Where Do I Begin

I received the dreaded, but inevitable phone call from day care at 9:30 Friday morning, "Jackson has a fever." WHAT?? A fever? It's Fratty Friday, he can't be sick. I hung up the phone and did what any first time mother would do, I called my husband and asked "what am I suppose to do now?" I couldn't find that section in my owners manual. When I got to day care they had taken Jackson into another room and were feeding him. Sick or not this kid won't miss a meal. When I picked him up he was burning up. They said he had a 101.3 fever. By the time I got to the doctor's office his temperature measured 103. The doctor pricked his finger to take a little blood, that would turn out to be one of many pricks. That blood test showed his white blood cell count was really high. This coupled with the fever made Jackson's doctor nervous so he sent us UMC for overnight observation. I was so scared and to top it off could not get back in touch with Matt. He had been working nights on OB and had turned his phone on silent by accident in his state of exhaustion. After 20 missed calls from me he woke up for some reason and called me back. He grabbed some of our stuff and headed back to the hospital after only 2 hours of sleep. Before we left the clinic they pricked Jackson, drew blood, did a catheter, and gave him a shot. It was pitiful. Then it was on to the hospital for more tests! I had checked in and was on the elevator when the doors opened up on the 2nd floor and there Matt stood with Jackson's bag. I have never been so relieved to see him!

We got settled in and the stream of nurses, techs, and doctors began. Even though we were at UMC the only short coats allowed in the room were visitors and we had plenty of those. It is so good to have such great friends! All of Matt's short coat friends were getting off of work on a Friday afternoon and took time to come check on us. They could have bolted from the hospital after a long week but they came to see us. By the time they took his temp at the hospital it had broken and stayed away for the rest of our stay!

They gave Jackson an IV which is not an easy task on a little person. That was SO hard to watch, but they finally got it done after 3 tries. I cried as much as he did. Once they got the IV in he wanted to suck on it so that's why he has a monkey tapped to it. He sucked on the monkey instead of his IV! He was such a little trooper. He stayed happy as long as they were not poking him. I lost count of how many times he was pricked or they drew blood. I guess it helps to block it out. My mom came down and stayed with us while Matt went to work for his last night on OB delivery. We decided that was the best thing for him to do since he would be close and could walk back over if we needed him. So he was operating on no sleep. There was one uncomfortable chair that turned into a bed and a crib. I slept in the crib with Jackson. Well I shouldn't say slept, I sat in it through the night. Every time I got him to sleep they would come in and mess with him. By 6:00 a.m. Matt was back and we were up for the day. After more poking and blood taking we finally got the word that all, but one test was good and we could go home!! Thank God. One of his test still showed cause for concern, but they will check it out tomorrow when we go back to the clinic. The final conclusion was Jackson's 4 month shots on Thursday coupled with his cough medicine from his cold made his white blood cell count spike. We are just glad our little man is better.

Once we got home it was time for baths and laundry! I wanted the hospital germs washed off everything! This is Jackson watching football, he was not interested in me!
I finally got his attention - look how happy he was! Like I said he stayed so happy as long as no one was poking him! His shirt says "shhhh I'm watching football with my Daddy" Mrs. Shelia bought this onesie before I was ever pregnant! HA! And look at those football socks!

Last - and most importantly my little guy is 4 months old today!!! He is SO big!!

He weighs 14 pounds and is 25 inches long.

He loves to talk, laugh and kick

He can roll over, but you have to bribe him with flashing toys.

He has started to show a preference in who takes him - he's partial to his mama :)

He is no longer sleeping through the night, but I think it is because he has been sick. He wakes up 1 or 2 or more times now, he has reverted to being 3 weeks old again.

He still fights sleep at times

He has begun to notice Elle and Knox

He eats 7 ounces ever 4 hours, but I still feed him snacks between there if he cries. I am sure I shouldn't, but it stops him from crying.

Matt and I have come to the realization we will not get any sleep until he is 15

I had planned on feeding him cereal in a spoon today, but didn't with everything else going on. I will tomorrow though. I have already started trying out medium flow nipples on his bottles and of course he loves that b/c he gets food faster!! He has started trying to hold his bottle on his own.

He sits up in his car seat and looks around.

He wears 3-6 months clothes except in Ralph Lauren and Gerber and he wears 9 months in them. He must be long for his age because if clothes are too small it is in the length.

We are so blessed and thank God every day for Jackson. Many many prayers went up for him yesterday and today and we thank everyone for that. He is a loved little boy!