Elijah got released from the hosptial on Thursday so they got home Friday night.  We were all glad to be a family of 5 again.  Here are some pictures from the hospital and then around Hong Kong.  I have never been to Hong Kong before but from what I hear and see in these pictures it confirms that Hong Kong IS NOT China! 

Sickness

This week the whole family went to the local hospital to be seen by one of the foreign doctors. 
And this was the outcome...

Ian just has a cold.  His first one in the whole year we've had him!
Ev has bronchitis so we are monitoring her so it doesn't get worse.
Todd also has bronchitis so we are watching him too if it lingers pasts two weeks.
Elijah has pneumonia and we are giving him antibiotics, breathing treatments and bought an oximeter to monitor his oxygen levels. 

Which lead us to today....
We borrowed an oxygen tank from a friend because Elijah's levels are just too low.
Made a few calls to doctors and we decided to get Elijah to a place that has better health care.
Meaning Todd and Elijah took the 9pm train to city a few hours away.  They will spend the night and hopefully take 2 flights to get out of the country to Hong Kong where they can go to a good hospital. 
Elijah wasn't himself today.  His poor eyes tell the story.  My poor baby!

 This is how we are trying to keep each other from spreading the sickness

I also saw the doctor he looked over my previous months blood test and had me do one for this month.  Surprisingly after the previous two months of declining numbers my white blood count was on the higher end of the scale.  It was probably the highest reading I've had in a really long time.  I am so thankful.  I actually cried when I saw the results.  With the rest of my family being sick in order to take care of them I need the high white blood count!  Praise Father for the good report!

First ER Visit

Back when Todd was in America the kids and I had our first and hopefully only encounter with the local ER. I bundled the kids up and we went to see a foreign doctor who works at one of the hospitals here. We got there about an hour before closing time so it was an experience. Elijah had had a cough for some time and it took a turn for the worst. Since I was by myself with the kids I decided to just go see a doctor rather than lose more sleep over a child who couldn't sleep due to his cough.

The doctor was great with Elijah and wanted him to get a chest x-ray to rule out pneumonia. So we went from one building to another and got to a counter where you have to sign in and was told we had to go to another building to pay for the x-ray first. But since it was minutes before closing the doctor asked if we could get the x-ray and then go pay. The lady decided to let us go ahead and not pay at all so we could go and get the x-ray done. Elijah was awesome he stood with his arms hugging the equipment so they could take the x-ray. He was so cute. After consulting with the x-ray technicians the doctor confirmed that Elijah had Bronchiolitis. We started antibiotics that night and we all got a good night sleep with I was very thankful for!

Overall our trip to the ER was a little under 2 hours. I paid a registration fee of $1.50. That got me into the ER, the doctor's exam and doctor's advise plus a free chest x-ray. Who can beat $1.50 for all of that! If you are shocked by the price just remember that our hospital is like a dark old dungeon and is not the place you want to be when you are feeling bad. I think when I went there for my prenatal appointments I spent about $1 to see the OBGYN and midwife. I guess you get what you pay for.

Stitch is out and Hair is cut.

Monday I took our little man to the hospital to get his stitch out. He got up from his nap and I dressed him for the cold and we went to get a taxi. I told him we were going to get his stitch out and he got quiet. I really think he understood me and got scared. After a few minutes he started jabbering to me in the taxi. When we got to the hospital he got quiet again. It was his first time (out of the womb) to be in the hospital and he wasn't sure about it. The minute he saw my friend he started to cry and as I laid him on the table he had tears streaming down his cheeks. He remembered getting the stitches. I had to hold him down again and poor little kid was just terrified. I did think about trying to take his stitch out myself. I really dislike the hospital but I was glad that the nurse did it. She had to pull it up in order to clip it since skin had started to grow around it.

(I almost forgot to take a picture of the stitch and his battle wound! I took my camera with us when we went to get stitches but of course I was a little occupied... the pictures above are right after he picked his scab off...gross!)

My friend asked me if I wanted to keep Elijah's first stitch. I hadn't really thought about doing it but I decided I would. So I pulled out the baby book and taped it in. The next morning the kids were in the tub and I was giving Ev a little trim and decided to give Elijah a trim too. I have given him a few trims in the past and then I decided to just give him a full out hair cut. He had not clue that I was doing it because he was having too much fun in the tub. When it was done and after it dried I was a little sad that I cut off most of his curls. He looks more like a little boy with his official haircut. I put his curls in the baby book too.

Just so you know, Ev still hasn't had a real haircut. Oh well maybe sometime this year? !

IKEA trip turns into a hospital trip.

Before arriving home we stayed in another city for 2 nights. We had planned this so I would have enough time to go to IKEA. We were staying at our friend's house and Monday morning we all were up and ready to make our big trip to IKEA. Todd wasn't as giddy as I was. I even had a female shopping companion that was going with us. But then as I was blow drying my hair Elijah was being goofy and fell over, but he fell right into the stairs. He hit the side of his head and got a pretty good gash. Then the craziness began. As we were trying to stop the bleeding our friend was on the phone trying to get a hold of foreign doctor to get advice. After a few phone calls I talked to a couple of doctors. With their suggestions in mind I decided it was worth it to fork out the big bucks to go to a International clinic to see a foreign doctor. I didn't want to go to the local hospital to be told to go to ten different place and end up surrounded by tons of sick people and an unsterile environment.

We went to the clinic and were immediately taken in. The doctor told us Elijah was going to need 3 stitches and that WE WERE GOING TO HAVE TO HOLD HIM DOWN. The doctor calmly went over the process with me. He told me that if there was too much squirming, fighting and screaming we would call it a day and put on steri strips to hold the wound together. Since we didn't have the contraption to hold him down if things got too much to handle the doctor didn't want to risk getting the needle in his eye or in one of us or his staff. (His injury is at the bottom of his eyebrow). Thankfully the had a sterile shield - the blue paper with a hole that he put over Elijah's head so he couldn't see the needles being put in his head. I had the job of keeping Elijah's head still. Are you kidding me? I had to be the one with that much responsibility! I mean I was a little scared of not being able to hold it still and I basically was pushing his head down with both of my hands using my entire body strength. Todd had to hold his arms and legs down. IT WAS NOT FUN! First we had to hold him down for the doctor to shoot some local anesthetic in the wound. That was after pouring some water and other stuff on it which scared him and made him scream. Meanwhile Ev is in the waiting room with our friend hysterically screaming.

The doctor did one stitch in the middle of this cut first and was pleased that it held it together well. He asked us if we were okay with it and so we stopped there. To lessen the trauma for all of us. Before we got to the clinic we put a band aid on. I wasn't in the room for that, i think it was traumatic to take that off and after it was taken off there was an immediate red mark from the band aid. The doctor was worried about the reaction of the band aid and didn't put a steri strip on top of the stitch. He did give me some to put on and after I caught Elijah trying to pull his stitch I decided it was time to do that. Although since then he has pulled off 3 steri strips and a band aid. The kid is driving me crazy and making me sick to my stomach by trying to pull out the stitch.

I hope we (I) can make it to Monday. When we get the fun of going to our local hospital to get it removed. YIKES. I am a little scared of that. The midwife who I saw during my prenatal visits is going to remove the stitch. I don't know if she realizes that Elijah is going to fight back. I am a little scared that scissors are going to be involved and I know what the hospital rooms look like. Be thinking of us at 5:00pm Monday (your Sunday morning ) I will be the one holding Elijah again and I am not taking Ev with me since she reacted the way she did the first time. Sweet big sister was very concerned for her brother.