Dearest Grayson,
I know I say this every month, but seriously, how has three months already passed. Time is a funny thing. In some regards, it feels like a lifetime ago I was sitting in the hospital anxiously awaiting your arrival and in other regards it feels like just yesterday that you were born. You continue to be the happiest, sweetest, most laid back baby who has ever existed. You are so cute and love to smile at anyone who happens to look your way. One of your new developments is that you have started laughing. It is the most precious sound you have ever heard. It started first with you making little coughing noises when you smiled really big, but has started to develop into full on chuckles. You love playing Patty Cake and that almost always gets lots of giggles out of you. You also seem to be a bit ticklish and that will get you going as well.
Speaking of giggles, you are starting to notice your big brother a little more, which is very sweet. He will come up to you in your bouncy seat and dance around and you think that is pretty funny. We have to watch pretty closely though because he seems to think you liked to be bounced a little harder than mommy is comfortable with. There have been a few times that I thought he might rocket you out of the chair.
We took you on your first vacation right at the tail end of your second month of life through the beginning of your third month of life. If someone would have told me prior to your birth, that I would pack up my newborn and 2 year old and head to the beach, I would have told them that they were crazy. This is just a testament to what a good baby you are. You traveled like a champ and did so well while we were down there. You slept great in the pack and play and were content to just be held by the pool. Luckily we had Grandma, Grandpa, Ya-Ya, and Mark to help.
You are getting so big. You have officially grown out of all of your newborn and 0-3 month clothes and our almost out of size 1 diapers. The last time I weighed you, you were a little over 11 and a half pounds. You are getting longer and you have big feet just like your brother. You always grow out of the feet of footie pajamas first. You continue to nurse and be bottle fed. It has gotten a little dicier with mommy going back to work, but I am sure that we will figure out some kind of a system. You are taking your bottles better after we got you a faster flow nipple, which makes feeding a bit quicker. You are flirting with sleeping through the night, which makes mommy very happy. About three nights a week you will sleep all the way through from 8ish to 5:30 or 6am. You are also pretty decent about taking your naps in bed. I can almost always get a one hour nap in the crib out of you in the morning. Our afternoons are still a little hit and miss. Seeing as your brother napped in the swing exclusively until he was 8 months old, I will consider this a victory.
We love you so much and have enjoyed seeing how much your personality has developed in the past month. I know how fast these newborn days go and it sometimes makes me want to freeze time to capture these moments; however, each passing day and the changes it brings makes us so excited for what the future holds. Being a mommy to you and your brother is the best and most important job I have ever done. I love you more than all the stars in the sky!
Love
Mommy and Daddy
Monday, June 11, 2012
Sunday, May 27, 2012
2 Months
Dearest Grayson,
How could it be that two months have already past? In fact, if you pay attention to the date on the post then you realize that I am actually squeezing this in right before you turn three months. You have had a busy second month of life, but for good reasons not bad. You have been smilling up a storm, you started sleeping in your crib instead of next to mommy and daddy, and you have even rolled over.
You have the sweetest little personality and it is becoming more and more evident every day. You love to smile and are always quick to flash a gummy grin whenever anyone looks your way. You are so laid back and content, just like your daddy. You have started to find your voice and you love to coo and talk to us. You love to be held, which I am more than happy to oblige. Since you are my second, I know how quickly these days go by and I love to spend lots of snuggle time with you. However, you are also perfectly content to sit in your bouncy seat or in your boppy and watch the world go by.
We moved you to your crib when you were six weeks old and you have done an awesome job since the very first night. I must admit, I was sad the first night daddy moved you out. I liked having you so close to me and I realized that it was the last time I was ever going to have a precious baby sleeping in a bed next to me. You are a great sleeper and mommy is very appreciative of that. We put you down sometime in between 8 and 8:30 every night and you usually wake up one time in between 3 and 5am to eat and then go right back to sleep until 7 or 8. Such a huge change from your big brother!
I have to admit that we have not been very diligent with your tummy time, reference the statement about being held, but we have gotten you to roll over a couple of times. I don't think it is intentional yet, you just get that head leaning to one side and its weight pulls you around.
We took you in for your 2 month appointment and you weighed 10 lbs 2 ozs and 22 and a fourth inches tall. Dr. McCain was very impressed with how much you had grown since you were released from the hospital. You gained almost three pounds in one month. It is hard to believe that you are now the size your brother was a four or five months old. I have already had to start packing away some of your newborn clothes! You still fit comfortably in your 0-3 month clothes, but we have had to move you into your 3 month pajamas even though they are a little big. You are still nursing and taking a bottle afterwords. You are definitely not as good of an eater as your big brother was. You would much prefer to nurse and you take forever to take a bottle. You get distracted so easily and you would much prefer to smile and talk to us then eat.
You have added such a light to our family and we love you so much. Your sweet spirit makes us so proud and we can't wait to watch you grow more into your own. We love you more than all the stars in the sky.
