Grayson and his Physical Therapist

This is Grayson working with his Physical Therapist Lynn on Friday Feb 5th at school.

A little about Grayson

So, I wrote about having Grayson at Forsyth, here is a little bit more about what happened soon after we came home. I have this recorded in a notebook already so won't put most of the medical detail here, there is just so much. On Wed Feb 21, Grayson had his first baby post birth check up. Something was not right. I was not sure what. The MD he saw was in a hurry it seemed to me and thought he was fine. HE WASN'T. The MD thought he had what she classified as reflux. Through the night Wed he was not well. Thursday Feb 22nd we returned to the MD as I knew something was wrong, jsut not sure what. Some symptoms he was having were not normal. The MD agreed to see him again Thurs. A different MD than Wed. Our dear and close friends Marilyn and Tom came to the house and went with me to the MD. Jarrett went on to work, not having any idea at the time that baby was so sick. When we arrived at MD office, Grayson was checked over, MD not sure what was wrong, she left the room for a moment, right at that time Grayson had a symptom that we thought she needed to see, called down the call to her she came running back, took Grayson into her arms and told us that this was not good, that Grayson was having seizures. She told us that this is serious and yelled out for her staff to call 911. Her instructions were to take him to Brenners NOW!!! Well, I called Jarrett, he actually had already been on his way back to meet us for the appt which was at 9:00 so he was coming through the door. The ambulance arrive immediately. There was some confusion. The drivers said they must tak eGrayson to the hops right across the street. Our MD said no Brenners, they said the supervisor was at lunch of something crazy so our MD jumped into her van and drove right across the street to the hospital to meet us. She ran right into the ER and told everyone in there that "These parents are allowed back here and will be back here the whole time!" And so we were. We let them work with Grayson to stabilize him. It was awful We were in shock. Mand T called our Church right away. We had 2 of our pastors come out to be with us. Jarrett and I were not saying a work, just IN SHOCK. We then got up to go to Brenners. No one knew WHY he was having seizures, just needed to keep him stabilized. They immediately started running tests to check for several illnesses that I have listed in another place. They had to do a spinal tap, we were so devastated that they wanted to do that ho our newborn, but they had to hurry and find the cause of the seizures and to be sure there was no infection. It was later and later, and more of our family came into Brenners to be with us. We did not learn the fact that Grayson had a stroke until he had a series of CAT scans done the next day. Then were were told that he had a Grade IV Intraventricular Hemorrhage, this is the worst stage. Grayson was poked and prodded and stuck so many times with needles, but we asked and asked about every single thing to be sure it was medically necessary and what result they were looking fo ror what they could learn from each test. So much was going on. His head was swelling due to the brain bleed. He was put on anti seizure meds immediately and also net eating. He then was so weak that he was giving up, failure to thrive. The nurses were the best ever in the NICU. They taught us how to force him to eat. They had to g tube him at one point just to be sure to get some nutrition into him. So he was there for 9 days. Our church family and clsoe friends carried us through this. Jarrett and I cried and cried because of the unknown. We had food and prayers and help with poor little Gage for those 9 days. Gage's birthday was the same weekend as Grayson came home, and we were determied that he would have the nice party that he deserved. SO, Grayson is well. He will be 2 in a few days. I cannot believe all he has been through!! So many more tests, evaluations, and this will be for some time now. He di dhave surgery on March 22nd 2007 for shunt placement at 5 weeks of age. This will be inside of him for life. The sunt could fail at any time. 60% of shunts fail by age 2 yrs. Grayson is blessed.

He has an awesome big brother that will watch over him forever!!! A momma and dada that love him to pieces!!! and most importantly, God will always keep him very close!!!!!
I did skip a lot, but it is so overwhelming even after 2 yrs have passed. I will put more later.

What a Great Day!!

We have had such a Great Fun day today!! Saturday, about 65 degrees. Jarrett and Gage went to the Upward game, they had to go early for pictures. Grayson and I stayed home. It woudl just be too much trouble to keep him occupied, since our team was playing on the left court today. Well, apparenly I missed an awesome game, tied up to the end!! Lions won by getting in a foul shot. So Grayson and I played around the house for awhile, did some exercises for him. We then went to the Dollar Tree to shop fo rhis birthday part, Gage's Valentine Treats for his 3rd grade class and some candy for his Upward team. Grayson and I then went to Dunkin Donuts to get a teat for Gage. He had a really great report card with 4 A's and one B. We are so very proud of his hard work!! I told him he could have a treat, he chose a strawberry glazed donut. So Grayson and I picked up some for us all. As planned we then went to wait in the parking lot of Target for Daddy and Gage to finish and meet us. We THEN went to look at a camper someone has for sale on Craig's List. (oh boy, liked the camper pretty good, but like the motels MUCH better). THEN we went back to Target to shop. Gage had also been promised a small toy ($4.99), and we picked up a few other things. We actually went to McDonald's to eat before Target shopping and == that went well also, everyone ate and behaved very nicely-you NEVER know what will go on with kiddies in tow!! It seemed a little loud in there to me but was tolerated ok. Then we came home to gel, THEN went outside to play and walk, then came back in to put Grayson down for a late nap. He slept very little in the car. What a nice day. Now Jarrett is cooking steaks on the grill!! Thank You Lord for a relaxing day!!! We all needed it.

