First Christmas and Birthday Extravaganza

Since Vincent’s birthday is so close to Christmas, I decided to just write one blog. We started celebrating on December 15^th for Soucy’s Christmas.  We celebrated it early as Pat and I are out of town for Christmas and my dad was heading to Florida.   That night was pretty fun.  Vincent ate duck for the first time.  He absolutely loved it. He also got to eat cake by himself for the first time.  We wanted to practice his cake smash and the next day would be his photoshoot.

The next day we did the photoshoot for birthday and Christmas. He was very photogenic.  My dad did a great job taking pictures.

On December 22^nd, we left for Sudbury. We spent the holidays there. On December 23^rd, we had Vincent’s first birthday party.  It was a huge success. Vincent sure got spoiled. Christmas Eve, we went for dinner at my mom’s.  It was a nice quiet supper.  Before heading back to my sister’s, we went to see the lights at Science North.  Christmas day we had a brunch at my sisters.  We then went to my brother-in-law’s mom’s house for lunch and dinner.  It was a nice quiet day.  Vincent had fun with my niece’s cousin who is two weeks younger then him.  On Boxing day (Vincent’s actual birthday), we spent the day at my sister’s and had the final Christmas dinner.    Vincent had a lot of fun with all his gifts. He also had fun with his cousin’s gifts while they went to bed.

Pat and I's Love Story

A few people asked me to write a blog about Pat and I’s love story.  Since our 9 year anniversary is on January 23^rd 2019, this is the perfect time.

How we met:

Pat and I met and started talking online.  The only reason I felt comfortable meeting him is because we knew tons of people in common.  We still at this day find more people in common.  Before meeting me, Pat came to Loblaws Blair to see what I looked like.  At the time, I was working at Wine Rack inside the Loblaws.   He didn’t come to say “Hi” as I had just closed the store for a few minutes to go to the bathroom (I was working alone at the kiosk).  After my shift on January 10^th 2010, we decided to go for coffee at Tim Hortons where a friend of mine was working.  We met at 10:30pm that night.   The next three nights we hung out after my shifts and we watched movies. 

 

First Date:

Our first official date was on January 15^th 2010.  Pat planned the whole evening.  We started by eating dinner quickly and then went to watch the movie Leap Year.  It was the opening night and the movie was sold out.  After the movie, we went to the convention Sexapalooza.  We got there around 10:30pm and left after midnight.  It was a good way to break the ice during the date.  And then we hung out and just chatted about everything.  It was a great night.  I was back home after 4am.

Became Official

On January 23^rd 2010, we decided to start a relationship.  We dated for almost two weeks and this was the next step.

Things he did

The first few weeks, Pat really swept me off my feet.  He would do so many cute things.  When I would finish work at night, I would find surprises on my car.  One night there was a chocolate rose and it said “from your secret admirer”.  He would meet me after work so we could hang out.  We chatted a lot through text, msn and more. 

Moved in together:

In July of 2010, we decided to move in together.  We got an apartment with my cousin Sam in Hull Qc.

Split:

At the end of August 2011 after 18 months together, we decided to take a break as things were not going so well.  We weren’t able to communicate as well.

Back together:

In October 2011, we decided to take it slow and start dating again. We would go on weekly dates and communicate everything.  Things were great after this.  We would make sure to take time and still go on dates. I graduated from college in 2014. We were living together as of mid-2012.

5 years together:

For our 5 year anniversary, Pat and I decided to go spend a week end in Toronto.  That week end, I was really sick with a double ear infection, sinus infection and throat infection.  I still made the best of the trip.  We stayed in a small hotel downtown.  We had to park our car about 2km away.  When we get to the hotel, the elevator was out of service and our room was on the 4^th floor.  The room was small but really nice.   While in Toronto, we visited the Hockey Hall of Fame and the Ripley’s Believe it or Not Aquarium.  Those two places are a must see.

Engagement:

On December 5^th 2015, Pat proposed to me at Alight the Night at Upper Canada Village.  It was a nice night. We walked the Village with my dad and Francine. After, we went for a late dinner at East Side Mario’s to celebrate. Since Pat’s brother was in Cuba at the time, we decided to not announce it publicly until we could let him know first.

Wedding:

We decide to have a small wedding with family members and close friends at the Westboro Legion.  We did it on Easter week end so family could come from out of town.  We got married on April 15^th 2017.  There was 90 people at our evening wedding. It was beautiful outside during the same. I could walk outside in flats and my feet weren’t cold. However, it rained in the evening during the ceremony.  It was the perfect wedding for us as we are very family oriented.

Honeymoon:

For our honeymoon, we went to Niagara Falls.  This was a place we talked about visiting together since our first date.  As we went in April, it was out of season. We stayed in nice hotel and paid a fraction of the price. We visited a lot of different museums and restaurants.  On the way back home, we stopped in Toronto one night to relax and enjoy the rest of our week.

