It's been too long

So I have been quite remiss in posting lately and there is SO much to tell you about. Since the end of August I have celebrated Labor day weekend, supported my darling friend Shannon and her husband through a traumatic trip to Doernbecher's Children's hospital with my 10 week old Godson, celebrated my 30th birthday, celebrated my friend Traci's 30th birthday, and taken Caitlin to her first ever horse back riding lesson. I am sure more has happened since I last posted but I can't think of it all right now. So I will start with the traumatic trip to the children's hospital...
Matthew has since birth had problems eating. He would spit up constantly, cry for endless hours and be nearly inconsolable. Shannon tried changing her diet to eliminate anything that may cause gas, took him to the doctor and had him diagnosed with GERD or Gastroesophageal reflux disease and put him on an Baby Prevacid, well actually I think it was something like Ranitidine but the point remains it was an antacid. That didn't seem to be helping so she switched to formula and stopped breast feeding. Then she switched to formula for lactose intolerance and then to AR (added Rice) then when he managed to project vomit from the back seat of a Ford Expedition onto the back window- a few feet away- she took him back to the doctor and then to the emergency room. They tried 4 times before the were able to get a needle into his little veins (that were too dehydrated) to draw blood. Poor baby. Following the visit to the ER she went back to the pediatrician who ordered nothing by mouth after midnight on Wednesday so she could do a barium test. Talk about torture! The barium test showed that he had a pyloric stenosis which essentially means the opening from his stomach to his intestine was not opening and he was not getting any nutrition. So they sent him up to OHSU (Oregon Health Science University) to the children's hospital for "emergency" surgery. Unfortunately on the way to the hospital there was an accident and all of the operating rooms were suddenly filled with more life threatening emergencies. So they needed to give Matt an IV for fluids until he could have his surgery the next day. While they were on the way to the hospital, they called me so I left work and met them at the hospital. As a side note to this story; Shannon and John are Catholic and Matthew had not yet been baptized. So we called for a Priest to meet us at the hospital. He was wonderfully accepting and arrived only minutes before the first of the IV teams. The Priest didn't know that we wanted him baptized so he didn't exactly come prepared for that, but we improvised. We utilized the cap of a bottle for the water, which came from the tap in the room, and the Priest said that as an Episcopalian I was a cousin to the Catholics and Shannon is actually Lutheran so she was a cousin on the other side of the family. It was beautiful! Then the true torture began. The IV teams go from room to room starting IVs and after about 5 or six unsuccessful tries the first team gave up. John was supposed to stay during the torture session but then surgeon came to talk to them and so I stayed for a little while. Then John and I switched and Shannon and I went to dinner. When we came back we were sure that the IV would be started. It wasn't and a second IV team had come in. Another 7 or 8 pokes later an IV still wasn't started, John had stepped out to be with his wife and I took over for the last half of that teams efforts. Poor Shannon was just in tears, Matthew was in pain, angry and scared so I held him for a few minutes to calm him until Shannon came back and John went for food. Then I stepped out of the room to get the nurse to ask for some kind of pain relief for Matt and also to give Shannon a few minutes of privacy with her son. The nurse explained that his pain, while important, was a secondary concern to his dehydration and they didn't think they could do anything until the IV was started, so they had called in a "Panda" team which is a pediatric emergency response team. I stayed in the hall for a few minutes just crying and generally feeling sick and Matt isn't even my own baby so I can only imagine how horrid it must have been for Shannon and John. Well the nurse came back with a Tylenol suppository and then with a NICU nurse to try one more time with the IV. Shannon and John stepped out to talk to the doctors again so I stayed and as a horrible auntie helped hold my extremely strong Godson down while they started the IV. The sweet NICU nurse tried once in his head and at first we thought it was gonna work but then the vein 'blew-out' like all the others had and it was back to square one. She tried one more time in his ankle/foot and it worked. Of course I should mention that there were 3 nurses and myself holding this poor baby down but once the IV was started they taped his leg to a foot board so he wouldn't accidentally dislodge the IV. After that extremely difficult task was completed EVERYONE was very relieved. I thought that since the worst part was over I would leave and let the parents spend some quiet time with their son and each other but then Shannon started having a rather frightening panic attack and so John took her to the emergency room, and yet again I stayed with Matthew. Not that I minded, I absolutely adore my Godson, and he was no longer screaming so it was a joy to be able to hold and cuddle him. About an hour later John came back and said Shannon was just gonna have to tough it out in the ER by herself for a while because it was getting so late and I still had to get Caitlin from the babysitters. Shannon eventually calmed down on her own and went back to their room and the surgery was performed easily on Friday Sept 5, my 30th birthday. Matthew recovered beautifully and is now able to eat and grow like there was never a problem. While he won't remember this event I know that Shannon, John and I will NEVER forget it. The important part though is that the surgery was successful, the baptism was successful- even if all the God Parents weren't present, and Matthew is healthy. Thank God.