A trip to the PICU

Well it was quite the week last week. Wednesday afternoon I had a carpet guy come to tighten and stretch our carpet. We moved all of the furniture into the kitchen while it was being done. As soon as I paid the man and he left the house I asked Parker to hold Ty while I grabbed the vacuum. I grabbed the vacuum, turned around and watched Parker trip over the basket that holds all of our piano music. Parker went flying. He let go of the baby (seemed like slow motion)..and Ty went head first into the hardwood floor. Really hard. Ty was screaming, and I was screaming and crying but doing everything I could do to try to keep myself thinking clearly. Parker was absolutely hysterical. So was Dallin.

I tried to calm the baby down..tried to feed him but he wouldn't eat, then all of a sudden he fell asleep. I decided give him a bath to wake him up but then immediately changed my mind. I bailed on the bath idea and headed straight to the ER. I called Nate and told him to come home to watch the kids NOW. As I drove to the ER I kept thinking, he must have a concussion. That must be why he is falling asleep. I called my friend Sharla who is a nurse in the NICU. I asked her if I was over reacting by taking him to the emergency room. She told me to take him...its always better to be safe than sorry she said.

At the ER they escorted us right in and took us back to a room. I just held Ty and tried to keep my tears under control. Everyone was asking me a million questions. I had a hard time remembering Ty's birthday and his birth weight. My brain just doesn't work when under mega stress. Everyone wanted to know exactly what happened...which wasn't surprising. "How far did you drop him? What did you trip over?" Agh! I didn't drop him!! I had to correct them I don't know how many times!

About 10 min later we were taken by bed back to the Cat Scan room. They told me to make Ty stay still which was a complete joke. He was screaming uncontrollably and in a lot of pain. The bump on his head was huge and they were squeezing his head into this pillow contraption so that his head would stay still. We tried to get the picture 3 times and it wasn't working. Then the tech told me that if we didn't get a picture on the last try that we would be sent back to the ER room until Ty calmed down. I started to PRAY and PRAY that he would be still so we wouldn't have to do this again. 4th time was a charm and we got the picture.
As I waited back in our room for the results I kept thinking we would be just fine and be sent home. This over reacting mother would go home and all would be well. A few minutes later the Doctor came in and told me that Tyler had a skull fracture with some bleeding on the brain. We were going to be admitted and monitored overnight. He also proceeded to tell me that a year ago, the hospital we were at did not have a PICU Doctor and we could have very well been on a helicopter ride down to Primary's in Utah. Whoa. I lost it at that point.
In the mean time, Nate got the kids situated and he joined me at the hospital. I had friends drop everything to come and sit with the boys, Anna was taken to Jessi's house. My friend brought over a craft for the boys to work on...Valentine cards. Our home teacher is a surgeon at the hospital so he came over and he and Nate gave Ty a blessing. My neighbor (who stitched Landon up a couple of months ago) who works down in the ER came up to check on us. His wife sent him with a cinnamon roll, cookie, a coke and wrap for me. My friends brought Nate and I sandwiches from Jimmy Johns. I was feeling overwhelmed in the least with the love we were shown. My sweet mother in law dropped everything and came up to help so we didn't have to worry about the boys and Anna.  Then, while sitting in the PICU room trying to get Ty to eat, I looked up to see my brother standing right there in front of me. He didn't call, he didn't say he was coming....he was just there. So sweet.

Before it got to late, I had my brother go home and get Parker and bring him up to the hospital. All he knew was that he had hurt his brother badly...and then we was rushed off to the hospital. I wanted Parker to come and see Ty and see that he was doing ok. Parker sure beat himself up over the whole ordeal. He said over and over again what a horrible brother he was and that he could have killed him. We assured him that is not the case...accidents happen and we knew that he was a kind and loving brother who wouldn't ever do anything to hurt his baby brother. He is doing much better now and understands that things really do just happen. Honestly, it could have happend to anyone.

It was a long night. Every hour the nurse would come in and check him. They were just watching for signs of swelling. If there would have been more bleeding on the brain, a surgery would have to take place where they drill a hole and drain the blood. He would scream every time they would wake him up which was actually a really good sign.

The next morning another Cat scan was scheduled to make sure there was no more bleeding. Ty was so much happier the next morning. He wasn't screaming nearly as much and the second Cat scan went MUCH better than the one the night before. I think the Tylenol really helped to calm him down. They got a really clear picture and we could see the bleeding on the brain had stayed the same and so we were good to go home!

We went home that next afternoon and Ty has been doing well ever since. It was a very scary experience and a good reminder about how quickly things can happen. I was brought to tears that evening feeling the love from so many people...family, friends, ward members, nurses and doctors. I felt very buoyed up in a time of need and I am thankful....SO very thankful for all of the service given on our behalf. I'm so happy that Tyguy is fine and recovering nicely. He is such a sweet little spirit and I am so blessed to have him in my life. Life is precious and accidents happen. Each day is a gift! I'm thankful things weren't any worse than they were. A good reminder in the least.