Highs & Lows of My Birthday and Our Trip to California

Overall, we had a great trip down to California to visit Sean's family over Memorial Day weekend and for my 26th birthday (Saturday the 24th). But... there were some low points mixed in with the high points.

I'll start with the low points and get them out of the way!
- Number one, of course, would be having to call 911 and take Ethan to the hospital after he had stopped breathing (see previous post).
- Sean getting too tired to drive quickly and having to drive almost 3/4 of the way down = no sleep for me!
- Not sure what it was, but I got SICK TO MY STOMACH Saturday night. That's right. I was dang near hovering over the toilet on my birthday.
- Having prego symptoms even though I know I'm not. My ankles swelled up from the long drive (but unlike when I was pregnant, the swelling went down within 12-18 hours), I got sick and I was hungry at weird times (but I'm pretty sure that had more to do with staying up all night driving). I'm back to normal now, though!
- Being too tired to drive home Monday night after spending 3 hours in the ER and stopping at a motel just a few hours outside of Simi. We literally checked in just before 2am and were back on the road by 8:30am. We just needed sleep!

Now the highlights! Don't worry, there's more of thEse!!
- Being with FAMILY!! I LOVE Sean's family. We got along pretty much the second we met - kinda like Sean and I. Everyone was there... except Ryan. :( He was greatly missed. His wife, Amy and their 2 kids, Jonathan and Ella, were there though. Sean's oldest brother, Todd, his wife LynMarie (Muffy) and their 3-month old Spencer were also staying at the house. And of course, Loren, Lynnie and the girls: Alysha and Cassie. It was a full house (13 people - 3 of which were under 15 months old)! Below is one of the cute Southworth grandkids pictures we got!

- My Birthday dinner! It was my choice and Lynnie made pot roast - my FAVORITE!! With roasted potatoes, fresh (whole) green beans w/ bacon/toasted almond slivers and parsnips/carrots. - Going to the beach in Malibu - I got some GREAT pictures, but those will have to wait for another post. Sean, Ethan, Cassie and I all went. Ethan had a great time playing in the sand and the surf, even though it was a little chilly. He also tried to EAT the sand, which was quickly halted by me.
- My Birthday Cake. We got it from the Bread Basket in Camarillo - they did our wedding cake for the open house when we got married. It was white cake with 'fruit basket' filling, i.e. french whipped cream (I'm not sure what makes whipped cream french, but it was good) with fresh blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and strawberries. The icing was more of the french whipped cream with fresh berries and milk chocolate shavings. It was heavenly. :)

- Fun birthday presents! Sean (and Ethan) got me a new bottle of the perfume I like. And among other things, I got the Twilight book (I'm pretty sure I'm the ONLY person - besides Sean - who hasn't read it!), gift cards, movie passes, Clinique make-up, bath stuff in yummy scents, the Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark DVD, new bright red nail polish + a mini spa basket (from Lizzy Lou!), some CDs and a cute caterpillar latern and new sleeping bag for Girls Camp this year! Thank you everyone!!

-Going to "the show". We got to see 'A Punch Line' - a musical comedy based on the musical 'A Chorus Line", but with comedians instead of dancers. It was written by one of Sean's high school teachers and she invited us to the show. It was hilarious!! Unfortunately, midway through the first act was when my pseudo-prego food poisoning reared its ugly head, so I was laughing on the inside and trying to keep my dinner down. At the intermission, Sean asked if I wanted to go home, but I really wanted to see the show, so I decided to tough it out and stood in the back for the rest of the show. Of course, afterwards we had to stick around to say 'hi' to some friends, so I was really hurtin' by the time we drove home. I made it, though, and went right to bed. I was much, much better in the morning - thank goodness!
- Board games. I love playing board games, and Todd is a board game junkie! He has a ginormous collection and always brings a good selection when he comes to visit. Personally, I only had time to play a round of 'Princes of Florence' but it was still fun and I always look forward to a game or two (or ten when we visit in December!).

- Coming home to my front porch 'heart-attacked' by my Mia Maids!! Oh the love. :) I was told the whole neighborhood knew how much I was loved because I think it ended up being up for about a week before I had time to take it down (they thought we were coming home Sunday and we didn't get home until Tuesday night)!