Pregnancy:

This is a very popular conversation.  A lot of people think Vincent is a wedding night baby.  He is not.  We started talking about starting a family.  A lot of people we talked to said it can take months to fall pregnant.  We got pregnant the first try.  He was conceived the first week of May.  His due date was January 24^th 2018. I was admitted at hospital on Christmas day 2017.  I had high blood pressure and symptoms of pre-eclampsia.

Baby:

Vincent was born on Boxing Day 2017. He was 4 weeks 1 day early.  He completed our perfect little family.  Pat and I had discussed it throughout the years and we only wanted 1 child. He is the first grandchild on the Pat’s side, and the 9^th grandchild on my  dad’s side of the family and the 3^rd (first boy) on my mom’s.

CHEO ER visits and Admission - January 2019

This blog will give details on the ER visits and Vincent’s admission from January 3^rd to the 10^th.  Vincent started feeling sick around December 16^th. At which time he had gotten a small cold. When we left for Sudbury he seemed to have been feeling better.  The only symptoms he had seemed to be teething.  We decided to leave Sudbury a little earlier to see if it will help Vincent feel better. On January 2^nd, Vincent had seemed to turn a little worse.  His cough was still bad and he had started to puke.  After doing a huge puke at bedtime, Pat and I decided to bring him in.

First ER visit:

When he arrived at CHEO, Vincent was examined.  They triaged him and then sent him to the clinic room.  There are two CHEO waiting rooms.  One is for the more serious, the other is more of a clinic.  I had never seen CHEO ER so busy in my life.  There must have been 25 kids in front of him.  We brought in Vincent’s iPad and set him in his stroller.  We got there around 8:45pm and got into a room around midnight.  Vincent was a very happy baby and only took a 20 minute nap during the whole wait. He would chat and smile to everyone in the room.   The doctor got to the room around 1:45am.  Vincent was full of smiles and chatting with the Dr.  The Dr didn’t think he was sick.  He was shocked that Vincent was happy when he saw he had a double ear infection, in which the right ear was really bad.  Vincent weighed 11.4 kg (25 lbs 2 oz) at this visit.  He was prescribed some amoxicillin and sent home.

Second ER visit:

On January 5^th, Vincent seemed to have started wheezing a bit in the morning.  We went out for dinner that night and Vincent ate like a pig.  Around 9pm, Vincent’s wheezing got bad.  Papa didn’t seem worried and wanted to wait the night.  Maman had a gut feeling that there was something wrong.  After speaking with a few people, we decided to bring him in.  We arrived at CHEO at 10pm. When we got to CHEO, the evening turned a bit scary and Maman got worried.  As soon as the triage nurse saw him, they took him in the back right away. There were parents in the waiting room complaining that Vincent went in front of them.  Vincent was still happy so they thought he only had a cold.  His wheezing had gotten pretty bad.  He didn’t have a fever. Which was confusing the drs.  We were told that Vincent was a 9 out of 12 on a breathing scale.  12 being the worse.  Vincent was a lot worse than I thought.  Once in the room, they set up Vincent for three Ventolin/oxygen treatments.  This treatment was hell.  Papa had to sit on the bed and hold Vincent down.  He yelled through the first treatment.  During the second treatment, we figured Vincent just wanted to feel in charge so he calmed down once he helped hold the oxygen mask. Once all the treatments were done it was around 11pm.   At midnight, the nurse came to give him four puffs of Ventolin through a puffer.  The puffs would just help for 45 minutes which isn’t long.  He got another round of puffs around 12:30am.  Maman and Papa were really tired, but Vincent was wired and we had been at the ER for almost three hours.  At 1:30am, they decided to try epinephrine, also known as epipen.  They were hoping this would calm down the wheezing.  Vincent had hit a plateau and his breathing was a four out of 12.   They gave him a good suction and it was really thick.  He was also puking a bit of blood, but it was due to the tube scraping during the suction. At 2:30am, we saw the doctor for the last time.  He was diagnosed with Bronchiolitis (Bronchiolitis is a common lung infection in young children and infants. It causes inflammation and congestion in the small airways (bronchioles) of the lung. Bronchiolitis is almost always caused by a virus. Typically, the peak time for bronchiolitis is during the winter months.). The good news is that his ears were starting to get better. We were sent home at 3:20am with a puffer prescription.  We were given it to see if it helps.

Third ER visit and admission:

