Diagnosis: Bronchiolitis, Result: Two night stay at Children's Hospital

It began this past Thursday afternoon in Las Vegas, NV. Justin and I had just driven back to Noona's (Justin's mother's) house from spending a few days away in San Diego, CA. Easton was staying with Noona and Granpa just so Jus and I could get away for a short trip and so Easton's grandparents (who don't get to see him often) could spend some quality time with just him. Noona had told me over the phone as we were driving in how great Easton had been in our absence but that she was a little concerned as he was developing some congestion and a slight cough. Since Easton did not display a fever, we chalked his congestion up to the dry air in LV and went about our evening thinking it was just a runny nose. Then came Friday night...we were scheduled to fly home Saturday morning and had spent Friday afternoon packing our things, eating dinner, and spending one last night with family before heading out. Easton's nose was progressively getting more congested and what seemed to be red hives had broken out all over Easton's neck wrapping up around his eyes and behind his ears while also covering his cheeks. This began worrying me but he still did not display a fever so we gave him some benadryl, put him in pajamas, and put him to bed. Not 30 minutes later, Easton woke up crying HARD (which is definitely out of the ordinary) so Momma Bear (being over the rash, runny nose, and just out of not being there the past few days with Easton) instructs Justin, "I'm calling Dr. Greg!" 
Quick Reminder: 9 PM Vegas time is 12 AM Knoxville time...sorry for waking you, Dr. Blackmon. 
Dr. G calmed me down, told me to fly home and that he would look at Easton Monday morning...that since there was no fever we could wait until Monday to be seen. 


Fast forward to Monday. 
Easton had done great all weekend. His cough had worsened a little but his attitude was perky and alas, still no fever. Jus and I didn't want to be "over-reactive" parents so we decided to see how Monday night went before making a decision to take Easton to the doctor, especially since he had done so great once we had arrived home (no more rash, still no fever, etc.)


Monday night: Horrible. My little boy couldn't sleep because he couldn't breathe. So much congestion and coughing that he woke himself up all night then went through a crying spell at 4:30 AM. 


Tuesday: Appointment with the nurse practitioner first thing that morning. She checked for RSV (negative). Oxygen Sats read 95% so she sent us home with a nebulizer and Xopenex breathing treatments to help Easton breath better. She also gave us instructions to call back if the breathing treatment didnt help. 


Tuesday Afternoon: We left the pediatrician's office, got the nebulizer, prescription, and headed home. Fed Easton then noticed he was struggling to breath so we called the doctor's office to make sure we could give the treatment as it had not been the appropriate length of time before he needed a Xopenex dose. They told us to go ahead but to call back after the treatment if he was still struggling. Sure enough, it was as if we hadn't done anything. Easton's breathing was so labored that all the muscles surrounding his rib cage were working extra hard just for him to take a breath. We called the doctor's office a 3rd time, told them what had happened, and followed their instructions when they responded "Put him in the car and get here now." Our second trip to the Blackmon's office on Tuesday through us for a loop (Justin actually went white as a sheet) when Dr. Abby looked at Easton then at us and said, "Your spending the night at Children's tonight". 


Easton was admitted to Children's Hospital on Tuesday evening and required oxygen plus breathing treatments through the night. I cried with him as they suctioned out his nose, beat on his chest, and then placed the oxygen mask up his little nose then taped it to stickers on the side of his head to hold it in place. It was a hard, tiring two nights and 3 days but he seems to be doing much better now. They sent us home today after lunch ordering us to continue breathing treatments as well as nasal suctioning throughout tonight and look to see us at the doctor's office first thing in the morning. 


Thanks to all of you who texted, prayed, and thought of us through this time. We know it definitely won't be the last trip to Children's Hospital but it was a hard first time (especially at only 6 months old). 

A Lazy Sunday Afternoon-Some Momma Time

While Justin was at his Sunday afternoon skeet shoot, East & I decided to go outside and enjoy the beautiful weather under the Maple tree in the backyard. We spent the afternoon on a couple of beach towels, reading and "Ah-gooing" the day away then spent some time with Daddy on the hammock when Justin returned home. We had such a great day and are so thankful for times spent together.

A snapshot of Momma and Easton 

 Similar pic to the one above just showing another side to Easton's personality

Easton's latest achievement: He's found his toes 

East loves Justin's fuzzy chin 

A visit from A-daddy & NannaB

Last Saturday while I was working my one weekend a month, Nanna Bobbin and A-daddy (Justin's Dad and Stepmom) came over and visited with Justin and Easton. They were so sweet to share with me a few of the photos that they took last weekend, and I just had to post them. Yes, Easton is too cute!