ARMPITS

Armpits. Why in the world did this topic come up. Pretty Gross. A very distinct memory from high school. Senior year, Yearbook Staff. Our Yearbook Teacher/Editor could not stand pictures that had armpit hair in them, IE all basketball shots. We had to look and look through picture shots to try to find awesome pics that did not contain armpit hair. That was just so strange to me at the time. BUT, now i notice it all the time in sports pics, as I usually thumb through the sports sec during football and basketball seasons. The other reason is really really gross, stop reading HERE if you cannot handle it. I knew you would keep reading, nosy!! I was in the shower, checked pits and actually said out loud, Gosh, it's a jungle in here. I guess it had been awhile, eewww, I have no idea why I had not checked !!! that was a few weeks ago, so now I am back to checking in pretty often, like DAILY!!!! Just a crazy thought pattern.


Tidbit: Let that deod dry ha ha

ohhh ugggg

I was sick yesterday (Sunday) hoping no one else will get the little bug I had. Remember these new words for Grayson: cookie, dude, mine, (actually mine mine mine). I need to add these to his book. Oh pooh, I am too tired to do the blog on my mind, Armpits. Yuck! Promise, it will be good..... later PP

PET PEEVES

Ha, I have been READY to write this one. IF your pet peeve is spelling mistakes, then DON'T read my BLOG. No be having time for spelling and grammar checkin he he..

So I don't have a #1 pet peeve. I have three that are about even and MAKE ME MAD!!!

They are :

Dumb butts that go through the FAST FOOD, I repeat FAST FOOD drive through, stay at the window and HAND OUT YES HAND OUT all the food, even with a line behind them and 100013 chillins in the back to hand out food too. OK to do a quick sack check to see that you have everything, then MOOOVVEEEE OONNNN, I am on my lunch break and IN A HURRY!!! ekkkkkkkkk One day I am Going to Run Over someone that does this!!!

More dumb butts that sit in the line at the bank and slowly YES SLOWLY put their money away in their wallet before pulling away. Or what about the slow poke that gets to the machine and slowly ever so SLOWLY pulls out the wallet and digs and digs out the ATM card while my precious minutes are flying by. Have you ever heard of multi tasking!!! I mean get that wallet out at the stop light way before getting to the ATM, and for goodness gracious sakes, if there is a line at the ATM WHY do you wait till you get up there to THEN get the wallet out, consider yourself smacked in the head HARD if you are doing this crap!!!!! (wow I am hateful tonight)

Next the rest of the dumb butts that are in the school drop off line in the morning, talking and talking to the teachers while the rest of us on a schedule, who WERE ON TIME!!!! until we had to get behind you and wait for you to finish your SCHOOL CONFERENCE, while in the drop off line. MOVE!!!!! consider yourself smacked in the head too if you do this!!!! I have had to beep twice at one car YES 2 TIMES to get a teacher and parent to stop talking so I could get around to go on to my next stop!!! ahgghhhhggggg smack smack smack

Tidbit: Get out of my way in any line. Do not wait in the4 grocery store line to get out your money or cfheck book. Can you believe peoplewill wait until the order is rung up before they even get their wallet out!! I have already punched in as much as aI can on the card swiper whil my order is being rung up!!! whatever......

THE BIG NEWS

Continuing from the last post, the unexpected, unplanned, unbelievable happened. You got it, Mommy became pregnant, YIPEE!!!! I never thought a thing about missing a period and being late again..... Did not cross my mind.... I was SO BUSY with the adoption process! SO, I took THREE pregnancy tests yes 3! and still went to my OB saying, give me another test, it cannot be true. I was incredible happy. jarrett could not believe it either, he said over and over Are you sure???? So we had a great pregnancy and we were all so happy, Gage was excited to be a big brother, and needless to say confused about why we were adopting????? Grayson was due March 30th 2007. He arrived 6 weeks early. My amniotic fluid began to leak on a Friday evening. We went on to the hospital where we planned to have Grayson, but my OB sent me by ambulance to a hospital with a NICU since Grayson's lungs may not have been fully developed. I had to be induced, Sat morning Feb 17th. Grayson came along at 6lbs 5 oz, as healthy as he could be. He had a huge SHOCK of black hair, so much short little fuzz, just beautiful!!!! Jarrett and I were so surprised about the hair! Daddy and Gage did a lit of running to get things ready while Grayson and I prepared to come home. Daddy had to go out to get a car seat/stroller and a few other small items. Fortunately I had a baby shower at work the Friday before Grayson was born. So we were stocked with some things from my generous co workers. We had another shower planned for Sunday Feb 18th, but Grayson arrived the day before! My mom and sister came to the house to get Grayson's bed made and to wash his new clothes and be sure the kitchen was stocked. Our precious dear friends Marilyn and Tom were sure that we had meals ready to heat and eat.
We came home safely, warm and happy. Thanks be to God, for that, and for lots of help, from family, friends, church!