Love,
Mommy and Daddy
Monday, April 23, 2012
Grayson's Hospitlization Part 2: The PICU
So when we last left off, we were being wheeled up to the PICU on a gurney. Once we got to the doors of the PICU, we were informed that we could not be in the PICU while they were admitting him and we had to wait in the waiting room until someone came to get us. They said it should be around 10 or 15 minutes. At that point I had to get off the stretcher and lay him on it to be wheeled back. It was so sad and scary to see my tiny 19 day old laying on a stretcher by himself and not being able to be with him. At this point we didn't know what he might look like when we saw him again because we still did not know whether they would have to intubate him or not. They opened the big double doors and wheeled him away and we went into the PICU waiting room. It was so surreal. This is the first time that I really let my guard down and let the enormity of what had happened over the past two hours sink in. I just sat in a chair and cried and cried. Some nice family member of someone who had a child in the PICU brought me some tissues and the receptionist for the PICU came out and asked if we needed anything or wanted some privacy. Obviously, every family that was sitting in that waiting room had been in the exact same place that I was and could relate to what I was going through, but it is a bit like being in a cage. You can tell that you are being watched and it is human nature to wonder what has happened to send you to the PICU, lord knows I wondered that about every face I saw in there. The receptionist took us back to the family counseling room and told us that she would let them know we were in there. Once in the family room I calmed down considerably, but then I realized what room I was in. In my mind, the family counseling room might as well be called the room they take you to to tell you your baby is going to die. I didn't think that that was going to happen, but it still freaked me out and I wanted to get out of there as quickly as I possibly could.
After we had been in there for about 20 minutes, I sent Stephen out to find out why they hadn't come back to get us and when we would get to see him. After he left, a social worker from the PICU happened to walk by and see that the door was opened. She poked her head in and asked what I was doing and if I had a child in the PICU. I told her that my newborn was in the process of being admitted and I had sent Stephen to figure out what was going on. I am so glad that she stopped in the room because she was able to tell us about the PICU and what to expect. I will admit I was really nervous. I had obviously been in the NICU before but I was scared about what I would see in the PICU. In the NICU, you obviously know that there are critically ill babies in there, but the most you hear is the sound of a newborn crying. The PICU is a whole different ball of wax. Your 19 day old could be across the walkway from a 19 year old who is next to a 9 year old etc. Let me promise you this, a 9 year old or 5 year old or whatever age is very aware of pain and being scared and the sound of them screaming and crying was more than I could handle. I will never forget what that sounds likes and I hope I never have to hear it again.
The social worker explained how the PICU worked and told us to just focus on our baby and to not look around at the other babies too much because that would make it too hard. Of course, again it is human nature and of course as soon as you step through those doors you are staring at every other child in there and wondering what is wrong with them and what their story is. The PICU at Children's is one big open room and there are beds and cribs lined up in rows with curtains in that can be pulled in between them, so you see and hear everything that is going on around you. Very unsettling. After the social worker had explained everything to us, she said that she would take us back to see Grayson. We walked through the PICU doors and rounded the corner and the first thing I saw was my dad standing there. It was such a tremendous relief to know that he had been there with him while we were not there. My dad didn't realize that we were not allowed in with him during admission so he just walked right in and they pointed him to his bed. That is the miracle of the white coat. If I ever have a child in the hospital again, I am going to borrow a white coat because you get to go wherever you want to go, no questions asked.
When we got back to Grayson's bedside he was like a new baby. He was resting much more comfortably and was breathing easy enough that he could even suck on a paci. He was still very sick, but it was evident that we had avoided intubation. Such a relief. The had him on 30% oxygen and he really seemed to bounce back well. We met with the doctors and our nurse and then we just sat at his bedside. Since the PICU is an open unit, you can not sleep in there with your child. There was one glider bedside and then they pulled up an office chair for Stephen to sit in. Stephen and I sat down and started to process everything that had just happened and started notifying people of what was going on. Eventually, I needed to pump and Grayson was doing so well, that I went downstairs to the lactation room on the ground floor. After I was done, I was getting out of the elevator when I saw Stephen walking out of the PICU with all of our stuff. I was confused because the PICU wasn't supposed to close visiting hours for another hour. It turns out that while I was gone a baby had coded in the PICU. Not only did they obviously shut the unit down, but it just so happens that the crash cart was apparently located directly behind Stephen's chair. He said one minute he was just playing on the iPad and the next thing he knew half of the PICU staff was flying over to his chair to try and get the crash cart out. Stephen was definitely pretty traumatized from that experience. Luckily the baby pulled through, obviously it was not something you want to witness.
Since the PICU was closed, we went home to see Perron for a few minutes and clean up and get bags together. The plan was that I would sleep in the chair next to Grayson and Stephen would stay until the 10:30 PICU closure and go home and come back in the morning. Well, we got back to the hospital and he was doing so well they were talking about moving him to the regular floor the next day. We were obviously thrilled and could not wait to get out of there. The PICU was very crowded when we were admitted and they had to move beds around to make room for us. Well, at around 9:30 that night they had a 5 year old that had to be intubated in the ER and they needed a space in the PICU. Grayson was doing so well that they decided that we would be the lucky ones that got to move to a floor. We were so happy that he was doing so well and so happy to be on the floor in much more comfortable accommodations. We were smug enough at that point to think that our journey would continue to be easy and short, but boy were we wrong. The doctor's that would be taking over Grayson's care came up to process the transfer and we were in our room at around 10:30. Just in time for bed!