As you can see, we had a GREAT time, other than a few bumps along the way! And just think... there are still beach pictures yet to come!! :)

As an update: Ethan has not had a single BHS (Breath-Holding Spell) attack since we've been home. Phew!

Ethan's Diagnosis

Sorry to keep everyone in 'suspense' - obviously, it's been a busy week and I haven't had time to get back to my blog and write about Ethan's appointment with his pediatrician. We went in Wednesday afternoon. Dr. Hemsley examined Ethan - checked his ears, nose and throat. Listened to his chest and back and finally determined that Ethan probably did NOT have pneumonia. So if it's not pneumonia, then what was causing Ethan to stop breathing? We had come to the conclusion that his no breathing attacks were due to some sort of diminished lung capacity caused by the pneumonia. I explained the attacks in great detail - from when they started to what was happening before and during the times that he was not breathing and so lifeless. I made sure, especially, to go over the events of Monday evening that led to a 911 call and a trip to the ER. I think if we had been in Oregon, we probably would not have gone in to the hospital, but it was the fact that we were in southern California and knew we had a long drive ahead of us that made us want to be a little more cautious. Dr. Hemsley listened to everything I had to say, stopping to clarify a few things and then we got the final diagnosis. Ethan had suffered from something known as breath-holding spells or BHS. In fact, he said it was almost text-book and gave me an info sheet on it to read over. Sure enough, the circumstances surrounding Ethan's BHS were almost exactly as what was described on the sheet. So I asked the doctor, "Is this good news or bad news?" I was worried that this may be the beginning of worse things to come. He assured me that as bad as it sounds, it is actually good news. It means we know the cause of his not breathing and what to look for if he does it again.

If you're interested, here's what I learned from the info sheet about BHS (don't feel obligated to read it all) :
- preceded by an upsetting event (falling down, frustration, anger or being frightened) - E was usually frustrated or angry and always tired
- child gives one or two long cries and then holds his breath in expiration until lips are bluish - yep, this is exactly what he would do
- child then passes out - yes
- child resumes normal breathing and becomes fully alert in less than 1 minute - it's a very LONG minute, trust me
- onset is between 6 months and 2 years old - almost 14 months old
- attacks occur only while the child is awake
- cause: abnormal reflex that allows 5% of children to hold their breath long enough to actually pass out - it's not deliberate
- expected course: BHS usually occur 1-2 times daily to 1-2 times per month and are gone by the time they are 4 or 5 years old
- they are not dangerous and don't lead to epilepsy or brain damage
- attacks are harmless and always stop by themselves

Treatment-wise, you basically are just supposed to lie your child flat and put a cool, wet washcloth on his forehead and then wait it out like you would a seizure. You are also to remain calm (as best you can) and if possible, time the attack.

In the end, it is a sigh of relief to have an actual explanation of the attacks. Dr. Hemsley also reassured me that he was about 99% sure of the diagnosis. We were so worried that it was possibly neurological and maybe even an early sign of a mental disorder. He hasn't had anymore breath-holding spells since Monday evening. We're really hoping that it was just aggravated by the fact that we were in a new place, he wasn't sleeping in his own bed/room and his normal routine/schedule was thrown off. And also that he was getting sick. He had a 100 degree temperature when we left the doctor's office Wednesday evening and it spiked to 103.2 that night. By Thursday morning it was back down to 100 degrees and by Friday morning his temp was back to normal. Hopefully these attacks will not become too regular. Thank you all for your concern over our little Ethan. And if anyone else has any more info or experienced a child with BHS, please let me know.

911 and the Emergency Room

Ethan has always been a little adventurous - even though he is only 13 months. Not quite a daredevil, but definitely not one to just sit around and watch, either. I saw ER visits in our future from the moment he could pull himself up. In fact, climbing on top of the coffee table and walking back and forth is not an uncommon event in our house. I figured our first trip to the ER would be for a broken bone or open wound requiring stitches. I never figured it would be because he had STOPPED BREATHING!

