As I predicted in last Friday’s Snippets, Nathan was admitted to the hospital. He wasn’t kicking the pneumonia like he should, so off we went at lunchtime on Friday. He was released on Wednesday – his third birthday.
In addition to the pneumonia (and double ear infections), it’s suspected that he may have sleep apnea (it’s not just for middle aged men anymore!) so we’ll be following up on that once he’s fully recovered. It’s always something around here.
On Sunday, one of the Eucharistic ministers from our parish came by Nathan’s hospital room. Our parish is large, so we don’t know a lot of the folks who attend the Masses that we don’t. We made small talk for a few minutes and then he dropped this on us: I converted to the Catholic Church years ago because of Deacon Hank O’Brien. He died a couple of years ago. Did you know him?
Why, yes. Yes, we did.
Hospital food is awful. But the service at our Mayberry hospital was impeccable! The food service lady noticed that I always ordered unsweet tea and that Mr. Andi brought me a large unsweet tea from the quickie-chek each morning, so she started putting a giant sized unsweet tea on the food tray.
Not only that, but she also arranged for a box of cupcakes on Nathan’s birthday. Unfortunately, after I saved them all day long so we could eat them together as a family that evening, they met an unfortunate demise when Mr. Andi, in his zeal to GET THE HECK OUTTA HERE (to say Mr. Andi hates hospitals is a gross understatement), insisted on making only one trip to the car with all our things and dropped the box wrong side up before we made it to the elevator.
But I love him, anyway. Because even though I was the one sleeping with Nathan in one-third of a hospital bed for five nights, he tried to make things easier by not only bringing me a giant tea every day, but also by deciding during a rain storm that the unreliable home button on my iPhone was just one aggravation too many for me this week and took my phone to the AT&T store for an upgrade, hitting the Chick-fil-A while he was out to pick me up a better lunch.
Hand sanitizer is awesome. At least that’s what Nathan decided this week. He trained the nurses and other staff to bring him a squirt of it every time they got their hit when they came in his room. They enjoyed the extra work he made for them so much that they went out and bought cards and gifts for his birthday. As did his pediatrician. And the therapists from early intervention who came to the hospital to visit him on Tuesday.
One of the items in the Bucket o’ Toys that the staff gave him was a Canada goose Beanie Baby. They apologized that it wasn’t a duck – his love for Duck Dynasty was a topic of conversation around the floor all week. Unfortunately for me, the Whole Home DVR didn’t work at the hospital.
But the best part is that Nathan got a new Pope for his birthday! Not sure he’s quite as excited as I am about the election of Pope Francis on his Big Day, but maybe he’ll grow to love it. Everything I’ve read about the new Pope so far sounds pretty awesome, and I love that he chose the name Francis.
And you know what? Deacon Hank was a Franciscan.
Have a great weekend!
Link up your own Seven Snippets below! Be sure to link to your post, not the main page of your blog.
Looking for a Seven Snippets template or graphic? Go here for some quick tools to create your own Seven Snippets post.
This post was inspired by and is linked to Conversion Diary‘s 7 Quick Takes.
Happy Birthday Nathan!
Pope Benedict resigned on my birthday……
Good to see him smiling again. May his road to recovery be quick and easy.
That picture of him under Snippet 1??? Adorbs. Love him.
I’m so glad he’s home and feeling better. It sounds like you had stellar folks taking care of you all at the hospital though. If you haven’t already, I’d write a note to the hospital administrators singing everyone’s praises. They too often only get letters when people are ticked off, it’s really nice of them to get something saying how wonderful everyone is.
he is so beautiful. happy healthy birthday!
I’m here via 7 Quick Takes! Just wanted you to know you were not the only mama in the hospital this week….we were too–only 3 nights/4 days–that sounds like so few days, but it sure felt like a week! Missed the whole new Pope stuff…no EWTN at the hospital and by the time I had a chance to check in, the regular news barely covered it!
Happy birthday to your beautiful boy–happy you are home, God bless you all.
I love what you wrote about people saying things like we are super amazing mamas because we have special children…drives me crazy. I’m just a mom. Just like everyone else. They are just jealous. (I looked around at a few of your questions posts:)
Holy moly Andi-I think I blinked and in just days his hair grew AND he now looks even more like you than ever 🙂 Especially in that first shot. It’s that beautiful smile of his I think!
Thank you! The weight he lost I think made it more apparent – I definitely have always thought he looks more like me and Sarah Kate looks more like Mr. Andi. And as for the hair…it was driving me nuts! I like it a little long, but that was REALLY long.