Feeling Better

Last weekend Ben woke up from his nap with some nasty sounding breathing.  He had done something similar the Wednesday before for Andi, and we went to the Dr. that day where he got a steriod shot.  It was another one of those miracle shots.   His breathing got instantly better and remained good for the next few days.  But on Saturday, it not only got worse there was a little whistle with it.  In the past when this had happened,  we just needed to wait a bit and  it would usually sounded better.   After supper it still sounded bad, so I called a Telephone Line to Care, and afer putting Ben on the phone so the nurse could hear him, she felt we should go to the emergency room. 

Now I knew we were not even close to being in real danger.  He was pink, and not really contracting his chest, but decided to go anyway becuase we needed either another shot or a breathing treatment, and it was going to be a long night without something.  Unfortunately we had not ever been able to get into the Dr when he had been breathing like this in the past, so we did not have any of the supplies at home to give him a breathing treatment.  When we got to the hospitl his O2 level was 97.  I knew we were OK, but after a few other tests came back negative, the breathing treatment is what they decided to go with. 

He still sounded bad when they released us, but he did sound better than when we got there.  The thing I thought was curious was that his O2 was at 94 when we left, so it had actually gotten worse. 

They sent us home with all the supplies, so we are now set up and have been giving breathing treatments at hom.  He is doing much better now.  A current picture is below.

This weekend was our nephew Sam's B-day.  We got to go over and enjoy cake and ice cream with the family.  He was so cute trying to blow out his candles on his cake.

Ben just loves his cousin Emma.  He likes her long hair.  Here he is, giving her a little squeeze.

11yr Old, Basketball and continued sickness

Happy Birthday John! Just 2 days ago, our oldest son turned 11. Wow! He is just a few years away from being a teenager. I am so not ready for this. We celebrated by going to Applebee's with Grandma and Grandpa on Sunday, and John got a big chocolate dessert all to himself. On his actual Birthday (Tuesday) we had pizza and cheesecake. Saturday we are going to a Down Syndrome event in Omaha at Skate Daze, and then going to the Amazing Pizza machine to finish out the celebration. Last Saturday and Sunday were his first two basketball games. They beat Weeping Water, and lost to Louisville by only 2 points. They were great games.
Here are a few pictures from the Louisville game.



Ben and Noah were not quite ready to give up on the stomach flu and decided to get it again last week. This version lasted a bit longer, and made them feel worse. Then they were gracious enough to share it with me. No fun. Ben decided twice was not enough and got it just one more time for good measure. I did not know a baby could vomit that much. He was only a little bit cranky this time and slept pretty good except for when he threw up in his crib. Since he was running a fever off and on, we went in to the Dr. just to make sure it was the stomach flu and not something more serious. With surgery coming up to replace the tubes in his ears, they decided to do the antibiotic shot this time. Wow! That did the trick. It was like someone just turned off the snot faucet and all of a sudden he was better. Now we just need to keep him that way until surgery. That will be the hard part. Hopefully the Lysol bomb that I set off in the house Monday will do the tick and keep the germs at bay.

They grow up so fast...

March 20, 2008


6 weeks

I can't believe my baby is almost 1. It is still very fresh in my mind, the day I called the Dr. back after my amnio, and found out he would have Trisomy 21 and that he may not make it to term due to possible abnormailities with his heart. We were given the option to terminate, but that was not an option I could live with. We soon found out that his heart was basically good, and it just had a small hole, but otherwise he was healthy.

I am still glad we got the prenatal diagnosis as it gave us time to learn more about Down syndrome. I have to admit that finding information (other than the statistic that something like 80% of mothers who get a prenatal diagnosis abort) from others who had prenatal diagnosis and gave birth, was fairly difficult. I finally ran across a site from the UK that showed problably 50 picutres of smiling happy children with Down Syndrome, and after seeing that website, I had the first sense that everything would be OK.

Another thing I remember reading early, was that a baby with Down Syndrome is a baby first. Ben, like many other babies, decieded he did not want to wait until his due date and decided to show up early, on the first day of the NCAA Basket Ball Tournament. I still think his Dad had somethingto do with that. When I finally got to hold my little bundle, after he was thoroughly poked and prodded, I wondered how anyone could possibly not consider him a normal baby. He smelled like a baby, he looked like a baby, and he sounded like a baby. I remember the skin on his back was the softest skin I had ever felt. He also kept me up at night just like my other two boys had. Sure he was a little bit floppier than my other boys were, in fact he still is. His is also not hitting his milestones as quickly as his brothers did, but he is hitting them, at his own pace.

I feel so blessed to be given the opportunity to look after this special guy. His is a very social, happy baby, who has brought us more joy than I ever could have imagined. He is truly a gift that I did not know I needed until after he arrived. He has taught us to slow down, to enjoy life, to embrace differences, and that the most important thing we have is each other. Who knew that a baby could be such a great teacher.


4 months

7 months

9 months


Ben at age 1