When we were admitted if you had told me that we would be there another almost two weeks, I would never have believed you. The PICU holds 19 total children. If you had told me on that Monday morning that my newborn would have been one of the 19 sickest children out of the hundreds of children that are in that hospital, I would have laughed in your face. Things change quickly and our family is blessed beyond measure. In those few hours in the PICU, Stephen and I saw things that no parent should ever have to see and witnessed the silent heartache of 18 other families. It is one thing to know that there are really sick kids out there as an abstract concept. It is a totally different thing to see them with your own eyes. Pray for the families that spend their lives up there and the incredible doctor's and nurse's who take care of them.
I will pick back up with the remainder of our stay on the floor in the next post.
After we had been in there for about 20 minutes, I sent Stephen out to find out why they hadn't come back to get us and when we would get to see him. After he left, a social worker from the PICU happened to walk by and see that the door was opened. She poked her head in and asked what I was doing and if I had a child in the PICU. I told her that my newborn was in the process of being admitted and I had sent Stephen to figure out what was going on. I am so glad that she stopped in the room because she was able to tell us about the PICU and what to expect. I will admit I was really nervous. I had obviously been in the NICU before but I was scared about what I would see in the PICU. In the NICU, you obviously know that there are critically ill babies in there, but the most you hear is the sound of a newborn crying. The PICU is a whole different ball of wax. Your 19 day old could be across the walkway from a 19 year old who is next to a 9 year old etc. Let me promise you this, a 9 year old or 5 year old or whatever age is very aware of pain and being scared and the sound of them screaming and crying was more than I could handle. I will never forget what that sounds likes and I hope I never have to hear it again.
The social worker explained how the PICU worked and told us to just focus on our baby and to not look around at the other babies too much because that would make it too hard. Of course, again it is human nature and of course as soon as you step through those doors you are staring at every other child in there and wondering what is wrong with them and what their story is. The PICU at Children's is one big open room and there are beds and cribs lined up in rows with curtains in that can be pulled in between them, so you see and hear everything that is going on around you. Very unsettling. After the social worker had explained everything to us, she said that she would take us back to see Grayson. We walked through the PICU doors and rounded the corner and the first thing I saw was my dad standing there. It was such a tremendous relief to know that he had been there with him while we were not there. My dad didn't realize that we were not allowed in with him during admission so he just walked right in and they pointed him to his bed. That is the miracle of the white coat. If I ever have a child in the hospital again, I am going to borrow a white coat because you get to go wherever you want to go, no questions asked.
When we got back to Grayson's bedside he was like a new baby. He was resting much more comfortably and was breathing easy enough that he could even suck on a paci. He was still very sick, but it was evident that we had avoided intubation. Such a relief. The had him on 30% oxygen and he really seemed to bounce back well. We met with the doctors and our nurse and then we just sat at his bedside. Since the PICU is an open unit, you can not sleep in there with your child. There was one glider bedside and then they pulled up an office chair for Stephen to sit in. Stephen and I sat down and started to process everything that had just happened and started notifying people of what was going on. Eventually, I needed to pump and Grayson was doing so well, that I went downstairs to the lactation room on the ground floor. After I was done, I was getting out of the elevator when I saw Stephen walking out of the PICU with all of our stuff. I was confused because the PICU wasn't supposed to close visiting hours for another hour. It turns out that while I was gone a baby had coded in the PICU. Not only did they obviously shut the unit down, but it just so happens that the crash cart was apparently located directly behind Stephen's chair. He said one minute he was just playing on the iPad and the next thing he knew half of the PICU staff was flying over to his chair to try and get the crash cart out. Stephen was definitely pretty traumatized from that experience. Luckily the baby pulled through, obviously it was not something you want to witness.
Since the PICU was closed, we went home to see Perron for a few minutes and clean up and get bags together. The plan was that I would sleep in the chair next to Grayson and Stephen would stay until the 10:30 PICU closure and go home and come back in the morning. Well, we got back to the hospital and he was doing so well they were talking about moving him to the regular floor the next day. We were obviously thrilled and could not wait to get out of there. The PICU was very crowded when we were admitted and they had to move beds around to make room for us. Well, at around 9:30 that night they had a 5 year old that had to be intubated in the ER and they needed a space in the PICU. Grayson was doing so well that they decided that we would be the lucky ones that got to move to a floor. We were so happy that he was doing so well and so happy to be on the floor in much more comfortable accommodations. We were smug enough at that point to think that our journey would continue to be easy and short, but boy were we wrong. The doctor's that would be taking over Grayson's care came up to process the transfer and we were in our room at around 10:30. Just in time for bed!