Vincent was not getting any better on January 7th.  Maman was getting really worried. She decided to call and leave a voicemail to the pediatric clinic.  Around 3:45pm, the nurse called me.  I explained everything that has been happening.  Vincent had cut his milk intake to more than half.  He was also only eating one meal a day.  The nurse advised that Vincent was too sick to wait to get checked the next day and to bring him to CHEO.  She was also hearing his wheezing through the phone.  When we got to CHEO (around 6pm), it was the same as the last ER visit.  They triaged him and sent him in the back.  He had a fever of 38.3C, it might not be high but its Vincent’s highest fever yet. And he had lost a bit of weight.  He was weighing 11.3 kg (24 lb 14 oz).  He was an eight on the breathing scale.  He was given three Ventolin breathing treatments, more puffs from puffers, and epinephrine.  They were suctioning regularly and took a sample to send to the lab.  The lab would check RSV, influenza A and B.  The nurse came in to do a spot check on oxygen.  She forgot to remove the sensor.  Vincent then fell asleep in Papa’s arms.  We then see a nurse run in our room.  Vincent’s oxygen had dipped in the 70’s.  Once he woke up his oxygen was back up.  The Dr came in to check him out again.  He confirmed that Vincent does have bronchiolitis and that he was on day four.  Day five is usually the worse day which is worrying him.  He decided to ask the nurses to give him a good suction and then an epinephrine treatment.  After the treatment, the nurse kept Vincent on the monitor just to keep an eye on him.  His oxygen dropped again and needed constant oxygen.  At this point we were still in the ER room.  We were waiting to find out the next plan.  A few hours later, a nurse came in to see if we knew the plan, it was almost 2am at this point.  She ran out to get the supervisor Dr.  The Dr came in to let us know that they were admitting him, but there was no beds so we are stuck in ER until there is a room available.  Maman went home then papa slept with Vincent in his arms as Vincent was traumatized by the crib. Vincent was on 2L of oxygen.  To be able to go home, Vincent would need to go overnight with no oxygen.

At noon on January 8^th, we were advised they had a room for Vincent and it just needed to be cleaned.  At 3:30pm they told us they needed to find him a new room as he tested positive with RSV (Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) causes infections of the lungs and respiratory tract. It's so common that most children have been infected with the virus by age 2. Respiratory syncytial (sin-SISH-ul) virus can also infect adults).  When a baby has RSV they can only be placed in a room with another baby with RSV that started around the same time.  This was pretty complicated as the hospital is full of kids sick with the same thing.  We finally got a room around 7pm.  It was a multiple baby room.  These rooms have room for 3 babies.  Vincent was the last baby to arrive in this room.   When Vincent is admitted, Papa and Maman follow a “switch” schedule that works for us.  Papa has an easier time putting Vincent down in the hospital therefore he stays the nights.  Maman does the days.  Around 10pm, Papa text me to advise that the baby across from him was removed from the room as she tested positive for MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection is caused by a type of staph bacteria that's become resistant to many of the antibiotics used to treat ordinary staph infections.).  Maman was worried as this is pretty serious.  There was a higher isolation put in on their room.  This means that no new babies can be put in the room.  The incubation for MRSA is 48 hours.  Overnight, Vincent slept in spurts of one to two hours at a time.  Vincent was still on 2L of oxygen.  He had got a saline breathing treatment around 4am.  The two babies in the room kept waking each other up.

On January 9^th, Vincent’s nurse did a trial wean of oxygen.  She brought down his oxygen to 0.5L.  Vincent was getting frequent suctions.  Every nurse that suctioned him were shocked on how thick it was.  Vincent’s appetite started coming back this day.  He ate his full breakfast and finished maman’s.  Vincent napped a lot.  He would be awake 45 minutes, then sleep an hour.  The only catch was that he would just sleep in maman’s arms.  After lunch, the nurse thought Vincent’s colour was good and he was cheery.  She decided to drop his oxygen to 0.25L.  After his nap, Vincent played on a mat that CHEO child life brought him.  He played on the ground for 20 minutes.  He jumped for at least 10 of those minutes.  He over exerted himself needed a puff of Ventolin.  Vincent took a good nap after playtime. He only woke up when he heard Papa come in the room.  He ate a good chunk of his dinner, we then gave him ice cream as a treat.

On January 10^th, Vincent’s oxygen was removed around midnight.  He was full of energy when he woke up.  He refused to be in my arms.  His oxygen was still really good.  The doctors were really happy with his progress.  During rounds, Vincent was playing happily in his crib, he was dancing and saying hi to all the Drs that were doing rounds.  He did lose a good chunk of weight.  He weighed 10.9 kg at discharge.  Vincent was released around 12:45pm. He took a 3hr nap in the afternoon. 

How did Maman feel?

Maman felt pretty hopeless seeing Vincent sick.  I couldn’t do anything to make him feel better.  I was worried as I knew he was getting worse but all the Drs weren’t convinced at the beginning.  When he was rushed in the back (especially the first time), I was so concerned.  I was shocked when I saw how Vincent bounced back overnight.  He was lethargic on day and then a lot better the next.

How did Papa feel?

Papa was exhausted as Vincent would refuse to sleep in the crib at the beginning.  He was also worried that we somehow did something to make Vincent sick.   Papa was appreciative for what grandmaman and grandpapa Saumure went through when dealing with papa’s asthma and allergies growing up.  He was also worried that Vincent wouldn’t get any better.   Papa was also as overwhelmed as maman with everything going on.  Papa was so happy that Vincent slept in his crib six hours straight the night of January 9^th to 10^th.  When Vincent was home on the 10^th, Papa was happy that our life would get back to normal.

How is Vincent today:

Vincent was almost back to normal today (January 12^th).  He had a lot of energy, ate like a champ and was full of smiles. We could run errands and he was happy riding around in his bike.  Vincent is back to trying to climb everything.  Maman and Papa are happy to have our Vincent back.

**Definitions are from mayoclinic.org**