The Smith's Story: Where to begin...

Okay so it's been a while since we've posted an update on Miss Lily and A LOT has happened. The last weekend in April Ryan headed off for his annual trip to Beerfest while Lily and I took a trip to West Chester. We got to spend some time with Grammom and Grandpa before heading into Philly for a mini London reunion. We finally got to see Carrie's apartment and went out for a great lunch with the girls. It was so good to see you guys!! While we were there we noticed that Lily was "zoning out" every once in a while. I thought it was weird but really didn't think much of it at the time. So we came back home and got back into our normal routine. Back to work and Miss Betty's, visits from Aunt Meghan, Gymboree, and playdates. All the normal stuff. Lily had a few more zone outs, but I still didn't think much of them until Wednesday morning. Lily was sitting on the bed with Ryan (TV on of course) and I was in the bathroom getting ready for work. I noticed Lily was in the zone so I started calling her name. She didn't respond so I was banging on the wall and clapping, etc. Finally she came out of it, but it took way to long. This was the first time I actually thought the whole thing was weird.

Ryan called our pediatrician that morning and when we talked to him he suggested seeing a neurologist in order to rule out seizures. By this time the neurologists office was closed and I was a basket case! I called first thing Thursday morning to make an appointment and when they called back they said we needed to come in right away. Panic mode was on in full force. Ryan got Lily from Miss Betty's and we rushed over there. We explained what we had seen to the doc and he suggested immediately going to the hospital for testing because he was sure she was having seizures. I freaked out and couldn't hold a conversation with anyone, so Ryan took Lily to St. Clare's in Denville while I went home to get all of her things: food, bottles, pjs, toys, everything I could think of.

By the time I got back to the hospital they were hooking Lily up to 24 wires. They all had to be glued on her head and then covered with a gauze wrap. This was the most heartbreaking time because Lily was screaming and we couldn't do anything about it. The nurse kept reassuring us that she wasn't in pain, but it was definitely the worst thing Ryan and I have gone through in our lives. When we got out of the room Meghan was there waiting and mentioned that she head a baby screaming and was so glad it wasn't Lily because it was a horrible sound. When we told her it was Lily she broke down. That's how awful it was. Once we got back in our room Lily was an absolute angel. She was back to her normal smiling, happy self.

We spent Thursday and Friday night at the hospital and were discharged Saturday night. Getting the wires taken off was another heartwrenching experience, but it was all worth it to find out the Lily is OKAY! It turns out that she was not having seizures, she was just staring off into space. Lily was perfect the whole time we were in the hospital. She loved all of the visits from our families and seeing a million new toys was perfect. Ryan and I are so thankful that our families were able to come support us and spend so much time with us and for the support of our friends. I really don't know how we would have gotten through this without everyone.

The doctor will be thoroughly reading the brain scans this week and has said he will call with the results, but he doesn't expect to find anything abnormal. Thank God! When they said we could go home Saturday I don't think we could have run out of there any quicker. Going through this experience has definitely made both Ryan and I really appreciate what we have and our love for Lily is a 1,000 times stronger.

It was such a joy to wake up at home for my first Mother's Day. Lily must have been very excited to be home too because she woke up at 5am...The day started with Lily's first swim lesson. There are 3 other kids in her class and she loved it. We did kicking and floating on noodles and blowing bubbles. Lily thought I was telling her to drink the water instead of blowing bubbles, but we'll work on that. :) After swimming we spent the afternoon at Turtle Back Zoo. It was perfect! Lily loved the animals and really loved the train ride that we went on there. We had a lovely dinner out after the zoo and I am dying to go use my gift certificate Lily gave me to a spa I love. I couldn't have asked for a better Mother's Day!

Lily is working really hard on crawling and I think she'll be taking off any day now! She pulls herself up to a standing position now so we had to lower her crib mattress. She'll get on all fours and rock back and forth but then she only pushes herself backwards! One of these days she'll get it!