It all started about 3 weeks ago, right after he had been sick that last week in April. He got upset over something, started crying but wouldn't take a breath. His lips started to turn blue, then he finally took a breath. It was still enough on his little body that his eyes rolled back in his head and it took him a minute to focus once he started breathing again. It was a little scary, but nothing too serious. Of course, Sean was in the other room, so it was hard to describe what had actually happened. Then, last Friday night my mom was holding him as we were packing up to leave for Southern Cali and he did it again. This time I was able to react a little quicker and had heard that blowing in his face will help him to take a breath. It worked, but it still scared my mom to death and worried Sean and I a little more. That was just the beginning. He did it again - once on Saturday and once on Sunday. Always when he was tired and a little cranky and usually because he was fighting being put down for a nap. Both times he responded fairly quickly to blowing in his face. Then came Monday evening. Sean's dad was holding him when he did it again - this time it took several tries of blowing hard in his face and a little jostling before he started breathing again. By this time I was really getting nervous. What was causing this all of a sudden and so frequently?? I told Sean it had happened again and we decided to call Judy (a retired nurse in our ward and family friend) on our way home and look into making a doctor appointment - though, we didn't know what the doctor could tell us because he didn't seem to be sick. His energy level, appetite and diapers were all regular. He had no fever and no common illness symptoms other than a slight runny nose.

Well, we didn't have to wait. Within an hour of his last attack, he had done it again. This one was the worst yet. He started crying and someone passed him off to me just as he stopped breathing. I tried blowing in his face, but somehow I already knew that it wasn't going to work this time. This time was different. It was really bad. His lips had turned blue again, eyes rolled back in his head, his body had fallen backwards, but he was still rigid. I tried blowing in his face again, but I had no air. I took one more look at his blue, lifeless body and lost it. I was hysterical. I passed him off to my mother-in-law and turned to Sean. I had a million questions going through my head: "Do we call 911 this time? Should I blow in his face harder? Should I try shaking him? How hard do I shake him to get a response but not cause brain damage (I'm terrified of Shaken Baby syndrome and was afraid to even try it)? What else can I do?? Should we do rescue breathing? He's still got a pulse, but would pushing down on his chest cause his lungs to react??" Lynnie (my mother-in-law) immediately went to work where I left off. She rushed him outside, though she admitted later she wasn't sure why she had that instinct. I assumed it was to get him away from the chaos. She was blowing in his face, calling his name, shaking him a little and slapping his back. I calmed down a little and followed her outside while both of my sisters-in-law called 911. After what seemed like FOREVER, but realistcally was probably about 45 seconds to a minute (which is still a long time) he finally took a shallow breath and we noticed his color come back a little. He took a couple more breaths, his color returned and he finally came to and started crying. Lynnie handed him back to me and then grabbed the two of us in a big hug. I just sobbed. It was one of the scariest things I have ever experienced.

Within minutes we heard sirens and a police officer was at the door. He came out back and radioed-in that the "infant was confirmed breathing" and then we walked out front to meet the paramedics. They talked with us for a while and then we decided we would go ahead and take Ethan into the ER, but not by ambulance since he seemed to be ok now. That gave us a moment to have Sean, his dad and brother (Todd) give Ethan a blessing. We took Ethan into the Simi Valley ER at about 8pm. After meeting with billing and then a triage nurse, we finally got called back to see a doctor. He checked Ethan over and ordered a chest x-ray to check on his lungs. We waited and waited and waited for someone to come and take the x-ray. Then we waited and waited and waited for the diagnosis. The doctor finally came back and diagnosed him with pneumonia and prescribed ammoxiclin. We were finally on our way at 11pm and we were exhausted - especially Ethan. He fell asleep almost the second we started the car. The next morning we made an appointment with his regular pediatrician.

You can't really see it, but they had us put Ethan's medical bracelet on his ankle so he wouldn't play with it as much. Below is the bear they gave him when we first "checked in" to the ER. At first I was thinking, "He has lots of toys, we'll leave it for a less fortunate child." But he grabbed and loved it so quickly I couldn't say 'no' after what he had just been through.

He goes out walking...

Ok, not after midnight, though. But still, thank you Patsy Cline (and my dad for listening to her) for helping me think of a title for this post.

