dear pratt.

dear pratt,

oh man oh man. where to start?

saturday morning we headed east to chattanooga. a place that you'll never see with your daddy as he has sworn, in no uncertain terms, he will never return to.

i knew something was off. it's called "a mothers intuition". and i have it. i've had it since the day you were born. knew something was off then too.

but we had big plans for saturday through tuesday. we were taking our first family vacation to meet andy, clara and anderson. oh what fun we were going to have. we had the bags packed. a picnic basket packed! coupons clipped. ice chest of fruit and apple juice ready!

but you felt warm. 99.4. only .2 higher than normal...but something was just off.

it was 5 hours to nashville. you were really, really good. here's proof.








yes. it's you and daddy watching "dog the bounty hunter". one day you'll know dwayne, the dog, chapman all too well. until then, just trust me on this...it's hilarious that you're so into it. not out of the ordinary...but extremely funny.

we stopped in nashville to see miss emily and dennis. mr. jon was at work...so we missed him :(

the house was beautiful. it's the kind of neighborhood i've always dreamed of raising a family in. their backyard is beautiful with the best waterfall ever. you loved it. i loved every single bit of emily's martha stewart meets pottery barn home. it's exactly what i had pictured.

emily made us a lunch of paula deen tomato soup and grilled cheese paninis. it was honestly the most perfect lunch. rest stop. visit. all of it combined into one.

you had a great time going up and down her carpeted stairs.

she made us a goody bag of warm chocolate chip cookies for the road. your dad ate 5 in a row. but i'm the chubby one. i'm just saying...

we arrived in chattanooga and you were still okay.



well, you had diarrhea, but you weren't really acting all that upset. we played with anderson and clara and andy. we ate dinner inside and dad and andy watched the razorback game. you went to sleep pretty late...around 930 or so. you were snoozing in the pack and play but woke up around 1130.

you were burning up. i knew immediately you had a fever. i was afraid to see how high it was. it was 102.4 nothing compared to that one time a few months ago when it was 104.6. because i knew something was off, i had packed motrin. i gave you motrin and you snuggled with dad and fell back asleep.

i went to walgreens and got you more motrin, tylenol. clara and i had gotten pedialyte earlier because of the diarrhea. mary beth told me that you should be drinking it. and we should put you on the brat diet. bananas, rice, applesauce and toast. everything bland.

i can't remember much about that night. you were up and down. hot and hot and hot. we alternated back and forth with the meds. that morning you ate a waffle. which you loved. and some biscuit. you had pedialyte. and you were okay.

your fever rose again and we took motrin. you went down for a nap. dad and the rest of the gang headed out for lunch. you slept for about 3 hours.

once you woke up, you were better. so we headed to rock city. a place well...i'm not sure about it. it was...bizarre. that's probably the best way to describe it. andy claims it was a "city of rocks". and clara laughed at the description.

we had a wonderful time. and you were great. no dirty diapers. no diarrhea. no fever. andy claimed it was the "fresh mountain air" that had cured you. i was convinced too. see, look how much better you seem in these pictures...

and then...well, then...well..let's just say that there was blood. in your diaper. and i FLIPPED OUT. i can handle blood. i can handle a lot of things. but internal bleeding on my little baby isn't one of those things.

so i made the call to mary beth who told me to take you to the er stat. called vernon to see where to take you.

we spent sunday night from 6 pm to 1 am in the er. at the children's hospital. they did a chest and abdominal xray. which showed nothing. except that your bowels weren't obstructed.

so they started an iv on your right hand. i was a nervous wreck. but my mom had already told me to remember to be strong for you...so i tried. but i have to admit that your daddy did the best job ever. he was so strong. so unmoved by all of it. my little hero, really.

you hated the iv. you tried to claw the nurse's hand off. it took four of us to hold you down. the entire time i was cursing modern medicine. but i know they were just trying to make you better. you were sweaty and crying and screaming at the top of your lungs. "momma...momma". it was the first time i've heard you blatantly say my name.

as if that weren't enough. once they had your iv hooked up (with your entire arm taped to a board so you couldn't pull out the iv), they had to prick your left middle finger for bloodwork. because apparently they didn't get enough from the iv. vampires.

this rendered your two middle fingers (used for sucking) useless. you were so incredibly upset. you always suck your two middle fingers for comfort. and well, that wasn't going to happen.

you had the entire bag of fluid. and the lab work came back showing a high white count. and an elevated alkaline phosphatase number. they did a stool sample and we're waiting to see if something cultures from that. (24 to 48 hours)

before leaving they told us to come back monday night for a re-check.

sunday night once we got to the hotel...it was worse than the night before. you were up and hot going through a million diapers. crying uncontrollably. you could not be pacified. nothing we did helped. finally you fell asleep around 2 maybe. i don't remember. i just know i cried myself to sleep too. i was emotionally drained.

we left chattanooga around 830 monday morning. made it back to our pediatrician's office for a 350 appt. we considered that a re-check. nothing has cultured yet. so we still don't know if it's a bacterial problem or a viral one. we know it isn't rotavirus. but other than that...we aren't sure.

you're still on a bland diet. you slept from 630 to 4 this morning. you and i got up at 4 and had applesauce and toast. and watered down gatorade. then you slept from 5 to 830. you're better...but still not yourself.

i'm constantly reminded to be thankful for our health. as my dad says, "without your health..nothing else matters." so, so true.

seeing you sick is so hard for me and daddy. we love you. and can't wait until your tummy starts to feel better. hearing you cry and seeing your little body double over is no fun at all.

we promise the fishers that we would re-do family vaca soon. only daddy said it could not be in chattanooga. :)

we love you little guy,

mom and dad.