Beckham is a little chatter box and continues to keep up with his big brother. They have now been sharing a room for awhile and we love to hear him and his brother chatting before bed. They are such great friends! They now wrestle all the time. Welcome to the next 20 years right?
Quinn is growing and growing! I was hoping to have a little newborn for longer but she is 2 months old now and heading into 3-6 month clothing already! She's a healthy, happy, rolly polly baby girl :) We adore her. Her brothers are very protective of her all ready. No one messes with Quinn :)
A few weeks ago, we had a medical scare in the Clark home. Jackson had woken up with a bruised eye from his nap. I asked him where he got his "ouchies" from and he had no idea what I was talking about. I figured something must have happened when he and Beckham were playing. A few days went by and his bruise seemed darker and bigger. I thought, "now this is odd." He said it didn't hurt so I figured I would wait and ask the doctor when we went in for Quinn's 2 month appointment the following day.
For the week or so he hadn't been eating well but he was playing the same. Jumping around, wrestling his brother, etc. He was sleeping a little more than usual at nap time but I considered that a blessing :) I had to wake him up a few times but he was getting over a nasty flu so I figured it was normal. He seemed warm to the touch but no fever.
That next day we took Quinn in to see our doc and she was completely healthy and doing great. I had the nurse take Jacks temp while we waited for the doctor so I could make sure the fever was gone. His temp was perfect at like 97.5 degrees. I thought, hmmm this is odd because he hasn't been acting himself completely. I asked the doctor to look at Jack once he was done examining Quinn. I explained my concerns and told him I just needed to make sure there wasn't anything else going on. He checked Jack's ears and then had him open up wide to examine his throat. He just looked at me shocked and told me to come and look. I couldn't believe my eyes. He had bruising all on the roof of his mouth. The doc asked if I knew he had had this and I told him, no that I had no idea. It's not often you check the roof of your child's mouth. He asked if I noticed any other bruising. I mentioned his shins but the doc said that was really normal for a toddler. Then he lifted his shirt to look at his back and then belly. There were little bruises all over his belly. I told the doctor those were brand new as of that morning because they weren't there when I got him dressed. He told me he wanted to get labs done right away to see what was going on. I started to get a little worried but told myself it'll be ok. We went straight to the lab and had his blood drawn. Jack was not amused by that at all but he was tough. I texted the doc to let him know the labs were done and that we were heading home for nap time.
I was home for 10 minutes when I got a call from our doctor saying we had to immediately get to the hospital because Jackson had an extremely low platelet count. I started to freak out slightly and was getting emotional about this new information and asked what was going on. He said that his platelets were way to low and we needed to see a specialty doctor right away. He remained calm but I was not. I kept wanting to ask questions but wasn't even sure what to ask. He then told me he would call Preston because I was not really hearing what he was saying as I was trying to get all the kids in the car. We rushed over to the hospital and met Pres and were admitted right away. We waited to hear what was next from the specialist. I was concerned about everything that was happening and had no idea what was going on so I though I would ask a nurse. I figured she would tell me if this is a major thing or just a quick look at. I asked her if we should prepare to stay over night. When she proceeded to tell me that we could be there for a few days but the doctor will be in shortly to discuss everything going on I knew something was really wrong.
This is while we were waiting to be admitted. Happy boy!
The specialist came in and told us that when Jack was admitted he had 2,000 platelets in his blood count. I looked at him not understanding what that meant so I replied, "How many is he suppose to have, 10,000?" He looked at me and smiled, knowing I had no clue what he meant by those numbers and he said, "the minimum platelet count is 140,000." What?! I started to get emotional and couldn't believe how blessed we were to have had Jack checked by Dr. Munoz that morning. The doctor then said that he believed he had a condition called ITP which is a low platelet count that happens after a nasty virus. The body just can't fight it off on it's own and the platelets took a major beating in the battle. He ordered a special medication that would drip through Jacks IV and would take up to 12 hours to fully work its way through. He had very high hopes for Jacksons recovery because when they did Jacks IV they drew more blood and his count rose to 8,000. The doctor said that his body was able to produce platelets on its own so the medication should just give him a boost in making lots more. When Jack got the IV it was not a great situation. They had to try four times to find a vein that would work on my baby boy. He screamed through the whole thing. I made Pres go with Jack because I would not have been much help with that. I would have been crying and wanting it to stop just as much as Jack did. They had to give him a break before the final try because he started popping blood vessels in his face from the screaming. He came back to me with little red freckles all over his face. Poor guy. Oh my heart! :(
Waiting on his medication.
