We know, we know, you’ve all been wondering where the Coppenger family has disappeared to and you all want to see updated pictures of Josiah. Today I will attempt to catch you up on the past month and a half-it has been fast and furious!
We celebrated Easter with an amazing morning of worship at church. The church was so incredibly full-how marvelous it would be to have that many people there every Sunday! Then we went to Dr. Moore’s and enjoyed lunch with so many great friends. Here are a couple great pics of Jed and Josiah.
April was accident month for Josiah. Jed likes to say,”He may be in the 10th percentile for height and weight, but he’s in the 75th percentile for accidents/hospital visits.” During the month of April, Josiah managed to fall and hit his head on the bed frame and get an amazing goose egg and bruise, have another child bite him on the face in church nursery, lose a little piece of his ear during a home haircut, fall down the entire flight of stairs in our house, and then the wammy-his first trip to the ER. Let me fill you in on the last accident…
Saturday, April 18 Josiah woke up earlier than usual and was crying pretty hard. He usually sleeps great until 8 and rarely cries while in his bed, so I knew something was wrong. Jed had been up late the night before and he said Josiah had been coughing quite a bit during the night. I went in to get him and he was wheezing a bit and just seemed really uncomfortable. No fever, no runny nose, but he was pulling at his ears and didn’t want to eat, so I thought maybe an ear infection. Due to his broncholitis episode in February, the doctor also told me to call anytime there was wheezing. So we went to see the doctor at 11:30, he looked at him quickly and said he had an ear infection in his right ear and a little wheezing, but nothing to put him in respiratory distress. We left, filled the prescriptions, and Josiah continued to get worse and worse. He didn’t want to be anywhere but laying next to me, didn’t want to eat or drink and couldn’t fall asleep.
By 3:00, I did another breathing treatment and he fell asleep during it. Woke up and was still not doing any better. I knew something wasn’t right, but also thought I was being a paranoid mom. I ended up calling the pediatrician hotline around 5:30 because Josiah seemed to be working pretty hard to breath and I just knew there was something else going on than just an ear infection. She told us to take him to the ER, so I called Jed and he came home and he drove us like a NASCAR driver to Kosair Children’s Hospital. God was gracious to get us to the ER in record time (considering it was Thunder over Louisville weekend), and there was only one lady in front of us in line. When we checked Josiah in they said it sounded like he wasn’t getting much air into his right lung and he was retracting pretty badly. They quickly got us to a room in the ER, hooked him up to oxygen (his oxygen level was low 80’s and it is supposed to be between 90-100), scheduled a chest x-ray and got him set up on a 1 hour breathing treatment. They discovered he had pneumonia in the upper lobe of his right lung. We did the hour long breathing treatment and then Jed took him to get his IV, which took several, hear me several tries and 45 minutes later he was ready to be moved to a regular room. Once in a regular room, they tried several breathing treatments, magnesium and steroids, but he still wasn’t responding the way they wanted him to. He was seeming to feel better, but still reatracting and working very hard to get full breaths.
Around 2:30 AM they moved us to ICU, where Josiah was hooked up to an 8 hour breathing treatment. At this point Josiah was hooked up to oxygen, the breathing treatment, heart monitor, IV, and another tube to measure his oxygen level. He looked so pitiful and all the medicine caused him to be shaky. But around 8:30 AM, the doctor came in and listened to his lungs again and said there was no wheezing! PTL! They took him off of the breathing treatment, got to turn down his oxygen intake and he was able to eat for the first time. He seemed to be feeling much better. He got stronger and stronger as the day went on and by evening we got to go back to a regular room and he was on breathing treatments every 3-4 hours. Monday he was doing even better, was off the oxygen and we were discharged in the evening. We were sent home with pages of instructions and several medications. Sharon got to come down and was a huge help once we were home because Josiah was still receiving round the clock treatments, so she was gracious to give those to him and let us get some sleep.
We went to the doctor for a follow up appointment and they said he does have asthma and we have to do daily breathing treatments and watch for triggers to his asthma. At this point, we don’t know what the exact cause was to his episode, but we have to take more precautions when having him out. He has now had two doctor appointments and his lungs have stayed clear! Praise God for his mercy to us in this situation. We are continuing to pray that the asthma will disappear and the doctor said he is also hopeful that he won’t be on the breathing treatments 6 months from now. We will keep you posted on his progress.
Here is a pic of us getting ready to leave the hospital. You can see Josiah’s “cage” in the background.
Jed had a super busy end of the semester and we are so proud of all he accomplished! He had a 30 page paper, a couple 10 page papers, finals and other crazy business going on. He did an amazing job with everything and we are so proud of him for finishing his first year of PhD work. Josiah and I decided to go visit my parents in Missouri and give Jed some peace and quiet to work on all of his schoolwork. We got to see my sister, Erin and her two daughters while we were there and it was good for Josiah to be around other kids. His favorite part of the trip was getting to see Papa and Grandma’s dogs! He is absolutely crazy about dogs and starts panting every time he sees a dog! It was great to see my family and we are looking forward to having Grandma here when baby girl is born!
We are less than a month away from baby girl’s due date! Anyone who knows me, knows that the “nesting” is in full swing and I’m trying my best to have everything in order for her big arrival! We are still not settled on a name, so just plan on the big reveal coming when she is born. We’ve got favorites, but I think we’re just going to have to see her. I’m really excited to have her in our arms and have been trying to mentally prepare myself for another labor and delivery! Please be praying for us over the next few weeks! Josiah is going to be an excellent big brother. He really enjoys poking my belly button and saying “baby”.
And we took Josiah in for his first real haircut. The seminary has a little shop for men’s and kid’s cuts. Josiah was the first customer they’ve had who received his first real haircut, so they presented him with a certificate. He looks so handsome now that the mullet is gone! Here are some before and after pictures:
Before the haircut. Notice the nice mullet that has grown 🙂
After the cut. Receiving his certificate!
The Coppenger Family 