Jack's Hospital Stay

We've had a tumultuous few days, starting early on Wednesday morning when we ended up in the ER with Jack. We have known there will be a hospital stay in our near future, but we never thought it would be Jack as the patient!

Jack and I both came down with something resembling a cold on Saturday. I felt pretty horrible immediately but other than some congestion, Jack seemed generally okay. As the week progressed though, his appetite waned, his activity level (which is usually quite high even when he's sick) slowed substantially, and we battled a low-grade fever that neither Motrin nor Tylenol seemed to touch. On Monday & Tuesday, he began coughing so violently, it caused him to vomit.

Very early Wednesday morning, I heard him coughing again and it sounded as if he couldn't catch his breath. I went into his room to check on him and he seemed to be struggling a bit to breathe and his heart was racing. I called Mick and and we agreed that we needed to step up Jack's asthma treatment plan to the most serious level (he can't be tested for asthma until he's older but we treat him as if he has it during cold/flu season to try to avoid nasty respiratory infections that require steroid treatment). I also called the on-call nurse to see if we should take him to the ER. The nurse could hear him coughing in the background and said we absolutely needed to go. So, at 6:30 am, we arrived at the hospital with our sick little guy in tow.

Clutching Daddy in the ER

We ended up spending almost 12 hours in the ER, with Jack receiving breathing treatments every 15 minutes to try to get his cough under control. It was heartbreaking to watch him struggle. His coughs were so violent - he'd cough for at least a minute at a time with no relief and even his rest periods were brief. About seven or eight hours into our stay, the doctors started preparing us for the likelihood that Jack would have to spend the night. They said the fact that they couldn't get him to go four hours without a breathing treatment was alarming to them; in fact, since he couldn't even get to two hours without a treatment, they told us he'd have to be admitted to the ICU. He tried to get some rest in the ER but it was hard to do with the coughing fits.

Jack's favorite part of his stay; our ride from the ER to the pediatric unit (they wouldn't let me walk for fear I'd go into labor)

The doctors eventually ran some tests and took some cultures which helped them diagnose him as having RSV complicated by asthma symptoms. He stayed overnight on Wednesday, with Mick curled up on a tiny chair next to Jack's hospital bed (which looked like a cage) and me heading home to get some rest in case I went into labor (needless to say, it was impossible for me to sleep with my little one sick in the hospital).

First night in the hospital

I was relieved when I returned to the hospital early Thursday morning to find that Jack was acting MUCH happier... and was even trying to eat a meal. Even though he was in isolation (because RSV is so contagious), we were confident he'd be released on Thursday as he was acting SO much better. However, his pulse-oxygen level dipped into the 80s every time he lay down to sleep, so the doctors mandated he stay a second night.

Acting silly on Day 2

Practicing good exhales with a party toy, courtesy of our kind nurse

Mick and I were so worried I was going to go into labor - as my due date was just two days away - so we asked my mom to come down to Ann Arbor a week earlier than she'd planned. My big fear was that I'd end up having the baby (in a different hospital than Jack was in) and I'd have no one with me; I would have wanted Mick to stay with Jack.

Luckily, Jack ended up being released Friday afternoon... which made all of us very happy!

Morning 3 - At least Jack had a good night's rest!

We're outta here!

He's recovering now and the hardest part is just keeping him from running around too much (which is much easier said than done). Never have I been so happy that my babies seem to like to blow past my due date without so much as a hint that they're ready to be born; I would have been a nervous wreck had I delivered while Jack was in the hospital! Mick has come down with "the plague" so now all three of us have it; we are desperately hoping we'll be recovered in time for delivery day.

I put a bunch of pictures from Jack's hospital stay in our photo album.

Preparing for Baby

The last few weeks have seen lots of transitions as we prepare for the upcoming arrival of our little chickpea.

In early January, we transitioned Jack out of his crib and into a big-boy bed. It took a good ten days to complete the transition to the point where he went to bed without any problems, stayed in bed, and slept there all night long. I ended up creating a sticker chart for him where he received stickers and stamps every morning (or after every nap time) if he'd gone to bed easily and stayed in bed. I told him once he filled all 28 spaces on the chart, he would get a special present from us of his choosing. He chose a dinosaur AND a digger. Always one for negotiation, that kid...
The potty training hasn't really happened yet but I'm not really stressed about it. I figure it will happen when he's ready; I'm not going to push it. I did, however, buy Jack some underpants in the hopes it would spark him to want to start trying to go on the potty. While it failed to create any real action, it did inspire Jack to want to wear his undies over his clothing.
In mid-January, we ended up trading in our Jeep Liberty (which was getting too small already for a toddler and a 65 lb dog) for... yes... a mini van! Mick and I were both a bit reluctant to join mini-van nation, but the truth is that it was the most practical way for us to go given the need to accommodate two car seats, a big dog, and relatives who visit from England for long periods of time. Truth be told, I think we are both much happier with our decision to get the Town & Country than we thought we'd be...
We also did lots of work in the baby's room: painting (a soft green), John Lennon border paper, crib reassembly, etc. Jack was a huge help and enjoyed playing with his baby doll and testing out the bassinet, swing, and bouncy seat by practicing with his doll. He is so gentle with his doll and cares for it so lovingly that it makes me feel pretty comfortable about how he will act once our baby actually arrives.

