RSV and Kingsley's First (hopefully only) Visit to the hospital

So this past week at the Gray household has been a rough one. I was feeling sick on Monday and Tuesday. Because I have asthma, I pretty much end up with a chest infection/ bronchitis on the regular.

I came home from work early on Tuesday and my friend who is nannying Kingsley had Kingsley throughout the day. She took Kingsley to the pediatrician and despite having a bit of the cough and the sniffles she received a clean bill of health. My friend dropped Kingsley off at around 6pm and everything went downhill from there. She was coughing so much that she couldn't breathe. You could hear her chest rattling and shaking. She had a temperature and was inconsolable. I called my pediatrician's nurse hotline and, given the symptoms, they advised that I call 911. That seemed a bit overkill so David and I called someone we know who is in his 4th year of medical school to get a second opinion. He also said we should take her to the ER.

We decided to wait another hour of so. David went to bed and I took the first shift. Kingsley was asleep  next to me on the couch asleep in her car seat so she could breathe easier. It wasn't long before her breathing got worst. Finally, I ran up to David and told her that I needed to take her in.

When we go to the hospital the Doctor took a swab of Kingsley's nose to check for two things; RSV and flu. The test came back positive for RSV and Kingsley's temperature spiked to 102. At that point, the Dr. decided that she needed to be taken to Baptist Children's hospital and admitted. At that point, David and I had been up all night, so David went home to rest while I went with Kingsley.

It was truly heartbreaking. The nurse had to start an IV prior to transport and they couldn't find a vein. She was just screaming and screaming and there was nothing I could do. Watching your baby in pain has to be the worst feeling in the world. Seriously, I have a whole new found respect for those parents those children have life threatening diseases.

The transport itself was pretty funny. My little princess just smiled at the EMT's as the seat belted her carseat to the stretcher, attached all the monitors, and wheeled her into the back of the ambulance. Turns out that Kingsley doesn't cry in ambulances either. Just mommy's car.

When we got there they had a little hospital crib set up for Kingsley and a little pull down bed set up for me. The nurses needed to take some blood for some cultures and again they couldn't find a stinking vein!!! They tried several times and my baby again screamed and screamed. So naturally, I cried and cried. Probably more then Kingsley. Finally, they gave up and just pricked her big toe to get the blood.

The first day in the hospital was really rough. She was exhausted and had a lot of trouble breathing. Her eyes were all red and bloodshot. She was definitely not feeling well. Even my mom could tell when she came up that morning.

However, by the third day she had gotten better and better. We were discharged on Friday (happy Valentine's Day to me!) and she still needs to take antibiotics and breathing treatments. But heres to hoping it gets better from here on out. It was really hard having her in the hospital and I don't want to go through it again.

PS Thank goodness we have great friends that love Kingsley and dropped off treats and thank goodness for the hospital food. Ask David, it was truly delicious!

Trip to England

So in January of this year Kingsley and I, along with Grandma Stokoe, went to England. My grandparents usually come to Miami for Christmas every year but this year, due to a unforeseen health problems, they weren't able to make it. So, we decided to bring the part to them so to speak.

First thing was first. We had to get my Miami baby ready for cold, dreary England. Not easy I will tell you that. The poor little thing is used to wearing a nothing but a onesie for crying out loud! So, my mom and I ordered a snowsuit from Marks and Spencers (its a british store) and Katherine and my mom hit up Old Navy for their Black Friday sale.

I was also really worried that she would scream the whole nine hour flight. You see, Kingsley does not like the car. No, not like is the understatement of the century. She hates the car. At first I thought it was motion sickness, but now we think she just hates being somewhere where mommy and daddy cant pick her up.

So after a lot of preparation, my mom and I headed to England on January 16th. David dropped us off at the airport over two hours before our flight was scheduled to depart, but it was almost not enough. We went to check in for our American Airlines with American Airlines. Silly us, because when we got to the counter we were told to that we had to check in with British Airlines. We asked where that was and they told us all the way down the other side of the terminal. So we walked. Me with the baby; my mom with the suitcases. We get there wait for 30 minutes get to the counter and are told that we are in the wrong place, the ticketing agent had looked at the wrong flight, and we had to go all the way back to American to check in. UGH. By the time we got down there, checked in, and went through security, we seriously had ten minutes before boring.

Only positive thing to happen that night was that we got upgraded to business class. The seats recline to practically beds, the food is delicious, and there is more than enough room for a baby, Truly a blessing. Kingsley checked out the menu before she took off. She decided she would have the beef and an ice cream sundae for dessert.

Kingsley did great on the flight. She slept most of the time on mommy's tummy, flirted with the flight attendants, and watched a little bit of TV. When we landed in London she stayed asleep while we went through security a second time to catch our connecting flight. We had brought some formula on the plane in case I was asleep and my mom had to feed her. Through security they had to check the formula. In the US, that means running it through a machine. In London, that meant that I had to taste the formula. Needless to say, it was not very good :(  When we got to Newcastle, the rental car company had a stick shift waiting for my mom despite the fact that my dad said he explicitly ordered a automatic. But the rental car worker took my mom for a few spins around the parking lot to get her comfortable. She drove it, but she freaked out the whole time. Poor thing! Driving on the wrong side of the road with a stick shift :(

In England, Kingsley got to spend a lot of time with her great grandparents. She smiled and cooed for everyone and even peed on her great grandmas rug. Oops. Turns out the snow suit kept her from crying in the car. I think it was because she couldn't move. :) The trip was pretty much spent visiting family and friends and if you ask my mom she will still say it was too short (ask my dad he is still hearing about it :).

