This Anderson Life: October 2013

Jack is so fun these days, this is my favorite age so far. He has made four teeth now, his two bottom and top front teeth and loves to show them off. We adults have the perfect angle for a picture, head cocked down and slightly angled to the right with just the right amount of teeth showing. Not my Jack. He is chin out, teeth out, nose scrunched, eyes squinty and cooing all the while. It melts my heart. He smiles all the time, and loves to be with people. Last night we had our small group over and he wanted to play play play and show off his new tricks. His new tricks are sitting up from laying down and then pulling himself to stand. Daddy worked on Jack's walking skills the other day- I'm not ready for that. After Jack does a new trick, he looks around the room for applause and smiles. He will either laugh with everyone or hide his face as if he is embarrassed.

He loves to play with all his non-toy toys. His favorites are a paper clip, his spoons, my workout band, and his nose sucker. Ridiculous! He plays quietly by himself in the morning, but loves to play mid day with mama. He plays well with his other baby friends and has a little baby crush on his girlfriend Chiara. We always catch him looking at her all dopey eyed. He loves going to story time at the library and sing along time as well. We learned the song, "3 little monkeys jumping on the bed."
It's a fave- and comes in handy when he is cranky.

He is sleeping and eating good. Favorite food is peaches for sure. He has learned how to stand up in his crib- and that is his new favorite thing to do, pretty cute walking in to pick him up when he is standing there. He naps really well in the car or stroller and loves to nap in his swing.

We had the no fun, awful trip to the hospital for croup. Jack went to bed at night a little cranky and with a low grade fever, but no cough. Caleb was in Atlanta at a conference so I had my friend Monica staying with me to help with Jackaroo. Thank GOD she was staying with me- I gave her my bed so I was sleeping on the couch about 10 feet from Jack. I left his door open just in case he woke up feeling worse- and woke up he did. At around 1am Jack woke up struggling to breathe and beginning to cry. I grabbed him right away knowing instantly something was wrong. I woke up Monica and asked her what she thought. After sitting in the bathroom with the hot shower running for 20 minutes, a phone call to the nurse hotline and a late night call to caleb we decided we needed to take him to the ER... I didn't know the severity of his croup and wouldn't have debated for a second had I known how bad it was. The drive to Kaiser ER is 25 minutes and Jack fell asleep en route. He woke up and began crying- which activated, what I call a "fit." The Doctor in the ER was quick to get jack a steroid shot and a nebulizer treatment, and we were able to calm him down which helped him to breathe easier. The Dr. in the ER wasn't totally calm and reassuring which made it challenging for me to relax. After our first "fit" Jack woke up hungry so I began nursing him- he was having difficulty breathing and eating which started another "fit" and second nebulizer treatment. He cried throughout the treatment, but we were able to calm him down towards the end and get him to fall asleep again. The Dr. Came in to tell me that he wanted us to stay around for another couple of hours to monitor us... He spoke too loud, waking Jack up- another "fit." The Dr. ordered another treatment and a transfer to Anaheim because they had a pediatric ward- A new nurse came in to help us, Gloria- she was not our favorite. She had Monica give Jack the treatment this time and we sang "3 little monkeys" which got jack to calm down and breathe in his treatment. Next came the IV. In retrospect I wish I would have said, lets wait until we get to Anaheim to make sure they need/want one. They didn't. But, Gloria tried anyway. Multiple times on both hands. She wasn't able to get his IV started but was able to collect some of his blood- which she accidentally squeezed all over Jack and my face. UGH!

Next up was the ambulance ride. Jack cried the whole way over to Anaheim. No fun. There was pediatric Doctors in the ER and they were so much more relaxed, which made it easier for me to be calm for Jack. I didn't dare google croup because I didn't want to know what google said. I didn't want to hear a horror story. I wanted a Dr. to tell me my son would be fine. And that is exactly what they did in Anaheim. The Dr.s admitted us for further surveillance- which was great. We loved our pediatric nurses and felt relieved to stay there and have help monitoring Jack.

Caleb was able to get a flight home and was there to spend the night in the hospital with Jack and I. Jack got better and better once dad arrived. It was such a precious moment when Caleb walked into the hospital room. My stress level went down and Jack was so excited to see Daddy. Monica was finally relieved from helping me. What a help she was! I am so grateful to have a friend like her who wouldn't leave my side. I tried to tell her to go to work, and she looked at me with her big blue eyes and said, "I would never leave you in the ER alone." Tears ran down my face as I thanked her. Jack was happy to have his two favorite gals there caring for him.

We learned a lot about Croup and what to do next time. God, I pray there is no next time. We are so grateful for prayers and kind words. It was terrifying to see Jack so sick and not have Caleb with me. I kept thinking- he is the strong one, why am I here by myself... I need him. But, I'm stronger then I give myself credit for!