...scared.

This morning Grant woke up at 11am which is extremely late to his normal 6am wake up time. We assumed that he just needed to catch up on rest from the past few days and let him sleep. He ate a normal sized breakfast and then requested his favorite Wiggles DVD again. We were happy to see him somewhat on the mend. I was taking care of feeding and changing Henry and I heard Peter say that Grant seemed to still be sick as he was lying on the kitchen floor and kind of whining. Five minutes later Peter yelled in to me that he was having a seizure and to call 911. I came out to see my little boy lying on the ground, with a blue-ish face, convulsing and fighting to breathe. It was the scariest thing I've ever had to face and I'm not quite sure how I was even coherent enough to make the 911 call as all I could see myself doing was looking at Grant willing him to wake up out of this state. Fortunately the ambulance was here in less than 2 minutes (I'm so glad we moved to a more urban neighborhood). By the time they were up looking at Grant the convulsing had stopped and he'd moved on to sort of a deep sleep. They took him to the hospital with Pete and I stayed home with Henry. I felt so completely helpless being at home I wasn't quite sure what to do other than research everything online that I could about febrile seizures while Henry napped. Our niece, Arabella, in New Zealand and some friends from Nebraska had a daughter who also suffered from one each. Fortunately neither of them has had any recurrences. While I found that it's fairly common in toddlers, when it's happening and when you're waiting for hospital results none of that matters. It's damn scary. Peter was his usual calm self though I'm sure he felt as panicked as I was inside. Thankfully, Grant was pretty lethargic while in the hospital so getting the CAT scan done was easy and involved no sedation. Peter said it was hard seeing them do it though. The scan showed nothing of concern but they'd like us to get him checked by a pediatric neurologist just to make sure. We got to take Grant home around 3pm this afternoon and while parts of his personality were starting to show through there are still things that aren't quite right. He seems quite clumsy and a little out of it at times. I'm assuming that's pretty normal for the first 24-48 hours as your body goes through quite a shock. It was hard putting him to bed tonight as we both felt like we wanted to observe his every move to make sure it wasn't going to happen again.

On top of everything else, Peter has gone to bed looking absolutely pale and feeling horrible. I think he's managed to catch the virus that started it all with Grant.

I'm hoping tomorrow is a better day for us all.

-Misty

Sick Boy

Tough night last night.  Misty's parents went home on Saturday morning after helping us out all week with Grant and Henry (Grant had a fantastic time going to parades and parks!!) - Last night however Grant got sick (some vomiting bug going around) so we were up most of the night with him.  Must have done about 8 loads of laundry trying to keep up with new bed sheets for him!!  Luckily around 2am it seemed to stop though you can tell he is not feeling his best still.

Some new Henry photos uploaded here.

Also Grant out with Grandma and Grandma at the Bellevue Christmas Street show here

Couple of ones below - "Classic Grant" and "Grant meets Henry"

Hospital Photos

Here is the link to the photos taken in the hospital by the automated do-whop:

https://birthprint.com/ecommerce/dispatch?x=X196d3aed58efda7de85dfe5811ba04f52

mum's post

Well, we're home from the hospital and it's weird how much you forget and how much you remember from the first time around.

We apparently have a bit of a reputation for Henry's birth and it was listed on our chart as "spontaneous delivery". After the contractions got to be pretty uncomfortable we called for an epidural and I was able to sleep through the rest of the labor. They came in when I was 5 centimeters dilated and told us it could be somewhat fast and it could be time to push within 30 minutes and to call if I felt any pressure. The nurses then went on break. 10 minutes later I started feeling pressure so we called the back-up nurse in. She told me that it would probably be somewhat soon and to call if I felt anymore. I thought it was a little strange she didn't actually check me but thought she was the nurse and I was only doing this for the second time so what did I know. 5 minutes later I had a lot more pressure and it wasn't going away so we called the same back up in to check again. I finally at one point just said "Something is happening now. Can you just check me because I feel like he's coming out." She lifted my leg (because it was dead from the epidural) and I heard and saw shocked expressions from both her and Peter. She yelled out to the nursing station and within minutes we had about 8 nurses in doing stuff. Apparently his head was already out and his shoulders were starting to come out as well. I saw Pete's face in shock as he said "he's out.. he's right there" and I started laughing and the rest of him came out. The regular nurses and the doctor showed up about 10 minutes after all the hoopla. Now the only problem is Peter keeps saying "I'm never going to let anyone tell me childbirth is hard after THAT". The rest of our stay at the hospital nurses kept coming in for their shift saying "we heard about your delivery!" We heard our share of jokes about Pete bringing in a catchers mitt for the next baby. :)

So that's how little Henry was born. Since his birth at every turn we've been trying to recall if things were like this when Grant was born. Did he sleep this much? Did we pick him up every time he made a peep? Was Grant EVER anywhere near that small? It's amazing how much they grow in 2 yrs.

On the ride home we had the same conversation we did when we left the hospital with Grant. Excited anticipation mixed with nervous energy probably best described our journey to and from the hospital. When we left with Grant I remember Pete saying something like.. "wow.. I feel like they just let us go without giving us the manual.. I can't believe they're letting us both just walk out of here with him.. we have no idea what we're doing." You would think 2 years would have given us a little more knowledge and confidence but in ways it felt much the same. Who in the world let US have 2 kids?! There are times I feel like I can barely cope with Grant!

Grant was very excited about seeing us and "baby" but quickly turned very nervous and scared when we put Henry in his old crib. He started to quiver his bottom lip and touch my face and say something like "Grant mommy's baby" He looked genuinely hurt. It broke my heart. We assured him he was always going to be our baby and when he woke from his nap he's been Mr. Big Brother ever since. He's very concerned when the baby is crying or has spit out his pacifier or needs looking after. :) I think we'll all be ok.

Gramma and Grampa arrive tonight so Grant's about to get on the spoiled grandbaby train anyway. :)

Mum of 2,
-misty

More Henry photos

Uploaded all the photos from yesterday and today now:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dampier/sets/72157603213963959/

At the hospital - and now- HENRY is HERE!

So its 11pm and we're at the Hospital - Here is a quick breakdown of today so far....

• Wed afternoon - Hospital says to call in at 3pm Thur for a time slot to come in
• Thur AM - Hospital calls to say come in a 1.30pm
• 12.30pm Sarah comes round to look after Grant (Thanks Sarah!!!)
• 1pm - We head to the hospital
• 1.30pm - Arrive and Misty gets settled in
• 3pm - Doc arrives and the Oxytocin begins (induction drug)
• 9pm - Doc breaks Misty's water
• 10.30pm - Misty decides Epidural would be a mighty fine idea ASAP ASAP ASAP
• 11.30pm - Misty tries to nap.... The magic of the epidural!
• 11.31pm - Peter tried to nap....
• 11.45pm - Nurses will be in for the "every 15 mins" blood pressure check - Nap will be short lived!
• 1.10am - Gone from 50% to 80% dilated in less than an hour - could be less than 30 mins away!!
• 1.46am - HENRY IS HERE! PERFECT! 7.5lbs, 20.5" long - Self Delivered - One minute he was just there!!!!