When we were admitted if you had told me that we would be there another almost two weeks, I would never have believed you. The PICU holds 19 total children. If you had told me on that Monday morning that my newborn would have been one of the 19 sickest children out of the hundreds of children that are in that hospital, I would have laughed in your face. Things change quickly and our family is blessed beyond measure. In those few hours in the PICU, Stephen and I saw things that no parent should ever have to see and witnessed the silent heartache of 18 other families. It is one thing to know that there are really sick kids out there as an abstract concept. It is a totally different thing to see them with your own eyes. Pray for the families that spend their lives up there and the incredible doctor's and nurse's who take care of them.
I will pick back up with the remainder of our stay on the floor in the next post.
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Grayson 1 Month
Dearest Grayson,
How could it be that one month has already passed since you were born. Well technically six and a half weeks have passed since you were born, but you are going to have to cut mommy a little slack...you're first month of life was a roller coaster. It is hard to believe that you spent more of your first month of life in the hospital then outside of it. You were a very sick little boy and we were very scared for you, but you are also a very strong little boy and were able to pull through.
It is hard to image our lives and our family without you. In some ways it seems like this month has passed in a blink of an eye and in other ways it seems like you have always been a part of our family. You are such a sweet, good baby. You are so relaxed and content. I think that after your brother, God knew that we deserved a little break. You are happy to be held, but you are just as happy to sit in your bouncy seat and observe what is going on in the world around you. You very rarely cry. In the hospital while they were repeatedly poking you with needles the most you would ever do was grunt really hard and squirm. Every nurse would lavish you with praise and tell us what a good baby you were. We could not agree more. You will take a paci but you are fully committed to it. We will see if that changes as time goes by.
I would list some of the things that you like to do, but bless your heart, you have been in the hospital so much you haven't gotten to do much more than lay in a hospital bed or lay in the bunny seat (your bassinet/bed). I have done a little bit of tummy time with you and you are so strong. You can hold your head up away from our bodies. In fact, you are exhausting to hold just like your brother was, because you squirm and practically climb up our bodies and over our back.
You are a wonderful sleeper. In fact, most nights I have had to wake you up just to feed you. You eat and then go right back to sleep. You have been sleeping right next to mommy and daddy's bed. That won't last forever though, because you are a very loud sleeper. You grunt and squirm like nobody's business. I have enjoyed having you close to me though because we didn't keep Perron in our room for very long.
You lost down below your birth weight during your hospital stay, but are up to a little over eight pounds. We had to switch you to size 1 diapers while you were in the hospital because you were wetting out of the newborn diapers. You can wear newborn clothes and 0-3 month clothes, but those are still big. It is so funny though, because you seem huge to us. You are wearing clothes that your brother didn't wear until he was 3 or 4 months old.
Speaking of your brother. He loves you very much. He always begs to hold you and wants to kiss and hug you all the time. He is very sweet and gentle with you for the most part and is so excited to have you here. We have had to cut back on the amount he can touch you and he hasn't been able to hold you since you were sick. We have to keep you safe. I love watching the two of you together and know that one day you will grow up to be best of friends.
You are the light of our lives and we can not imagine what our lives without you in it. If anything, our time in the hospital with you strengthened our love and commitment to you and reminded us to cherish each moment with you.
We love you more than words can say!
Love
Mommy and Daddy
Monday, April 16, 2012
Grayson's Hospitlization Part 1: The ER
Hello there blog. It has been almost a year since I have seen you last. I would make excuses, but who has time for that. The reality is that I am here now and I have a very important story to tell. This blog, back when it was active, has always served to document our lives, the good and the bad, the exciting and the scary. Well, a few short weeks ago, I have never been more terrified in my entire life. It started simply enough. Perron started coughing over a weekend. I wasn't alarmed. I assumed it was allergies due to the early spring we have had. Well, by Monday the cough had turned into a fever and a full blown cold. We toughed it out and I tried to keep the boys separated as best I could. For those of you with more than one child, especially one child who is a very exciting to big brother newborn, you know that is impossible. We took Perron to the pediatrician's on a Thursday and he was diagnosed with a sinus infection and put on antibiotics. All was well in the Crigler household...until Saturday.
We went to the zoo with my parents Saturday morning and I remember mentioning at some point that Grayson was getting a stuffy nose, but I didn't think much of it. Then some of our sweet friend brought dinner over for us Saturday night. While they were there I felt Grayson's head and he felt really warm. I took his temperature and it was only 99.9 degrees, elevated but below the 100.4 cut off. I called the ped's office and she paged the doctor on call because Grayson was so young (17 days old at this point). The doctor told us we could hold off on going to the hospital but if anything changed she was sending us to the ER. He stayed about the same Saturday night and still had an elevated temp on Sunday so she sent us in to get checked out. We were checked out and at that point there was nothing really they could do so we were sent back home.
