CHEO

We made our first trip to the hospital with Barrett this weekend. I guess it's inevitable that babies get sick, but what a terrible experience! Actually, it turned out all right, so really it wasn't too bad. It started last week when my mom and I tried to take the little man out to the store with us. As soon as we got outside, though, he started having some sort of strange convulsions - he lost his breath and started making choking-gulping sounds, while he went all shaky and his eyes rolled around. We brought him back inside immediately and he seemed to be fine. We thought maybe it was a fluke and he just choked on his saliva or something, but as soon as we returned outside it happened again. I started wondering if they was some sort of seizures caused by the light or the cold, but he had been outside many times before, often in far worse weather, without any problems. Anyway, I decided to stay home with him to make sure he was okay, and he was. It only seemed to happen outside, and he didn't seem to suffer any effects from it. But then it happened again yesterday, the next time we went out. The mom in me decided that three times was too many, so we headed to CHEO for a check-up.

We waited in emergency for about two hours, not too bad, really. Barrett was really excited to be around so many other children, and he was probably the best behaved of them all. After another hour or so waiting in the treatment room, the doctor came by to examine him. He couldn't find anything wrong, and both he and the chief doctor gave Barrett a clean bill of health. They figure it was a cold wind that took his breath away, and that it just hadn't happened before for some reason. But while we were there, all the hospital staff were so excited to see such a happy, sweet baby! The nurses kept cooing over him, and the doctor said he was the best patient he'd had all day. Barrett even smiled and played with the doc while he shone lights in his eyes and ears and all that. So, it turned out to be nothing, but it's nice to have someone say that officially. I'm just extra paranoid about totally covering him up when we go outside now.

In other baby news, he's learned how to hold himself up in a sitting position (with a little bit of help). He loves it! He'll sit on your knee or on the couch and look around at everything. I guess it's more fun than being stuck on the floor or a little bouncy chair at floor height. He's also started giggling a bit. It's the cutest sound ever! Now that he's figured out the world a bit, he's very happy, rarely ever crying. The only time he cries now is if there's something obviously wrong - hungry, cold, wet, etc. - but he's very easy to console, so any crying only lasts a few minutes at most.

To conclude, I'll leave you with a funny story. Right now, Barrett is still sleeping in our room in a little cradle next to our bed, rather than in the big crib in his own room. It's a wooden cradle with rocker-style legs and slatted sides like a crib, very nice. Anyway, now that he's getting to be so heavy, his nighttime rolling rocks the crib from side to side if I forget to engage the rocking stoppers before bed. One night before I figured this out, he managed to roll all the way to one side of the cradle, forcing it to lean quite far in that direction. This pushed him into the corner, up against the side of the cradle. When I woke, I found him still stuck like that, with his little arms shoved out between the rails and his whole face mashed into the crack. It was hilarious! He still sleeps like that now, with his arms out to the sides, sticking through the cracks. It's very cute, because it means I can hold his little baby hand in my sleep.

Sitting on the couch like a big man.

Arms out sleeping.

I love my baby!