It's official. Actually, it's been official for over a week now, I just have been slacking on my blog - either that or letting you enjoy our lakehouse pictures a little longer... :) Ethan is walking!! He'd been 'walking' for over a month now, but I was waiting until he really took off before I posted the announcement. He was such a fast crawler, and was able to pull himself up at a pretty early age that as a 1st time mom, I was convinced he would walk early and was really hoping he'd walk by his 1st birthday. Well, he was walking, but still didn't have the confidence to take off on his own. Little by little, though, he's been making the transition to full-time walker. Last week he made great strides. Over the weekend he was at about 50-50. 50% walking and 50% crawling. By Monday it was about 60-40, Tuesday 75-25 and Wednesday he had pretty much committed. Now he walks around the house like he's been doing it for months!! It is SO FUN to see him WALK into a room, and not enter on all fours. What a great, new stage!

So he's got walking down, but he's also been doing some more talking. He still a pro at 'da-da', while 'ma-ma' is a little less frequent. His other two favorite words (phrases?) are 'whazzat?' and 'whozzat?' - i.e. "what's that?" and "who's that?" There's an occasional 'yep' and some I can't quite make out and others I don't remember. He's trying, though!

Note: I'll try to get a video up soon of his new-found freedom...

Jackson Lakehouse and Mother's Day

Friday night - after work, packing up, a late dinner and an even later start, we drove to Lincoln City to stay at the Jackson Lakehouse. A couple of months ago, Sean was given a free weekend at a co-worker's lakehouse as one of his "secret Santa" gifts. This weekend was the only one of the dates available that we were free and we gladdly snatched it up! Below is the view from the front/main room.

The picture on the left is on the deck of the house we stayed at - doesn't everyone have a few pictures like this (taking a picture of someone taking your picture)?!? The picture on the right is the gorgeous house two places down that was for sale. It all can be yours for the low, low price of 1.1 million dollars! No joke.

Sean and I thought we would have more fun (and we were right) if we had more people, so we invited my family along. My mom, Christine and her boyfriend, John, and Lizzie-Lou joined us and we had a great time!

We stayed up WAY too late friday night snacking, chatting, watching a movie and marveling in the fact that Ethan hadn't fallen asleep!! He slepth most of the 2 1/2 hour drive there, but SCREAMED when we tried to put him down for bed - even though it was a good 2-3 hours past his bedtime. So we kept him up with us, and he went right to sleep once we all settled in for the night - in our bed, not his pack-n-play - snuggling close between Sean and I. It was not bad having him sleep with us. What kept me up ALL NIGHT was Sean's snoring!! I only got a couple of hours in before I finally just got up. It was good that Ethan caught up on some sleep, though.

The next morning we took it easy - well, most of us. John was up by 7:30am and went for a 10 1/2 mile run around the lake and to the ocean and back. He's a runner. Enough said! :) We had a yummy breakfast and Auntie Christine decided it would be fun to use her hair gel on an unsuspecting Ethan and spike his hair in all directions. The aftermath is shown above right!

One of the highlights of the house - especially for Lizzie and Ethan, was the wicker swing. It looked like a bird cage that wasn't closed in and it was suspended from one of the exposed beams. Ethan loved it when Auntie Lizzie would push him in it, but by mid-morning he was pretty worn out and dozed in her arms while she enjoyed the view.

There was also a row-boat to use 'at our own risk' with no guarantees of how well it would float! It looked pretty solid, so Lizzie, Christine and John took it out first. When they came back alive and well and without sinking, Sean and I decided to take Ethan out with us and Lizzie came along for the ride.We got Ethan all bundled up in his life jacket and headed out. The weather was not great by late morning/early afternoon, as you can see by the gray skies and choppy water in the pictures, but we stayed pretty close to shore and the dock and it was still fun just to be able to say we did it.

Christine even braved the freezing water for a little swim and to help us guide the boat a little easier to the dock so we could put it back on the shore.

Overall, Ethan LOVED having all new places to explore - big windows to look out with a great view - a 'circular' layout from the living room to the hall to the front bedroom and back out to the living room (the first bedroom had 2 entrances) - and an L-shaped bunkbed to play on with Auntie Lizzy.