Fast forward to Monday. I woke Grayson up to feed him at about 7 am and he went directly back to sleep. I had to go to the grocery store since I hadn't gone over the weekend due to his illness, so I left Grayson with the nanny and headed out. When I got back home he was still sleeping. I thought he might be wheezing some and I could see his clothes moving as he breathed, so I knew he was working a little hard to breathe. I called my dad, who is a doctor, and asked him what he thought a newborn wheezing sounded like. He basically said it sounds like going to the doctor's office. I don't know why I was so hesitant, but I guess I was afraid that I would look like some paranoid first time mom, even though this was my second child. Luckily after my mom called and said dad had called her, I agreed and made an appointment for 10:45.
My mom and I took him in and we got to see the same doctor that we had been working with over the weekend. Our regular pediatrician was in Africa on a medical mission for two weeks. We saw the FABULOUS Dr. M and she said that although is oxygen saturation was 98 percent she didn't like the amount of work he was having to do to breath. He was retracting and doing some very slight grunting at that point. She said she was sure that they were going to laugh at her for admitting us, but she would feel most comfortable admitting him for observation. She said she was sure we would just be in there for 24 hours and things would be fine. I completely agreed, because I was sick of being a nervous wreck at home watching him 24 hours a day. She said that we didn't need an ambulance and we could just go straight to the ER and we could be admitted through there. She called ahead and let them know we were coming. I still thank God to this day, and I will forever, that she had the foresight to send us to the hospital immediately.
So mom and I loaded up and headed down to the hospital. I was perfectly calm and relaxed. I called Stephen and let him know what was going on. I told him to leave work and go home and pack us a bag, get lunch, and meet us at the ER. I called the nanny who was with Perron and let her know what was going on. I was chatting and having a gay old time in the car. In fact, I even went the wrong way to the hospital because I wasn't paying attention and was headed back home until my mom asked me where I was going. Long story short, the entire time were were in the car was probably not more than 15 minutes. As we were coming off of the highway, I happened to look in my rearview mirror at Grayson and he looked horrible. He was gray and he was working so hard to breath that I could literally see his head jumping up and down in the mirror. I asked my mom to turn around and look at him and she agreed that he did not look that good. At that point, I had her take off her seat belt and turn around in the seat and watch him the rest of the ride to make sure he was still breathing. It's funny because I clearly knew that he was worse, but I didn't know how much worse and I was not really panicked at that point.
We get to the ER and I take Grayson in while mom gets all of our stuff out of the car. I head to the triage desk and tell them that we were the people who had been sent in. The triage nurse asked if he could listen to Grayson really quick. I pulled back the blanket that had been covering him and he listened to him for two seconds and said that I needed to come back to the triage room. I quickly got him out of his carseat and the nurse put a pulse ox on his foot. I looked at the machine and it said 78 (it should be a minimum of 92). I remember asking the nurse if that was accurate. He didn't answer me and quickly but the pulse ox on his other foot. The reading came back as an 80. The next thing I know he was yelling come with me and we were running through the ER trying to get to a room. We got to the room and two nurses and a respiratory therapist started working on him. I will never forget that scene for as long as I live. Grayson was a horrible grayish, white, his capillary re-fill was 7 seconds (it should be less than two), he was retracting so hard that I could see each of his ribs, and was grunting so loud trying to get air in. The nurses were trying to get an IV in him and he kept blowing veins left and right. The respiratory therapist had a mask that was pushing 5 liters of oxygen in him and I was just standing there in total shock. Not even 15 minutes prior he had been fine and now he is in critical condition in the ER.
The ER attending doctor came in and I told her the story and she said that she needed to get a PICU consult down to the ER because they thought that they were going to intubate him in the ER. WHAT!!! That is when it really sunk in how sick he was. I couldn't believe that they were talking about intubating my 19 day old. As I mentioned, I was just in total shock and my adrenaline was pumping like a million miles an hour. Thank God my mom was with me. she immediately called Stephen and told him to stop whatever he was doing and get to the hospital immediately. She also called my dad and as soon as she said he was satting in the 80s he rushed from his office to the hospital and met us in the ER room.
They kept giving him breathing treatments, stuck him a million more time to try and get blood because his iv wouldn't return blood, took chest X-rays, and pushed several boluses of fluid to try and get him re-hydrated. Stephen finally made it to the ER and we just stood there staring at our precious baby as he was being worked on. The PICU doctor's came down and talked to us about the intubation process and what the criteria were for intubation and then said we had to be admitted to the PICU. He said they were really full in the PICU so they would have to move beds around to make space for us. They left us in the ER while that happened and again I can not stress enough that we just stood there in shock. I didn't really cry the whole time in the ER, I was able to joke with our wonderful RN's and REspiratory Therapist (all males by the way). The main thing I remember doing is just pacing back and forth over and over. They finally let me sit on a gurney and hold him and we just waited to be transferred. When it was time to be transferred the loaded up his monitors, oxygen tank, and me on the stretcher and wheeled us off.
We were on the way to the PICU. Stay tuned for part 2 of the story...the PICU.
