What We're Thankful For

On Tuesday morning at about 3am, Will had a little spit up after his feeding that was flecked with blood. We thought it might just be a crack in mom's nipple or a cut in his mouth (we couldn't find anything, but either can be so small, they can be easily missed), so we put him back to sleep. Tuesday during the day, I hand expressed milk (I usually have a little more than he needs) a few times, and all of that milk was clean. At about 3pm he threw up a lot of blood, so we called the doctor and went in right away. While we were there he threw up a bit, but it was brown, so we thought whatever it was- it was now going away. It was theorized that it was a reaction to the vaccine he drank the day before, but he was in no pain, so it wasn't that. Dr Ting told us to go home and relax and to take him to the ER if he spit up bright red again. So we did. At seven pm he spit up blood again (see all our clothes), so we went to the ER. When we got there, the pedi and the nurses with her checked me out (found nothing) and checked him out and put a tube through his nose to his stomach to pump any blood out (it came out brown) and leave it in there to pump later. Then they had to take blood (it took them two tries, in either arm- he now has bruises) and put an IV in (another try in the hand, another bruise) , because I would not be able to breastfeed until they knew what it was. We also had to hold him up, and then down, for some x rays. Then, at about ten, we were sent by ambulance to the children's hospital in Boston- I was with Will, Dan followed in the car, but took a little longer because he had to go home and grab a few things, since we would be there at least overnight. The paramedics were wonderful and talked to me the whole trip, and Will fell asleep in the ambulance looking at me. When we got to the Children's hospital ER, we were brought into a room, where my cousin Kristen and Lydia found me and helped me wait for Dan while the nurses proceeded to poke and prod Will (again). By this time, Will had ripped out his IV, so they had to put in another one on his foot. The doctors decided to schedule him for a scope the next morning. Kristen and Lydia stayed until about one, and then the three of us were left to wait until they had processed our papers and could send us upstairs to a room. When we got there, at about 3am, yet another set of nurses and doctors checked us out, and still had no answers. By this time it had been ten hours since I nursed last, and since he had anything to eat (hence the IV for him) so they hooked me up to a breast pump. We were all very shocked when blood (not milk with blood in it, just blood) came out of both of my breasts. It was such an intense mix of relief (that it wasn't Will) and surprise and nervousness about me! We all went to sleep for about an hour, when one doctor came back and said I could feed Will, but that I might want to pump first and make sure it's clean. I pumped, and it was clean, so I started to feed will for a few moments and then took him off, and saw some blood on his mouth. So I pumped clean milk and Dan fed him (finally, after almost 12 hours of no food). They sent us home around ten with instructions to watch him and to make an appointment with my obgyn next week.
So we went home, packed up, and then went to CT to be with family. I am slowly healing, using some nipple ointment I got previously, and letting Dan do all the feedings with a bottle full of pumped breast milk. I have breast fed a few times and while I'm sore, there is no sign of blood!
We are so thankful for a healthy family.
In other news, Dan's grandmother got sick on Thursday and went to the hospital, so please pray for her! We visited her today and she is doing as well as a 92 year old can be expected.