On the way back, we were upgraded again and we made it back without a hitch. The good news was that Kingsley never really got used to British time so there was really no jet lag to deal with when we got back. Here are some pictures :) Enjoy!!

She'll take the beef. 

MOOOOOOVE OVER! 

This is Kingsley's little international lover Freddie. His mom and I were great friends when I was little, so now that we have babies of our own, we had to catch up. 

I took some pictures with Kingsley's other grandparents as well. I just can't seem to  find them  right now….

On the way back, Kingsley got her own business class seat. Fancy!

Four Months

So this post is a little late but baby Kingsley is officially four months old. She can now hold the majority of her toys (even if if is for a brief period of time) and she loves to chew on them and shake them back and forth. She pulls on anything within reach, including mommy's hair.

She now kicks all of the time. In fact, this morning, before I left for work, I heard a faint thud coming from her bedroom. Thinking it was Dimaris, a friend from church who is nannying for me, I cracked open the door and saw my sweet baby peering back at me, kicking the crib rails and cooing.

She has this awesome little personality now. She loves some of the stupid songs I sing to her and we now knows which toys she likes best. We love our little girl!

The Day Kingsley Almost Died/ Thank Goodness for Daddy

Well..not really. But still; it was super scary. Kingsley had just got done eating. She kind of overeats and you can here her gulping from a mile away. She is our little piggy. As such, she spits up a lot. Today, she spat up again, but this time it came out of her mouth and her nose!

At first I thought it was funny because she just had this stunned look on her face but then she took a deep breathe in and started chocking. I am ashamed to say that I froze and had no idea what to do. I just panicked.

I looked at David who was on the phone with one of the young men and said "she's chocking." I got up to go get the bulb syringe which was way in the other room, but David just leaped into action. He took Kingsley, put his mouth around her nose, and sucked out the excess milk/snot. Then he told me how disgusting it was. Either way, my baby was saved. My hero {sigh}. Let this me a lesson to all you girls out there; marry an Eagle Scout.

Christmas and three months :)

Around Christmas time, Kingsley turned 3 months old. Below is her three month picture. I forgot to include the 3 month sign. Whoops :) 

The following are the list of changes we saw between months two and three. First and most importantly; smiling. She now smiles all the time. She smiles at her daddy and her mommy. She smiles when I sing silly songs I make up just for her. She smiles when daddy blows raspberries on her tummy. She can now follow us around a room with her eyes. She can do her baby sit ups and she can stand with mommy or daddy's help.

We spent Christmas with my parents in Boca. On Christmas Eve, we go out to dinner for my birthday (which is actually on Christmas Day). Usually, we go to Hibachi. This year was no different. Kingsley got a little freaked out by the onion volcano (it was a little hot and she was a little close to the flames lol). When we got home, we took this first family Christmas picture by the tree. 

Then we opened our Christmas jammies, Kingsley's had a reindeer on them, and went to bed. This is her asleep as mommy is awake anxiously waiting for her baby to wake up to her first Christmas.

This is her right after she wakes up to her first Christmas. 

This is the Christmas haul. Guess who's pile took up the entire three seater couch. That's right! Kingsley's!!! Someone is a spoiled little girl.

After opening half of her presents, Kingsley fell asleep. Turns out Christmas is exhausting for a 3 month old.



Then, after she woke up, we used some of her presents, like her swimsuit, and went swimming for the first time. Kingsley LOVES the water. In fact, bath time is still her favorite time of the day, so we thought she would like the pool. Turns our, we were right. She wasn't scared at all; even after daddy dunked her.

After the pool, mommy and daddy opened the rest of Kingsley's presents and we ate mommy's birthday cake. Kingsley got an awesome rocking horse called Blossom.

Anyways, here are some more random Christmas pics. The card Kingsley is holding is from one of my relatives in England. It was personalized for her so it was really special. 

Kingsley's Baby Blessing

Kingsley Roe was blessed on the Sunday after Thanksgiving; the 24th of November. We did it that day so my sister who goes to school at FSU in Tallahassee would be able to attend (she is a little bit obsessed with her niece and would just die if she wasn't able to be there :)).

David blessed her. It was short and sweet. Those of you who know David know that he is not verbose :) In all honesty, we were all just excited that David got through the blessing. He was soooo sick that day. Seriously, sicker than I EVER have seen him. Prior to the blessing, he spent the entire time with his head on my shoulder during sacrament. He had a fever and couldn't breathe. Poor thing :) 

For those of you who aren't Mormon, let me describe what a blessing is. Basically, it is when the family of a newly born baby gives that baby a name. That name then becomes the name on their church records. What's beautiful about a blessing is what happens after the child is given a name. Blessings must be given by a priesthood member. In this case, Kingsley's dad gave the blessing. He talked about all of the wonderful things she is and all the wonderful things she will be. One of the things David said in the blessing was that Kingsley would bring so much joy to people. And, I have to say she truly does. Everyone who looks at her smiles and she is such a happy baby. David and I are truly blessed to have her as part of our family. 

Kingsley was blessed in the dress that I was christened in, my sister was christened in, my dad and uncle were christened in, my grandma was christened in and my great grandma was christened in not to mention numerous other relatives. My parents tell me the dress was over two hundred years old! I loved the dress. It was perfect! White, long, with little eyelets along the edge. 

After the blessing we took pictures and went to the Cheesecake factory. All in all it was a good day :) Here are some of the highlights. 

PS. if these pictures have done nothing else; they have made me realize I NEED to loose this baby weight ASAP. I will be working on that little by little. Maybe I will update my progress on this blog.