After our relaxing morning and boat trips, we showered and got ready to go shopping at the outlet mall. We had some great finds! Mainly just stuff for Ethan - new shirts, a couple new ties, some Osh Kosh overall shorts, a polo shirt for Sean and a new light-weight jacket for me (1/2 off at the Gap!) - all for at least 50% off, if not more. I love when I can get Ethan 2 ties, a pair of dress socks and two shirts at the Children's Place for less than $13! We grabbed a bite to eat at the local Pig-N-Pancake and headed for home. It was only one night, but we had a great time. Thanks, Kathy!!

Fast forward to Mother's Day. I got to sleep in this morning - it was heaven after the rough night I had at the lakehouse with Sean's snoring. I got a hot breakfast (omlette, toast and orange juice) from Sean. He had to speak in church, so we had to hurry and get ready after that. Ethan looked like a stud in his pale blue shirt and new yellow/dark blue striped tie. He's got a sort of preppy uniform look for church - khakis and navy oxford shoes completed the look! Sean gave a great Mother's day talk - I especially like the personal stories he added.

We got the usual Mother's Day flowers handed out by the Young Men at church. And Sean's present to me was Harry and David chocolate-covered pretzels - my favorite!! And a 2GB memory card for our camera. Our old one was only 256MB!! So I am really exciting to have a 2GB!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all of our family: Mom, Lynnie, Grandma Mary, Grandma Sandy, Grandma Southworth and also Amy and new-mom LynMarie! And not to forget all of our other mom friends - there's too many to name, but we love you!!

We like to Party!

Actually we're not big party people, except when it comes to birthdays. So here are some pictures from Ethan's first birthday party and my little sister's 12th birthday.

Decorations and the cake table.

The cakes. The '1st' was a freebie from the bakery. It was a little big for such a little guy, so we saved it for later and dug into the blue balloon cake on the right.

Ethan's party was the Friday after his actual birthday and we celebrated at Roaring Rapids Pizza. It was great to have everyone there - grandparents and great-grandparents, aunties, (second) cousins and 4 friends (6 including a couple of the spouses) from High School, 3 of which also have 1-year olds. We had 5 1-year olds in total. Four handsome little boys: Birthday Boy Ethan, 2nd cuz Jackson, Bennett and Perrin and one adorable little girl: Kaitlyn. We sure missed Sean's family, though - they celebrated in spirit from SoCal! We decided not to do much of a 'theme' - it was sorta just classic birthday: bright, rainbow color balloons and party hats and blowers for the kids. We had a great time eating pizza, chatting and then singing to Ethan - which he loved - and watching him 'eat' his cake - which he did not love. This was sort of a compliment to me, because he went to town on the cake I had made him to eat on his actual birthday. :)SHS grads and our adorable 1-year olds!Party people!

We stuck around for a while after most everyone had left and had a couple of mini air hockey tournaments and some high speed car races.Lizzy's birthday and party were last Wednesday - the 30th. She decided to celebrate at the local Rec center so her and her friends could play with the Nintendo Wii on the big screen. They ended the party by rock-climbing. Very fun. Lizzy and I also got to play a little one-on-one basketball, which was fun.

Finally feeling better

Ethan is finally on the mend. He's eating more solid foods and his energy level is slowly going back up. He's not 100%, but he's definitely on his way. Unfortunately his crankiness level is currently a little higher - he gets frustrated because he's tired of being sick, but still doesn't have all of his normal energy. Other than that, I think the worst is over - which is good because I am exhausted!

Still Sick... Continued...

