Lauren gets admitted to the hospital

2/17/10: So Lauren was sick for 5 days with sever vomiting and diarrhea. We were told to go to the ER my the nurse are her pediatricians office. After have IV fluids put in her for being dangerously dehydrated, the doctors decided she needed to be admitted. They then informed us that they needed to transport us to St. Luke's hospital in Boise, (we were at the one in Meridian) so we got to ride in an ambulance. Lauren was a little out of it still , but thought that was kind of neat.

Once we were settled in the Pediatric wing things started going great. I cannot tell you how amazing this place was. If you have a kid and they needed to be in the hospital, this is the place to be!!! I was blown away at how kid friendly it was. Lauren was so comfortable and not scared. It was great.

She received some wonderful gifts and get well wishes for so many people. Thank you all!!! Daddy came down the next morning after getting Justin off to school. She was so excited to see him. We ended up staying 2 nights there. We were discharged to go home on Friday after noon.

Will Jason was there, the nurses thought it would be a good idea to get Lauren out of her room for a while. So they brought us a wagon and made a little bed in it to pull her in, since she was connected to an IV pole. She enjoyed the walk around the pediatric wing. We stopped to look at one of the big fish tanks, she liked that. Unfortunately the walk did not last long, Lauren had to go potty AGAIN....... We made it back just in time!!!

The pediatric wing has this amazing playroom for the kids. It has toys, art project stuff, scrap booking, play dough, arts and crafts, puzzles, video games, movies, paint, just to name a few off the top of my head. But because Lauren was in an isolation room (until we found out what she had) she was not able to go into the playroom. They did not want her to contaminate the toys and stuff there. She they have staff that are called "Child life specialists" (seriously, are you kidding me) anyway, they were amazing. So they gathered different toys and arts and craft stuff and brought it to her room to do. And she got to keep it all and take it home....WOW!!! I was amazed at this place, I am telling you. She colored a crown, made a foamy picture frame, did play dough with cut outs, made beaded necklaces, and mirrors, and frames, and all these items she got to keep. She was having a great time!!! I was afraid that she would not want to go home.

She also had a special visitor. Our friend from church, David Brown came to see Lauren. He is a general surgeon at St. Luke's. He is also Lauren's friend Lizzie's dad. So he came to check up on her each day we were there. The first day he came by, and also gave Lauren a blessing. This was so wonderful and nice of him. The next day he came back by to visit while he was making his rounds, and he brought Lauren a present from Lizzie. Lizzie had given Lauren a teddy bear and a card to make her feel better and let her know what she was thinking of her. So sweet. We just LOVE the Brown family.

The stay at St. Luke's was wonderful considering we were in a hospital. So it all worked out. Lauren is doing great and has made a full recovery. She is back to her spunky, full of energy, playful self, and we could not be happier!!!!