After hearing everything and knowing we would be there for the night, Pres and I made arrangements for Beckham and we kept Quinn with us at the hospital. Quinn was not allowed to stay the night so Preston took her home while I stayed with Jack. They started the medication around 10:30pm and told me that he could have allergic reactions. They asked me to keep the nurse informed if I see anything before they check on him during their regular checks. The nurse mentioned that the first hour is usually the most critical for any reactions but after that he should be great. I stayed up that first hour until the nurse told me he should be fine. At midnight, Jack woke up crying and asking for me and his dad. I went over and he was having an allergic reaction to the medication. He was having shivers like he was freezing. I waited 2 minutes after covering him up with more blankets and laying with him to see if he would stop shaking. The shaking did not cease so I called the nurse. They came in and adjusted his meds to a much lower flow then what he had been receiving. The shaking stopped and he slept the rest of the night very well. I however, was up checking on him every hour making sure he was ok and covered.
The morning after Mom's long night, haha :)
Since we had to slow his medication so much we had another night in the hospital. So many of Preston's co-workers stopped by to check in on us throughout the day. It was so nice. We had so many friends from church helping with Beckham and bringing us meals. We were so blessed to have all of the support we did at this difficult time.
Going on a walk. Day 2. He was thrilled to get out of his bed and move around the hospital.
We had to stop and say "hi" to all of the fishies.
Once the medication was fully in his system we stayed only a few more hours and after a blood test we were released to go home. The doctor was more confident that it was ITP and told us to have Jack get his blood drawn again in a week. When we left the hospital his platelet count had jumped to 63,000 and the doctor was fully confident it would continue to rise. I had no idea it could have actually been something much worse. During this time I never googled anything or looked anything up. I was just in the "now" taking care of my baby boy and doing all I could to make sure he was ok and felt comfortable.
The hospital provided us with some toys but when I went home to shower I brought back some of Jack's favorites. We built a lot of towers and homes for his animals and dinosaurs. We also watched The Good Dinosaur like 10 times in those 2 1/2 days haha.
Waiting to get our OK to go home. I love this shot!
Grateful I listened to my gut and had the doctor check him. I would have rather been told I was silly for worrying then to have let it go and walked out of the doc's office with Jack as he was. I had no idea it was that bad and again I didn't know it could have been worse. I told our pediatrician that I had learned after the fact that it could have been much worse like leukemia but I didn't google anything so I had no idea. He told me to never google, haha. He said many times when you do, you will have more questions than answers and often what you find does not pertain to your case. He told me, "Just text me if you ever have any questions." :) Done and done. Thanks Doc!
We have since had Jackson's blood drawn and his platelet count jumped from 63,000 to 452,000!! We are pretty sure he now has super powers :) We will have him tested again in another week and then we should be good to go. He will be able to play and act as any other normal 3 year old and continue to live a normal life with sports and adventure. How grateful we are for modern medicine.
On another note...Quinn is 2 months old! She actually turned 2 months old the day Jack was admitted to the hospital March 2nd.
This was taken at the doctor's office right before shots. She's such a happy girl and she took those shots very well.
That smile just kills me! LOVE our baby girl!
Back to normal :) What's a bubble bath without an overload of bubbles? Haha. Bath tub jets and bubbles :)
Love these two!
Beckham tends to put everything in his hair now. This was after breakfast. He had so much stuff in there I could make a pretty mean mo-hawk :) Jack wanted to do a "cheese" for me as well. I am glad I caught this smile that morning :)
Best buds and snacks on the stairs. Where else?