Yes. You read that correctly. Ethan is still sick. We're going on day 6 now. Yesterday we were worried because he had refused any Pedialyte all day Wednesday. By Wednesday night, though, and Auntie Lizzy's birthday party he seemed to be feeling a little better - cranky, but slightly more energy. Thursday morning, though, I went in and found even more puke. Actually, puke and a leaky diarrhea diaper. I kn0w. Gross. But darn it, those are the facts. At least baby puke isn't nearly as disgusting as adult puke. Umm... Moving along... He got another bath (the first of two for the day) and then I called up Bro. Kohler from our ward (and also our Stake Patriarch and family friend) to come and give Ethan a blessing since both Sean and my dad were at work. He and Bro. Boman came within the next 45min. and gave Ethan a very comforting blessing. I called the doctor on my way to work and a triage nurse called me back within the hour. She said we should still wait it out another day, but went ahead and set up a second appointment in case he had another rough night/morning. By yesterday evening, again, Ethan seemed to be having a little more energy. He even had some rice cereal for dinner. I went ahead and rocked him for quite a while before I was going to put him down. The following 3-5minutes are a blur of more puke. It started on me and allover him. I stood up, trying to decide between taking him to the dining room (so we were over a hard floor, instead of carpet) or our one bathroom, which was currently occupied. Ethan made up my mind for me, and threw up more on himself and the carpet. I rushed into the dining room and back to the kitchen sink. At the point, he threw up anything and everything else that was in his system. He was not doing well and my mind was made up - he was going to the doctor in the morning. After his second bath for the day and fresh jammies, we spent the night in the living room. Ethan on a towel, on the floor and me on the couch. At the doctor visit, Ethan weighed in at a whopping 18lbs. 8oz. down another ounce from Tuesday (it was 8lbs. 9oz. on Tuesday, not 12). Dr. Hemsley put him on soy-based formula and gave the ok for Gatorade if he won't drink the Pedialyte. He also wanted some blood drawn for lab-work. He wasn't completely convinced that Ethan didn't need to be hooked up to an IV for a while and wanted to wait for lab results before making a final call. Off to the lab we go - with a fresh soy-formula bottle on the way - which he wasn't too fond of. We were there for almost an hour by the time we actually got back to the car. Poor guy did NOT like getting blood drawn - who does?? And he screamed and fought it the whole time. That is such a hard thing for a mother to watch. Luckily, after this whole ordeal, Ethan was completely wiped out and fell asleep on the way back to my mom's house. I got a call with the lab results a couple hours later. Everything checked out ok - thank goodness - white blood cell count was good and the doctor said it was just a nasty virus that he was going to have to tough out for a little while longer. I hope not too much longer.
Battle wounds.

Still Sick...

Ethan is STILL SICK. Poor baby! I hate to see him so miserable. I took him into the doctor yesterday afternoon - unfortunately his usual pediatrician was not in. We still met with a good doctor, but Dr. Hemsley already knows Ethan so well, that I always prefer if he can meet with him. We got good and bad news. The good news was that he wasn't dehydrated. Apparently there's some sort of virus going around. The doctor said she'd already seen several kids with the same symptoms and some of them had had it since Friday or Saturday. It's lasting about 5 days to a week, so Ethan's still got until Thursday or Friday before we should expect much of a change. The other bad news was that he's already lost about half of a pound. On his tiny frame, it shows. He was at 19lbs. on his birthday 3 weeks ago, yesterday he was down to 18lbs. 9 or 12 oz. - I don't remember. He's so weak - no energy at all. When I went in his room this morning, I found that he had thrown up a little - it was all over the front of his jammies. I gave him a quick bath and he just sat in the tub. Bath-time is usually one of his favorite things - it killed me to watch him just sit there while I scrubbed his hair and washed him down. The poor little guy just lies on the floor with his blankie - if you happen to move out of sight, he gets up and crawls just far enough so that he can see you and then lays back down. It's just SO SAD! I want my baby to feel better!!

A walk in the park

As an update: Ethan's still sick. I'm taking him into the doctor this afternoon. I can't stand to see him so lethargic. I love the cuddling, but it's not like him to want to cuddle all the time.

On a happier note, Saturday afternoon, Ethan and I got to go the park. It was Ethan's first real trip to the park. Last year he was too little when the weather was nice, and there just hasn't been many nice days yet now that he's a little bigger. It was just the two of us - Sean was at home tutoring one of the young men in our ward. First we went to the smaller play structure where they had some sort of musical scale with push-button chimes. I think the chimes were still a little water-logged, but some of them worked.
Here's Ethan already working on mastering his scales and arpeggios (sp??)! Then we headed over to the swings - which he loved. They didn't have any full-seat swings for toddlers, so I just held him in place and did little swings. Next, we headed over to the grass and stayed there for quite a while. Ethan just stuck close to me and watched all of the big boys ride bikes and skateboards.

We decided to don our shades while 'chill-laxin' in the sun!

Finally, after some tickling and giggling, we walked some more around the park and then headed home.