Intussusception - intasussa WHAT?

That is our word of the day. 

INTUSSUSCEPTION - a medical condition in which a part of the intestine slides into another section of intestine, similar to the way in which the parts of a collapsible telescope slide into one another, resulting in a bowel obstruction.

Why am I giving you the word of the day.  Well this fun little word is how we spent our Labor Day weekend with Roan.  Now, I know that Labor Day was several weeks ago and you were probably thinking I was going to blog about Roan's first birthday party.  I will, but not today.  I am waiting on pictures from the photographer for that.  So instead, I will amuse you with the excitement of intussusception. 

This is how the story goes:
Madeline and Roan has spent the Labor Day weekend with Tonnie and Jerry (because we are now proud owners of season Aggie Football tickets and that Saturday was the opening game).  We spend Saturday morning with the Fayette County Fair parade, Madeline and I in the Mt. Calvary Preschool float - Joseph and Roan enjoying the parade from the Fitzpatrick's house.  We had a great morning, good bbq, and good naps before we shipped the kids of to Itsy Bitsy Burro Co.  They did GREAT Saturday night, Roan ate like a horse - nothing unusual there - and Madeline was her usual Madeline. 
We got a phone call from Tonnie on Sunday morning, Tonnie's birthday, saying Roan had thrown-up, would not eat breakfast, but now seemed happy.  I had thought he probably had a touch if the nice stomach bug that had been going around the schools and I had been so lucky to bring some of the fun germs home to him.  I told her that we were about to head to church to teach Sunday School, mind you that this was the 1st SS class for Joseph to help me teach, but if he gets worse call and we will leave.  As we are pulling into the church parking lot, we got another call and said he is not doing good, limp, and just laying in the floor after he had vomited again.  We then rushed into church to tell them we could not teach (SORRY) and rushed out to see what was going on.  When we got there, he was playing in the floor like nothing had happened.  The good little nurse that I am, I gave him 2 oz of pedialyte to try to keep down which immediately came right back up.  After a few cycles of playing, screaming, laying down, vomiting, going limp and semi-unconscious, we decided to head to Dell Children's in Austin.  I truly thought he was dehydrated a bit and needed a little fluids.  Once they checked us into the ER and we got back to a room to see the doctor's, the fun began.  I knew when the doc said we needed an x-ray we were dealing with something more than just a virus.  After working in a hospital, you know to watch the techs while they are x-raying...they can give you all sorts of clues to what is going on.  I saw them pointing at the x-ray screen then come out and say (in a nice cheery voice) "we are all done here, the doctor will look at the quickly and be in to see you."  I told Joseph when I got back into the room, if both the resident and attending come in, we are dealing with something more serious.  Sure enough, both walked into the room. That's when the fun words came - "we think he has INTUSSUSCEPTION and needs to have a procedure done now for the bowel obstruction.  The nurses are going to start the IV, I am calling the interventional radiologist and we need to take him down to have a Barium Air Enema to fix the problem.  If it turns out he is positive for this, you will have to stay 24 hours in the hospital to make sure it doesn't reoccur.  If it fixes the problem he will be back to normal quickly."  And in a jiffy he had an IV and we were on our way down to radiology.  Well, sure enough he had  "it" and "it" was fixed, which meant that we got to spend the night....wahoo (ugghh). 
On a side note, Joseph and I had not eaten all day and the procedure was done at 4:30 p.m.  After we knew he was OK...we just wanted FOOD!  Papa John's has never tasted so good. 
Within 30 minutes Roan was back to normal minus the large appetite but extra energy.  We spent the evening in the lovely hospital sleeping on the ever so uncomfortable couch that pulled to a bed with Roan in a crib that looked like it would keep animals in the zoo.  I was so ready to come home, shower, take out my contacts, brush my teeth, wash my face, have clean clothes, do you get my drift....and have Roan safe at home. 
Dell Children's was a wonderful hospital and we were able to be with Roan every step of the process.  I couldn't imagine being any other place. 
Now you know the fun of INTUSSUSCEPTION!
FYI - we had Tonnie's birthday festivities on Monday instead of Sunday as planned.  We truly had a reason to celebrate.

Vacation...2 months late

For July vacation, we rented a condo in Pointe West, just south of Galveston.  It was a great resort community that we enjoyed.  I will have to admit, we rented through VRBO for the first time and I was a little nervous that the pictures online were going to be much better than the actual condo....to my surprise, it was great.  I will for sure be using VRBO again...hopefully it won't let me down!

Picture of the resort when you drive in.

View from the balcony

Kids enjoying a little down time.

Roan sleeping on the beach...be aware this is the ONE AND ONLY time he did this...I bought this cheap tent thinking we would be able to keep him in it for part of the time so we could enjoy the beach without having to grab him every 5 seconds because he was eating sand, crawling in the ocean, or playing with sea weed.  Note to self...do not EVER think a 10 month old will stay put in a tent.  HA!

She was NOT a fan of the sea weed.

My failed attempt at getting them to smile for the camera with this picture.....I took 5 of them and Roan looked every time but Madeline insisted on keeping her eyes on the sand.

Eating sand...we gave up at this point.....he didn't die so we were all good.

Rare sighting....playing nicely together and not screaming....we enjoyed this 5 minutes.

The boys

The girls

Ike Line on the Strand in Galveston

We loved the pools at the resort.

How can you resist that smile?

The lazy river pool......what an interesting picture...I have NO IDEA what Madeline is doing...but it sure is funny.

I had to put these in for a good ending and laugh to the blog.  We attempted a self-shot family picture.....3 failed attempts....but you sure get a giggle out of looking at them.  Joseph looks confused in all the pictures...I can't stop smiling (b/c my braces are off!) Roan tried and Madeline is just Madeline! 

Hope you can enjoy a little of our vacation in September!