We went to the zoo with my parents Saturday morning and I remember mentioning at some point that Grayson was getting a stuffy nose, but I didn't think much of it. Then some of our sweet friend brought dinner over for us Saturday night. While they were there I felt Grayson's head and he felt really warm. I took his temperature and it was only 99.9 degrees, elevated but below the 100.4 cut off. I called the ped's office and she paged the doctor on call because Grayson was so young (17 days old at this point). The doctor told us we could hold off on going to the hospital but if anything changed she was sending us to the ER. He stayed about the same Saturday night and still had an elevated temp on Sunday so she sent us in to get checked out. We were checked out and at that point there was nothing really they could do so we were sent back home.
Fast forward to Monday. I woke Grayson up to feed him at about 7 am and he went directly back to sleep. I had to go to the grocery store since I hadn't gone over the weekend due to his illness, so I left Grayson with the nanny and headed out. When I got back home he was still sleeping. I thought he might be wheezing some and I could see his clothes moving as he breathed, so I knew he was working a little hard to breathe. I called my dad, who is a doctor, and asked him what he thought a newborn wheezing sounded like. He basically said it sounds like going to the doctor's office. I don't know why I was so hesitant, but I guess I was afraid that I would look like some paranoid first time mom, even though this was my second child. Luckily after my mom called and said dad had called her, I agreed and made an appointment for 10:45.
My mom and I took him in and we got to see the same doctor that we had been working with over the weekend. Our regular pediatrician was in Africa on a medical mission for two weeks. We saw the FABULOUS Dr. M and she said that although is oxygen saturation was 98 percent she didn't like the amount of work he was having to do to breath. He was retracting and doing some very slight grunting at that point. She said she was sure that they were going to laugh at her for admitting us, but she would feel most comfortable admitting him for observation. She said she was sure we would just be in there for 24 hours and things would be fine. I completely agreed, because I was sick of being a nervous wreck at home watching him 24 hours a day. She said that we didn't need an ambulance and we could just go straight to the ER and we could be admitted through there. She called ahead and let them know we were coming. I still thank God to this day, and I will forever, that she had the foresight to send us to the hospital immediately.
So mom and I loaded up and headed down to the hospital. I was perfectly calm and relaxed. I called Stephen and let him know what was going on. I told him to leave work and go home and pack us a bag, get lunch, and meet us at the ER. I called the nanny who was with Perron and let her know what was going on. I was chatting and having a gay old time in the car. In fact, I even went the wrong way to the hospital because I wasn't paying attention and was headed back home until my mom asked me where I was going. Long story short, the entire time were were in the car was probably not more than 15 minutes. As we were coming off of the highway, I happened to look in my rearview mirror at Grayson and he looked horrible. He was gray and he was working so hard to breath that I could literally see his head jumping up and down in the mirror. I asked my mom to turn around and look at him and she agreed that he did not look that good. At that point, I had her take off her seat belt and turn around in the seat and watch him the rest of the ride to make sure he was still breathing. It's funny because I clearly knew that he was worse, but I didn't know how much worse and I was not really panicked at that point.
We get to the ER and I take Grayson in while mom gets all of our stuff out of the car. I head to the triage desk and tell them that we were the people who had been sent in. The triage nurse asked if he could listen to Grayson really quick. I pulled back the blanket that had been covering him and he listened to him for two seconds and said that I needed to come back to the triage room. I quickly got him out of his carseat and the nurse put a pulse ox on his foot. I looked at the machine and it said 78 (it should be a minimum of 92). I remember asking the nurse if that was accurate. He didn't answer me and quickly but the pulse ox on his other foot. The reading came back as an 80. The next thing I know he was yelling come with me and we were running through the ER trying to get to a room. We got to the room and two nurses and a respiratory therapist started working on him. I will never forget that scene for as long as I live. Grayson was a horrible grayish, white, his capillary re-fill was 7 seconds (it should be less than two), he was retracting so hard that I could see each of his ribs, and was grunting so loud trying to get air in. The nurses were trying to get an IV in him and he kept blowing veins left and right. The respiratory therapist had a mask that was pushing 5 liters of oxygen in him and I was just standing there in total shock. Not even 15 minutes prior he had been fine and now he is in critical condition in the ER.
The ER attending doctor came in and I told her the story and she said that she needed to get a PICU consult down to the ER because they thought that they were going to intubate him in the ER. WHAT!!! That is when it really sunk in how sick he was. I couldn't believe that they were talking about intubating my 19 day old. As I mentioned, I was just in total shock and my adrenaline was pumping like a million miles an hour. Thank God my mom was with me. she immediately called Stephen and told him to stop whatever he was doing and get to the hospital immediately. She also called my dad and as soon as she said he was satting in the 80s he rushed from his office to the hospital and met us in the ER room.
They kept giving him breathing treatments, stuck him a million more time to try and get blood because his iv wouldn't return blood, took chest X-rays, and pushed several boluses of fluid to try and get him re-hydrated. Stephen finally made it to the ER and we just stood there staring at our precious baby as he was being worked on. The PICU doctor's came down and talked to us about the intubation process and what the criteria were for intubation and then said we had to be admitted to the PICU. He said they were really full in the PICU so they would have to move beds around to make space for us. They left us in the ER while that happened and again I can not stress enough that we just stood there in shock. I didn't really cry the whole time in the ER, I was able to joke with our wonderful RN's and REspiratory Therapist (all males by the way). The main thing I remember doing is just pacing back and forth over and over. They finally let me sit on a gurney and hold him and we just waited to be transferred. When it was time to be transferred the loaded up his monitors, oxygen tank, and me on the stretcher and wheeled us off.