During the first weekend in February, we were able to stay in our friends' condo up north at the Grand Traverse Resort as a bit of a final special weekend for Jack. My parents came up as well, allowing me & Mick to have dinner alone one evening as well as a very nice brunch at the resort. With Jack, we spent quite a bit of time at the indoor pool/water playground (which he loved!) as well as going on a horse-drawn sleigh ride and seeing a few reindeer (and even giving them apples!).


Then, the weekend before my due date, we took Jack to the hospital for a big sibling tour. He learned all about how the baby would be born, where I would stay in the hospital (he loved looking at the babies in the nursery), and how to gently hold and play with a baby. He was SO into wrapping, holding, and rocking the loaned baby doll that he had a really hard time leaving it when our tour was over. Mick and I kept reassuring him that soon we'd have our own real live baby, but it was little consolation to him. He was quite proud though of the "big brother" certificate and pin he received at the end of the class; we told him he'd be able to wear the pin when he visits me in the hospital, so he's very excited about that!

Now we just wait for the big day to arrive... my due date is Feb. 20 and I have a c-section scheduled for Feb. 28. My doctor and I have our fingers crossed that this baby decides to come on its own so I can avoid a c-section, but the likelihood is that this baby will do something similar to its brother and be well past its due date. Stay tuned!

(Pictures of all of our baby preparation activities are all posted to our group room on Snapfish.)

Winter Fun

I'm getting a bit behind again in the ol' blog posts so this will be brief but include lots of photos.

We've been busy preparing for baby (more on that in later blog) and, in the meantime, we are trying to spend lots of quality time with Jack.

A few weeks ago, I took him for our first visit to the Leslie Science and Nature Center (just a few miles from our home) for one of their toddler programs. The day we went, the focus was on trees so we got to make leaf rubbings with crayons, stack towers with pieces of tree trunks, look at tree rings with magnifying glasses, read stories about trees (Jack chose a children's version of a Laura Ingalls Wilder book which made me SO happy because she was, hands down, my favorite author as a kid!), decorate & eat tree cookies, and take a hike through the woods. The day we went we had a beautiful, fluffy snowfall - the kind with huge snowflakes - so it make the hike even more enjoyable. Every once in a while, the hike leader would tell the kids to stop and ask what they could hear (usually going for something like "a bird" or "the wind"). Jack enjoyed answering her question by saying things like "an airplane!" (which yes, he did hear) or, a bit more strange, "a dinosaur and a monkey and a lobster!"


When the program was done, Jack and I took a walk to the back of the nature center to see some of the resident owls & birds, particularly Jack's favorite, the bald eagle. (He saw this particular eagle at our neighborhood high school's homecoming game in October and hasn't stopped talking about it or asking to see it again... so this was a HUGE hit for him!)


We've had a bit of snow so have also been trying to figure out good indoor activities. These have included spending quite a bit of time doing artwork (notice the green and blue (washable) markers that have made their way to the sides of Jack's mouth) and baking. Jack LOVES helping us to cook and he's becoming a decent little sous chef. He and I spent an evening making cupcakes and this was certainly a highlight of the winter for Jack. He keeps asking me to do it again, but the problem with baking is that you then have yummy treats around that are just begging to be eaten!



All of these pictures (and more) have been loaded into our Snapfish photo albums, along with photos (overdue) from Christmas. The Christmas pictures include Papa (my dad) as Santa at our family party (Jack was a bit leery), cutting down & trimming our Christmas tree, opening presents on Christmas morning, and our time with Marcus & Deagan the week after Christmas. For Christmas, we hosted my family here in Ann Arbor: 11 people and 3 dogs in our house (and some pregnancy-related emotional meltdowns from me) over the course of three nights made things crazy, but fun! We also had lots of fun with Marcus and Deagan after the holidays and enjoyed quite a few activities including: making personal pizzas, creating a gingerbread house, going to Xtreme Bounce Zone (to bounce all the energy out of the kids!), making & devouring a birthday cake for Landon (who would have turned four on Dec 28), and having fun play time with cousins Braden & Addison. Let me know if you need a reminder on how to log into our group room to see the photos!

Ice Percusion Concert

Jack has three new major interests in his life:
1. The Rockettes
2. Lobsters
3. Drums & Marching Bands

I recorded a PBS special around Thanksgiving that showcased the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, featuring the Rockettes and he has been obsessed with it since (particularly the march of the wooden soldiers). He received this DVD in his stocking for Christmas so I can free up space on the DVR.