(My favorite) 

 E & Nanna-B

 E & A-daddy

Hold on! Hold on! That similac that he just drank was recalled?!

Easton has been an exclusively breastfed baby up until about 2 weeks ago when we decided to introduce formula. Justin and I had been talking about this for a few weeks prior to the formula intro trying to decide what to do since the stash of milk that I had stored before going back to work was diminishing in our freezer (completely gone now) and I am pumping just enough milk at work to keep up with Easton's needs for about 2 days out. The inevitable (to introduce formula) has been approaching though I didn't want to face it and actually cried (feeling defeated) when we decided it was time to introduce a feeding of formula into his day. We made the decision that he would receive one bottle of formula per day as I can keep up with the other feedings and this would allow for me to begin to store up milk that came with the extra pumping. So the decision was made...I was on board and Justin was glad that we could stop talking about what to do and just do it. That's when it happened. We got out the similac formula that the hospital had given us as a gift and made Easton's bottle. Sure, he drank it...downed it in no time actually and we went on about our day. Then the next day he had his 2nd bottle of formula just like we had planned...one bottle a day formula and the rest being from momma. This whole time, in the back of my mind, I thought I had remembered there being a recall on this stuff as I work at Walmart and those recall signs are posted everywhere, but for some reason, I just didn't worry about the Similac we had as being the recalled version of the product. "Surely the hospital wouldn't have given me the recalled stuff" I thought, and "wasn't that recall before I had Easton?" 


Come to find out the similac that my son had been given in not 1 but 2 bottles WAS the recalled formula. And to make matters worse, the reason the stuff was recalled was because BEETLE LARVAE had been found in the processing of the formula at the manufacturing plant. "I knew I didn't want to give him that stuff!" I told Justin when we found out. Daddy's response, "he's going to eat a bug in his life at some point."

Easton's Bird Dog

This pic was captured a couple of weeks ago at Jason's Deli as Easton slept with his buddy, Bart. Bart the Bird Dog is a close companion to Easton and was a precious gift given by close friends, the Schaefers, after Easton was born. Of course our little boy had to have his very own Bird Dog as his first best friend. Anytime Easton is in his car seat traveling or just taking a snooze you will see Bart by his side. Easton loves chewing on Bart's nose while awake or just cuddling up at his side while napping. I look forward to watching this relationship unfold as Easton gets older.

The Family Cat

This is Cleo. Short for Cleopatra. We chose this name for her when she showed up on our screened in porch last summer so skinny from lack of food that she literally looked like one of those cats you see in Egyptian hieroglyphics. That's right the Chester's have a cat...an outdoor cat that is... as she adopted us last summer and has become part of the family. Cleo is very skittish around new people as she is a true ferrel cat that only feels comfortable around our family (since we feed her). It's funny, though, as she has taken a liking to Easton as if he has always been around & she will rub herself back and forth around his little legs (when given the chance) while purring sweetly. She is a huntress as I am finding that most cats are (especially those that live in the outdoors). Cleo continues to leave us presents, as Justin calls them, on our back porch that consist of moles, birds, mice, rats, chipmunks, and the list goes on. The picture below is her most impressive and may I say largest gift she has ever left us. Justin tells me these "gifts" are the highest honor a cat can pay the human who takes care of them but I'm still not sure I fully believe this is the case. Can't wait to see what her next hunt brings in...

4 Month Checkup (at 20 weeks)

I can honestly say that not only does being a mother take up a lot more time than I had thought but being a working (full time) mother leaves me with not many extra minutes in my day; therefore, it has been a while since the last blog entry. 

East lying on our bed sporting his Lawn Butler one-sie. Thanks Kehne's for the sweet shirt!

Easton's 4 month checkup was squeezed into our busy lives at 5 months. Just a few weeks off, but we made it. At this appointment Easton was weighed, measured, and given his second round of vaccines. He weighs 14 lbs 10 oz and measures 25.6 inches in length putting him in both the 50% for weight and 55% for height which is a vast increase from his last weight & measurement at 2 months placing him in the 15% for both categories. The BIGGEST shock to us was that his head had grown so much that he is now in the 75th percentile in head circumference where he placed only in the 8th percentile at his last visit. WOW! This boy is growing! Dr. Greg encouraged me to move forward with Easton's solid foods sharing with me the only foods Easton shouldn't be introduced to is peanut butter as well as shell fish until after 1 year of age. This means HELLO meats and all kinds of veggies to Easton's diet. (He downed an avocado this week with no problem so we plan to introduce more foods as Easton's pediatrician has recommended). Dr. Greg also said that he wants E to eat 3 meals per day with a spoon...man, I can't believe we are here already with solid foods. Another reminder that my little boy is growing up.