All Better

Many of you have been asking if Micah is feeling better. I wanted to let you all know that he is 100% better. Here are some pictures that I snapped of him lounging at the pool. He isn't smiling, but as many of you know he is a very serious boy. You have to work hard for that smile, but when you get it , it's worth it.

The Craziest Day of My Life

Last Friday was the worst day ever. Micah woke up and was fussy and so sleepy all morning. About 12:00 I realized that he had a fever and anxiously waited for Nate to get home for lunch. When Nate got home we took his temp and it was 102. Nate also notice that his soft spot on his head was bulging like a goose egg. He said that fever, bulging anterior fontanel, and being lethargic were all classic signs of meningitis and that we should take him to the hospital to make sure.
***Side note. there are two types of meningitis: bacterial and viral. Viral, like any virus, your body will fight on its own. Bacterial, when it goes untreated, can lead to permanent damage to the brain or hearing loss.
The doctor at the hospital wanted to do all the tests to make sure they find out what is wrong with him. They take his blood, urine, do a cat scan of his head, and take several x-rays of his abdomen. All the tests came back negative which still leads them towards meningitis. They start an IV and give him the antibiotics. But they have to do a lumber puncture to confirm it's meningitis. The nurse cant hold Micah still enough for the doc to do the LP. They tell us that they have to sedate him. In about 30 seconds Micah goes from screaming, to sleeping, and then to not breathing.
I notice something is wrong when the doc tells the nurse to get more help. She runs out of the room and yells, "We need more nurses in here NOW." Meanwhile, Micah is just lying there limp. He is getting paler and then starts to turn blue. They "bag" him (plastic piece over his nose and mouth and then pump a bag to get air in him) and start chest compressions. Within another minute or so there are maybe 15 docs and nurses in the room all working on Micah. This is when I have to leave the room.
I went out into the waiting room with thoughts of, "My baby is going to die." "I cant plan a funeral for him." "Where would we even bury him." "I didn't get to hold him enough." an lots of other random thoughts. I assumed the worst, because they don't do chest compressions on someone who is living. After about an hour, I gain enough composure to go back in the room. Micah is doing a little better. He is starting to move around and all of his vitals are stable. They tells us that they have to transfer him to Phoenix Children's Hospital. We get a room in the PICU just in case he has any more side effects from the medicine.
I ride over with him. By the time we get to PCH, Micah has opened his eyes and even works up a little cry. His vitals are all normal and his temp and gone down some, so they can rule out bacterial meningitis. They decide not to do a LP, because if he does have meningitis then it is the viral kind and they can't treat it anyway. They do find out that he has influenza A, which can cause viral meningitis.
By Saturday morning he is doing so much better that they transfer us out of the PICU. They too of all of the monitors which made holding him a lot easier. We spent one more night in the hospital until they were sure that he was healthy. I included some of the pictures of Micah. We didn't take any of him with the tubes in his mouth and nose. They would be too sad to look at anyway.

Micah and his IV. Nate said that it looked like a cell phone antenna. Maddi said that he looked like Jack from Jack in the Box.


Micah is doing well. I think I have recovered from this also. The whole experience made me think of death in a very real way. I understand better that our lives could end at any minute. Thank you to all the family for your phone calls, thoughts, and your prayers.

Micah's New Tricks

I know that this isn't a ground breaking event, that other babies have done this at earlier ages. But that doesn't matter to me. I love the concentration on his face. He has those eyebrows working. He thinks that if he relaxes his eyebrows then he will face plant.

Micah just loves to watch TV. He will do anything in his power to see what is on the screen. I wanted to use this to try and encourage him to roll over. I put him on his back, for him to watch TV he would have to roll over (at least that was the plan). Micah outsmarted me. He just did this incredible back bend and managed to watch with out rolling over.

Sara-Jane's Baptism

Nate, Micah and I, flew to Utah last weekend to attend Nate's sister's baptism. We had a great time hanging around with his family. We played games, ate food, and spent money. Nate's brother perfomed the baptism and Nate was able to do the confirmation. We are so proud of Sara Jane.

Here she is with two of her friends who were baptized the same day.

First Plane Ride

Let me paint a picture for you:
Imagine yourself in a very full airplane and the temp is 105 degrees. You are sweating in places that your can't mention in polite conversation. You just keep thinking, "It's got to cool off soon," but it doesn't. Good thing the baby is sleeping. Well, that is until we take off and now we have 1 baby SCREAMING at the top of his lungs, for 2 hours. It is still hot and you are still sweating.
It was awesome.

4 Months Old

Micah is 4 months. We went to the pediatrician and he got measured and shots. His stats are

Weight - 12lbs 8 oz (the 9 percentile)

Height - 23 and 3/4 in (11 percentile)

Head - 42 cm (19 percentile)