J a k e

J a k e
at the beach in Destin

Jake's story

July 21st was a normal day, as were the days of summer before. Everything was in it's place. School days were approaching and the family was enjoying the last days by the pool, ignored bedtimes and high popsicle counts.

Then July 22, 2008 came....

Jake had his first seizure. I did not recognize it as such. It was not until he had several more of these "little jerks" and bloody noses that I thought this could be seizure activity. We were scheduled to see a neurologist on August 4th, after going through our pediatrician, however we didn't make it that far. I was awakened August 1st, by Jake in a full seizure (6 minutes long)...he started to turn blue so I called 911....

Here begins our journey......

...we were taken by ambulance to the hospital. Checked in. Released. 3 more grand mal seizures after being released. Checked back in. Sent home 3 days later. Another grand mal, this one lasting a whopping 11 minutes and taken by ambulance again. Stayed at Childrens Dallas for a week. Upping meds, changing meds and mixing meds.
Diagnosis: Epilepsy
Cause: Unknown
We have now found, through some absolutely amazing family and extended family, whom I will NEVER be able to thank enough, the wonderful doctors and nurses at Cook Childrens Hospital in Fort Worth, who are continuing to help us through this. We have had another grand last thursday, and are averaging anywhere from 5-30 seizures (jerks, drops, stares) a day. I was to begin back teaching at Apollo, but am having to put that on hold until the seizures are controlled. Jake is not able to go back to school until he is 30 days seizure free. We are still waiting for that ONE day. Please pray for our family and for little Jake. Although this is not the end of the world, it is a huge hurdle we WILL overcome. Pray for courage for Jake, understanding as parents, good doctors and for the right medicines.

Jake's mom, Christine


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Wednesday, June 9, 2010

He's here!

As of 5:12 pm, Tuesday, 6/8/2010, there is  a brand new addition to the Peters' family.  And he coudln't be cuter.  We are so blessed by our lil' guy.  Addison and Jake are just smitten and can not wait for us to join them at the house!

Of course, nothing can be "easy" for us, so the day was quite interesting.

It started at about 4:00am with Jake having a 20 second nocturnal tc.  I was appalled, as this was longer seizure than I have recently come accustomed to.  Jake also lost control of his bladder.  He has not done that in numerous months.  Obviously, I was quite baffled and disturbed and threw any more sleep out the door.

That seizure was followed by another one about 30 minutes later...and then another one soon there after.

After about 6 seizures and loss of bladder control 2 more times, between 4 and 6:00am., we finally just woke him up.

This, as expected, put an end to those nasty things.

In between seizures , I, of course, started brainstorming, "what had changed", to make this particular night a "break through" night.  I 't didn't take long for me to realize, that in all the excitement of getting ready for the early departure to the hospital, we had forgotten to give Jake his night time meds.

So around 4:45, I quickly made thee decision to pull the trigger and give him one of the missed drugs and then wait a couple hours to give him his "regular" dose of the rest of the medications.

Although it was terrible to see such early morning happenings and they couldn't have happened on a worse day, iIwas glad that there was a reason for the madness.

Matt and I departed for the hospital at about 7:00, after we got Jake settled with his Granny.
Upon arriving at the hospital, we were "checked in" and Dr. Garner broke my water at about 8:00 and started Pitocin around 8:10.  He took wagers on how quickly this lil guy would make his entrance.

His, the dr.s', the specialist, and the experienced professional, was by 12:00.

We toke his word for it and were releived that by 12:30 we would surely have another sweet addition.

Well, 12 came and went, as did, 1:00, 2:00, 3:00 and 4:00.

It turns this third child of ours was quite stubborn.

Although I was progressing, his head was turned at such an angle that he wouldn't move down the birth canal.

After many position changes and acrobatics on my part, at around 5:10 it was go time.

Can you tell I am excited?


Everyone was shoved out of the room and by 5:12 our lil man was here!


Cooper Austin Peters
7lbs 1 oz
19.25 inches

blessed our lives at 5:12 on Tuesday, June 8, 2010.


All it took was one easy push!


He is just a doll and we are so very blessed.


The kids awaiting that first peek

I can not wait to share  pictures with you all, however, because my computer is still in the "shop" the and computer I am currently working from is very much a downgrade, I can not access pictures and upload them .

Once I am able to though, this page will be exploding with photos of our little miracle!

As for Big brother Jake, he is caught up on his regular medications and is doing much better.  He did have a couple seizures last night, however they were far less intense and much shorter than those of the night before.  Hopefully tonight will bring no seizures at all.

“Birth is the sudden opening of a window, through which you look out upon a stupendous prospect. For what has happened? A miracle. You have exchanged nothing for the possibility of everything.”

2 comments:

Cristina said...

Congratulations!!! Love and hugs to your entire beautiful family!

Fawn said...

Congratulations, Christine! Welcome, Cooper!