We were on the way to the PICU. Stay tuned for part 2 of the story...the PICU.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Two Years Old
How could it be that you are already two years old. In fact you are two and a month and a half to be exact. The time has gone so quickly and your sweet spirit and hilarious personality continue to fill our hearts with love. You have been VERY busy these past few months. You have been talking up a storm and it makes it very hard to believe that just six short months ago you only had a couple of sounds and no real words. I am sure you will be graduating from speech therapy at your upcoming annual evaluation. I was talking to Meaghan this morning and it seems like there really is no word that you will not try to say. Granted, we don't always understand what you are saying, but it doesn't keep you from saying it. some of your favorites are:
pongo (piano)
lin (violin)
El Mouse (Mickey Mouse)
Kanzie (McKenzie)
Gabu (Meaghan)
You will run around, climb up on things, jump off things etc and then yell careful. You also love to say neato and yummo. You love saying Hi (insert just about any thing here). I frequently will hear Hi Mommy Hi Mommy Hi Mommy Hi Mommy over and over again. You love to come grab my hand and tell me "walk" and lead me all over the house to wherever you have decided we need to go. This morning while I was getting ready for work you came in to the bathroom and told me to "sit play" because you wanted me to come into your playroom to sit down and play with you. I was happy to oblige. You still LOVE Sesame Street and Elmo remains your favorite. You can pretty much name every single character on the show and you could watch Elmo DVDs all day long if we let you.
In fact, you had an Elmo Theme birthday party at Gymboree for your 2nd birthday party. You had the BEST time and were such a little ham. You even were able to blow out the two candles on your birthday cake perfectly. The candles are your favorite part. You have had a lot of friends have birthday parties recently and before we go we always practice singing happy birthday. At the end of the song you always say candles (which sounds more like congoles). I have to remind you each time that you won't be the one blowing out the candles this time.
You are a very busy, rambunctious boy. Which if evidenced by the number of boo-boo's that you accumulate on a regular basis. Your biggest boo-boo to date is your broken arm. That is right, you broke your arm three days before your second birthday. You fell running around in mommy and daddy's room and broke your ulna. You are such a strong, brave boy that we didn't even realize something was wrong with it for three days and it took five days to get a cast on it. You are currently the proud owner of a red cast that goes up to your should. In true Perron spirit, you have not let it slow you down one bit. You still run, jump and climb as if it never happened. You love pointing to your arm when people ask what happened and tell them "Boo Boo Cast".
You love to read and we spend a lot of time reading the same books over and over. But even more than reading, you LOVE music. I have never seen a child love music more than you. You are constantly asking me to turn one of your CDs on. You will say "munich, munich, munich (your word for music)" over and over until I turn it on. Your favorite song is the choo-choo song from your Kindermusik CD and you could listen to that song 20 times in a row and never get sick of it. In fact, I am quite certain we have listened to it 20 times in a row. You love going to Kindermusik and your music therapy classes. You are the star of both of those shows. You still love to conduct and always want to watch classical music concerts and gamma and ganpa's house.
Even though a tiny bit of the terrible twos have hit, you still remain one of the sweetest, most loving children I know. You love to snuggle with mama. You are such a happy boy and your sweet giggle is music to our ears. You have grown into such a big boy, and your daddy and I love you so much. You will never be able to comprehend the true joy you have brought into our lives. You are the best, most important thing we have ever done.
We love you!
Mommy and Daddy
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Casa Crigler
After my months of blog hiatus, I am coming back to talk about a new project in the Crigler Crew's life. Perron is doing fabulous and I can't believe he will be two in less than two weeks. I promise I will do a post on him soon, but for now...on to our big new project.
The Crigler Crew is expanding...no not that kind of expanding...rather we are expanding our house! We began a huge construction project right after Memorial Day. We are adding about 650 square feet of living space to our main level and have dug out to create a two car garage. Can you believe it!?! A two car garage! I honest to God have never ever parked in a garage in my entire life. Literally never! I am a little nervous because I am not known for my excellence in spacial judgement, so I am affraid that the Accord might have an inappropriate meeting with the side of the garage. I guess we will just have to wait with baited breath and see.
I have the floorplan to post but its a PDF and I can't figure out how to convert it to a JPEG, so my description will have to do. We currently live in a four bedroom , 2 bath 1950s ranch. We will be taking it to a four bedroom, three bath house. We are techinically adding a bedroom a because we are turning our current fourth bedroom (which is stephen's office) into a Jack and Jill bathroom to connect the existing guest bedroom with the new bedroom. Perron is getting a big upgrade in space and is moving into a much larger bedroom. Stephen is getting a big down grade and is having to move his office into Perron's bedroom. He will survive though. :) Oh and did I mention that I am going to get a fabulous new laundry room that is big enough for a washer, dryer, full-size refrigerator, a utility sink and a mudroom area. Yipee! I know it is sad to get this excited about a laundry room, but seriously when does mommy ever get a space all to herself? We are also adding a new family room/playroom in the back of the house too. That means that I finally get a dining room in the room that is now Perron's playroom. Another yipee!
