Cody's First Hospital Stay

The boys and I were playing outside on Friday, taking advantage of the rare lack of rain. I was killing two birds with one stone by throwing the ball around for the dog as well - getting everyone some fresh air and exercise. Bailey got a little too excited and rammed into Cody, knocking him to the ground, the back of his head hitting the pavement first. It was by far the worst accident he'd been in, and I felt horrible for him. We took him to the walk-in clinic just to check things out, and was sent back home with little to worry about. Later that day we were at my parent's place for dinner with my older sister and her family. The kids wanted to play outside and so we all went out to play in the driveway. Cody was keeping busy, chasing balls that were flying around and trying to be a part of the excitement. He tripped over a baseball glove and fell to the ground, hitting his forehead on the pavement. It didn't seem to be that bad of an inury, so we put him to bed and didn't think anything of it. Later on the drive home, he started throwing up and we suddenly felt alarmed, with two injuries to the head in one day. It was 11pm and we had Nate in the car with us, but decided to head straight for the hospital and arranged for Monte's parents to meet us there and take Nate to their place for the night.

After hours of waiting with an overtired, puke-covered toddler, telling the same story over and over and over again to various hospital staff, we were admitted into the pediatric ward around 3am. There was only a single cot in the room shared with another patient, so Monte went home to catch a few hours of sleep while I attempted to get Cody acclimated to his new bed which did not go over well. I got no sleep that night, and Cody slept maybe 6 of the 12-13 hrs he normally gets. We were a miserable pair! Monte relieved me of hospital duty in the morning. After meeting with the pediatrician, who was certain Cody only had a couple minor concussions instead of a skull fracture as diagnosed by the first doctor who saw him, I went home for a much-needed nap and shower. Cody continued to throw up anything he took in, and had a tough time getting any sleep with all the noises around him (whoever thought that room-sharing in peds was a good idea was terribly wrong). We were told that if he continued to get sick to his stomach or if any other symptoms got worse, we would have to proceed with a CT scan which apparently is the radiation equivalent of 250 x-rays - not something we wanted to subject our child to! So we got in touch with many of our friends and family and got praying... and our little guy began to keep down food and water, was able to sleep better and just began to act more like himself. And by the next morning he was downing corn flakes like crazy, feeding me, making faces, and waving to all the cars outside our window. The pediatrician saw him again and gave us the green light to go home, but Cody would have to wear a helmet whenever he's on the go just to be safe, for a month. He's going to hate it!

We felt so supported by our friends and family, especially to those who gave their time to help take care of Nate (who was spoiled the entire time... we were certain the mini-golfing, milkshakes, playground trips and fast food meals would make him wish we stayed at the hospital longer!). We fully felt the affects of those praying for us; I believe Cody got better as fast as he did because of so many people keeping him in their prayers. It was one of the longest weekends of my life, but there were some special moments throughout that made it seem more bearable. My favourite moment was when I was laying on a couch in one of the family rooms, just exhausted, and Cody walked over to me (soother in mouth, blankie in hand) and started rubbing my back. So sweet!