Faith to Move a Mountain

In November of 2011, I started this blog as a sort of journal to chronicle the events of our son Quinton's adoption. Quinton is a little boy who was born with an extra special something. Quinton has down syndrome and was given up at birth by his parents because he has down syndrome. His birth parents must not have had any idea what a blessing he would be or I am sure they would not have given him up. Unfortunately in Eastern Europe (Quinton is from Ukraine) people with disabilities are not accepted in society and at the age of 4-6, they are sent to adult mental institutions where most of them die :( Although it breaks my heart that his parents have missed out on such a joyful little boy, God has used this unfortunate situation to bless us with a gift greater than I could have ever imagined: the gift of our first child. If you ever considered adoption-do it! Don't let money deter you. God provided over $20,000 for us to adopt Quinton. We were not fully funded until 50 minutes before we boarded our plane to Ukraine. If you have never considered adoption, go back to the beginning of this blog and read. You will see what a blessing adoption really is. Many people tell us that we are angels for rescuing Quinton, but the honest truth is this: Quinton has given me far more that I will ever be able to give him. He is my little miracle, my silly bug, my baby boy, my love. HE IS MY LIFE!

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Oh My....

Our first full day of being parents was not as smooth as we had hoped for. Quinton slept through the night and woke up a very happy boy, but it was not long before he started acting funny. I was pretty sure he had a fever, but with it being so hot here and without a thermometer I was not sure. We called our facilitator about it. We wanted to be on the safe side because we really need Quinton well when we go to the embassy for his medical evaluation.She told us we needed to take him to the orphanage doctor and have him checked. 

Yesterday when we closed out Quinton's bank account (we return the money to the orphanage as a donation) apparently they did not give us everything so we had to go back to get the rest. From there, we were to go to the orphanage and give the money to the head dr. who would check Quinton for us. The bank would not give us the money without some kind of bank book. There was a very nice customer there who was able to translate for us. Otherwise I don't know what we would have done. (Thank you God for putting the right people in the right places at the right times to help us!) We called Marina who called the dr. She came down to the bank with the book and confirmed that Quinton indeed had a fever. He was getting hotter and hotter. I was so worried about him. Her driver was kind enough to take us to the pharmacy to get the medicine we needed and took us to see another dr. there. They took his temp. and it was 103 :( I felt so bad for him. The nurse gave him a shot in the rear (which left a nasty purple bruise) and explained to us through yet another game of charades how much and when to give which medications. His fever came down, but spiked again this afternoon. He will NOT eat and he does not drink. I am so worried about him dehydrating. We did get about 3/4 of his fever reducer in him through a bottle at his regular snack time, but that was nearly impossible. I thought that maybe he could taste the meds or just did not like what I gave him, but apparently this was not the case. He just does not feel like eating. I made him 3 different bottles for dinner, just hoping to find something he would eat. It didn't happen though. Finally we resorted to tag teaming. We had to get some fluids in him, so Brian held him and I used a medicine squirter thingy to drop apple juice in his mouth. He hated it, but at least we were gentle and didn't choke him like some people have done him. 

By the way, does anyone know how much fluids he needs to stay hydrated? Our dropper was about 1/2 tsp at a time. Any tricks or advice would be appreciated. The last thing we need is for him to have to go to the hospital :(

There were times today when he seemed to feel pretty good. We got a few laughs and smiles, but most of the day was spent trying to console a sick and scared baby. 

Brian went to the children's store and bought a stroller and some long pajamas. He is not used to the cold air and would not stay covered up last night so we thought long sleeves and pants would be a good compromise.

 Quinton in his new pj's-believe it or not, the hat was not my idea... I promise! Brian made him wear it LOL

We also gave Quinton his first bath-ever! He has always been sponge bathed. Can you imagine never having had a bath? That's just crazy to me. I love baths! He was very hesitant at first, but in the end he splashed and laughed and played. It was so sweet-until it was time to get out. The cold air hit him and he did not like it at all. He calmed down though and we got him all dried off, lotioned up, and in his new pj's. Before long, he was out. Now he is sleeping soundly in his crib and smells like the McGee girls used to :) Angie always used the pink johnson and johnson lotion on them. I was so excited to finally be able to lather Quinton in it. Mmmm-nothing better than a clean smelling baby right out of the bathtub! 



Please pray for healing for Quinton. We need him to eat tomorrow and to take his medicine and for this mommy not to cry when she does not know how to help her little boy. 

Thanks so much!

Tomorrow we should find out when we are going home!!!! (Hopefully-haha)

8 comments:

  1. Poor Little guy! It is so hard to help with dehydration when I don't know what they have over there. I can tell you that a dr over here would tell you pedialyte, but I dont know if they would carry that over there. I do hope he feels better cause that is miserable, try giving him a luke warm bath again and just let him relax in it (if he will). Those always helped with brett! I will continue to pray for him to feel better though cause I know the pain of having a sick baby on your hands and don't know what to do!

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  2. You are doing a great job Mom. There isn't a mommy out there who didn't panic at the first fever they encounter. Hopefully he will wake up tomorrow feeling better. I will be praying for you guys.

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  3. Do you have ice cube trays? Can you freeze juice or anything like that and give him ice chips? Just an idea. They have the pedialyte popsicles here, but any trick of solid to liquid might help, which is why I thought of ice chips. Kids think it is fun to put those in there mouths sometimes. Remember, they are smaller than us and do not require near as much fluid as we do. Check the skin on his hands - if the skin goes back down when you tug the tops of his hands, he is hydrated. If it stays pinched up - he needs attention.

    Oh - you are doing fine too. The first few "alone" days are always like this I think (minus your added stress of his sickness). Hang in there. You are doing the right things!

    Hope this helps! Jodie Edwards

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  4. Praying for Quinton! I can't imagine how worried you must be.. us mommies who were home when their babies had first fevers were surely scared.. but being in a country where you don't understand most of everything can't be easy! Definitely keeping you all in my prayers! :)

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  5. Carol, I shared a link on your fb acct from Web MD, about monitoring for dehydration in kids. I'm a nurse, not pediatric, but I have 4 kids so I think I can qualify for this. :) Praying for you!

    Rochelle
    Elk Grove, CA

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  6. Oh Carol!! Bless yall's hearts!!! I know it's got to be all but impossible to hydrate him when you said he won't take liquid on a normal day, let alone sick and out of his normal routine. Will he suck or chew on a washcloth? That would get some in him. Or maybe in the tub, wring the cloth out gently over his head, some water would surely go in his mouth. As Jodie said they don't need as much as we do to stay hydrated. A spoonful every 15 minutes or so does the trick.
    It's so sweet that you remember the pink lotion with my girls!! I still use it on Lacie and I still love to snuggle her up!!
    We are praying, praying, praying for you all. Love you,
    Angie

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  7. Praying for your baby! Hey, btw did you say what his middle name is?

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  8. I would just continue the medicine dropper with liquid every 15 minutes or so, I can imagine even that is hard. Kaylee still won't drink much and if I try to make her drink, through medicine dropper or whatever, she will still refuse it and spit it out. I know things would be a whole lot different at home, but I know you must be especially worried with the embassy and plane trip coming up, so we will definitely be praying.

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