As for the lobster obsession, he has taken a great fascination with the lobster tank at Meijer and we take him probably twice a week just to look at lobsters. Every once in a while he gets lucky and the fishmonger will take a lobster out of the tank for us to "pet" (Jack hasn't quite mustered the courage to do this yet). He talks about lobsters all the time though and frequently creates drawings titled something like "lobsters in a tank moving their legs and looking for food."


With regard to drums and marching bands, the interest was born in the fall when I took him to some of the U of M marching band practice sessions during the week or early Saturdays on game day. He constantly asks to see the videos I took during these trips and we recorded the halftime show of the Rose Bowl so he can see, on demand, the red band (Wisconsin) or the purple band (TCU) perform. I tried to buy a video of the U of M marching band but their website only offers VHS tapes. Seriously? I emailed about DVDs but never heard back. (C'mon Wolverines, you can do better than that!)

He was ecstatic on Christmas morning to open a drum kit, courtesy of Papa & Grammy, that matches one Deagan received. Of course, this is the perfect gift for someone to get for a child who does not live with them. I have threatened that every trip back to my parents' house, we'll bring the drums. I have plenty of videos of Jack drumming but will save those for another day.

When I was trying to figure out this week's activities, I saw an advertisement for "Chillin on the Diag: Ice Percussion Concert" on Michigan's central campus. Apparently, this semester is focused on water so this concert was a kick-off to the semester's events. So, braving temperatures of about 11 degrees fahrenheit, we made our way to the Diag following storytime at the library. Jack very independently walked through campus and I had a momentary flash-forward of 16 years' time (nooooo!):

We watched the show for a while and were excited to have pretty much a front-row spot:
As luck would have it, I forgot my Flip video camera so was unable to get any video. However, luckily for me, AnnArbor.com reported on the event and posted a video to their website this morning. If you stop the video at 1:16, you'll see me & Jack on the right side of the screen. Jack has requested that we watch it at least a dozen times today. He's particularly interested in the broken ice.

However, after about 15 minutes of listening to the drumming, Jack told me he was freezing so we went inside to one of the main buildings on campus. A few different groups were holding bake sales inside, so I bought Jack two cookies and donated a few bucks to the College Democrats. (This was a major highlight of Jack's day: he got cookies (a rare occurrence) and there were TWO in the bag (both of which I allowed him to eat), they had pink frosting AND sprinkles, and he got to eat them before lunch. This is truly a red-letter day for a kid.)




Only about five weeks to go until D-Day (my due date) so I'm making an effort to ensure these remaining weeks are really wonderful for Jack. Not that he'll remember any of this when I'm old and gray and need my son to take care of me, but one can hope...

The Things Jack Says...

Tonight Mick and I spent some time assembling a second bed rail to put on the other side of Jack's bed (well, really, Mick did all the work while I repeatedly scolded Jack about teasing Shergar and chasing her around upstairs) as he's now fallen out of bed twice in the middle of the night. The first time, we were able to easily soothe him and get him back down, but last night it was a different story and both Mick and I were up from about 3 am until 5 am and Mick eventually had to sleep with Jack for the rest of the night. (This is when I'm thankful we decided to buy the larger, double bed rather than a single/twin.)

Anyway, once we had the bed turned around and two rails on, I told Jack it was time to start getting ready for bed. His reply? "Yeah, let's get this show on the road." HAH! Clearly he's heard me say that before, though I don't think it's something I say often, but hearing it come from him was fantastic.

Once I had his pajamas on, I asked him to take some trash to the bathroom to throw it out for me. He came back a few minutes later and said, "Mom [yes, he calls me "Mom" now. I don't like it.] I have a question for you. I have toilet paper stuck in my teeth. Help please?"

So I looked and sure enough he had tiny pieces of toilet paper wedged in between three of his bottom teeth. I have absolutely NO idea how it got there (nor do I really want to know). It took me about five minutes to scrape it all out using my thumbnail like a piece of dental floss.

What a funny, funny kid.

Stay tuned for holiday posts, which will make it up here soon... I promise.

I Had a Dream

When I picked Jack up out of the crib yesterday morning, the first thing he said was, “Daddy, I had a dream”.

I’m like, “Who are you, Martin Luther King?”

However, unlike King’s dream of an integrated society in which African-Americans were treated as equals, Jack’s dream was of “horses and cows eating scones”.

A small step on the road to equality for horses and cows, I suppose.

Boy vs. Food

As Jack is a dual citizen (American and British), he will no doubt be exposed to a variety of customs from both countries. It will be interesting to see what he picks up on.

Last night, for example, we made Jack a couple of frozen chicken nuggets (an American invention as far as I can tell). Kelly and I had an Indian meal - much of that country's food has been adopted by the British as our national dish.

Jack chose not to eat the nuggets; instead, he wolfed down a poppadum (a large chip typically served as an appetizer with mango chutney) and several portions of garlic naan bread. In the past, he's also eaten the curry sauce, but last night preferred to stick with the side dishes.

Next up in the culture wars - roast parsnips v green bean casserole.