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Of course, as with all construction projects, there have been some surprises along the way. The first one was a big surprise. We were supposed to begin the construction process on Monday May 2nd. As many of you know, the events of April 27th changed that start day slightly. While we were spared the damage seen in Tuscaloosa and parts of Birmingham, our neighborhood took a direct hit from an F2 tornado in the early morning hours of April 27th. We live in an area of very mature oak and pine trees and there was severe damage and one death in the neighborhood. We were blessed beyond measure because we did not have any damage to our house, but it definitely slowed things down. Especially because we needed to have six large tree removed from our yard before construction began.
The second surprise is that we apparently have an active spring that lives underneath our deck and wants to drain directly into the new addition. That was an exciting discovery. When they first hit it we assumed it might be an old field line and thought it would eventually drain dry. Well it has been six weeks and we are still draining water at a steady pace. Maybe we can start bottling it and selling it to help fund the addition. That would help a lot since we have been seem to be spending money like its water. No pun intended...unfortunately. :)
The third surprise isn't really a surprise per say, but I guess it is more the extent to which it has happened. Our yard is DESTROYED! I expected the back yard to be bad, but we have a mountain of dirt that takes up half of our back yard that is over 5 feet high in some places. It is going to take a lot of work to get grass back there again!
Stephen has been sweet enough to be taking pictures of the process. Unfortunately he was so focused on taking pictures of the house before we lost the trees, that he forgot to take any pictures of the back of the house pre-construction. Oh well, you will just have to use your imagination. The sweet hubby spent his lunch hour yesterday taking pictures of the interior framing so I will share that next time.
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The Crigler Crew is expanding...no not that kind of expanding...rather we are expanding our house! We began a huge construction project right after Memorial Day. We are adding about 650 square feet of living space to our main level and have dug out to create a two car garage. Can you believe it!?! A two car garage! I honest to God have never ever parked in a garage in my entire life. Literally never! I am a little nervous because I am not known for my excellence in spacial judgement, so I am affraid that the Accord might have an inappropriate meeting with the side of the garage. I guess we will just have to wait with baited breath and see.
I have the floorplan to post but its a PDF and I can't figure out how to convert it to a JPEG, so my description will have to do. We currently live in a four bedroom , 2 bath 1950s ranch. We will be taking it to a four bedroom, three bath house. We are techinically adding a bedroom a because we are turning our current fourth bedroom (which is stephen's office) into a Jack and Jill bathroom to connect the existing guest bedroom with the new bedroom. Perron is getting a big upgrade in space and is moving into a much larger bedroom. Stephen is getting a big down grade and is having to move his office into Perron's bedroom. He will survive though. :) Oh and did I mention that I am going to get a fabulous new laundry room that is big enough for a washer, dryer, full-size refrigerator, a utility sink and a mudroom area. Yipee! I know it is sad to get this excited about a laundry room, but seriously when does mommy ever get a space all to herself? We are also adding a new family room/playroom in the back of the house too. That means that I finally get a dining room in the room that is now Perron's playroom. Another yipee!
Of course, as with all construction projects, there have been some surprises along the way. The first one was a big surprise. We were supposed to begin the construction process on Monday May 2nd. As many of you know, the events of April 27th changed that start day slightly. While we were spared the damage seen in Tuscaloosa and parts of Birmingham, our neighborhood took a direct hit from an F2 tornado in the early morning hours of April 27th. We live in an area of very mature oak and pine trees and there was severe damage and one death in the neighborhood. We were blessed beyond measure because we did not have any damage to our house, but it definitely slowed things down. Especially because we needed to have six large tree removed from our yard before construction began.
The second surprise is that we apparently have an active spring that lives underneath our deck and wants to drain directly into the new addition. That was an exciting discovery. When they first hit it we assumed it might be an old field line and thought it would eventually drain dry. Well it has been six weeks and we are still draining water at a steady pace. Maybe we can start bottling it and selling it to help fund the addition. That would help a lot since we have been seem to be spending money like its water. No pun intended...unfortunately. :)
The third surprise isn't really a surprise per say, but I guess it is more the extent to which it has happened. Our yard is DESTROYED! I expected the back yard to be bad, but we have a mountain of dirt that takes up half of our back yard that is over 5 feet high in some places. It is going to take a lot of work to get grass back there again!
Stephen has been sweet enough to be taking pictures of the process. Unfortunately he was so focused on taking pictures of the house before we lost the trees, that he forgot to take any pictures of the back of the house pre-construction. Oh well, you will just have to use your imagination. The sweet hubby spent his lunch hour yesterday taking pictures of the interior framing so I will share that next time.
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