Cashew Catastrophe

I know it's cliché, but how fragile life is! We are so grateful to have our Mason with us today.

Here's the story:
(If you want a summary instead of this therapeutically detailed explanation, skip to the very end.)
Mason inhaled a cashew and it lodged in his lung on Wednesday. I did not realize this had happened, I just thought he swallowed wrong and was having a difficult time clearing his airway. A few minutes after it happened, he was fine. He took a nap, we played on the playground, he played and laughed as usual with his daddy, and he got a really great night's sleep. The next morning, I noticed that every once in a while he would wheeze. Just one wheeze every hour or so. I'd noticed it once or twice the night before, also. Since it was still happening, I called the doctor and set up an appointment that day (Thursday). I did a little research, and realized that it was very possible to inhale a foreign object into your lungs. I'd grown up thinking that you had a little flap on your pipes to prevent this from happening, but apparently it happens quite a bit to adults and children.
Luckily, I packed a diaper bag big enough to last the day if needed.
We went to the doctor at Andrews AFB at 12:30pm, and they noticed a significant decrease in airflow in Mason's left lung. He got an xray. I couldn't go in with him for the xray because I was pregnant. They realized Mason's left lung was taking air in, but the air was not getting out fast enough, so his lung was inflating.This was causing his heart and his trachea to shift to the right side of his chest.

The nurses put an IV in Mason's hand (they had to do it twice because the first nurse had no idea what she was doing. DO NOT USE MY SON AS A GUINEA PIG, YOU CRAZY PEOPLE! I kept my emotions in control in my own, pregnant way.)
We waited in the clinic for a few hours, and then they sent us to ER to wait for a child ambulance to take us to Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Mason's oxygen levels were down, so we had to keep oxygen blowing by his nose and mouth to keep it at a good level. I must note: One miracle worker in this whole scenario was our portable DVD player which I'd packed as an experiment to see if Mason would tolerate the doctor's office if he was distracted. That DVD player was sitting on the xray table when he was having his picture taken. It worked like a charm. It seems Buzz and Woody can soothe any distress.
Justin joined us in the ER and made Mason oh so much happier. Did I mention that Mason hates being in the doctor's office? He would sob just from walking into the room.
We waited until almost 8pm for that ambulance.

Mason LOVED the ambulance! He loved riding in the "trucks" and they had a TV with cartoons set up in the back for him to watch on the 45-minute drive. He didn't make a peep; he was completely content. He loved riding on the stretchers, too. He thought he was driving. He still talks about riding in the truck, days later.
We got to Walter Reed sometime around 9pm, and they informed us around 10:30pm that the best medical team would not be in until the morning, so we should wait overnight until they arrived. Mason had not eaten anything since 1:00pm because they told us that his stomach would have to be empty for the procedure. Mason was starving. We gave him food, and he didn't stop eating from that point until 11:30pm when he went to sleep. I slept in Mason's room, and Justin found a couch in a lounge somewhere in the hospital to snuggle up on for a couple hours.
At this point, Mason was covered in little stickers with monitors attached, and he had cords hanging off his body under his shirt, one on his toe, and had his IV drip coming off his hand. Mason typically rolls over several times before he falls asleep, and this night was no different. I had to get up and unwrap him and reattach the monitors several times before he actually fell asleep. Luckily his IV was taped and wrapped so that it couldn't budge.
I woke up at about 4:30 am to Mason saying "off." He'd wiggled around and the monitors popped off again. I took him out of his crib, laid him in the bed with me, and the two of us had our heads on the pillow, playing hide and seek, pretending to sleep, but never getting around to it. I loved those minutes.
At 5:30am, Justin joined us in the room and read a book to Mason.
At 5:45am they sent us to the operating room waiting area. At this point, we had explained the situation to about two dozen doctors and nurses, each of them asking us about it as if they had no idea what was going on. Some really didn't know because they had just changed shifts and there is next to no communication happening in that hospital. I'd dealt with it just fine until the anesthesiologists came in around 7am to let us know Mason was the first procedure of the day, and they asked all the same questions I'd answered over and over and over as if they'd not even looked at the charts. That's when Momma started falling apart. Luckily, Justin was there to take over so I could just stay silent and Mason would not have to see me cry.
We waited some more with all the warnings that doctors are obligated to say about the risks of the procedure running through our minds, despite our best efforts to drive them out. As a distraction, I took pictures. It helped a little. I just couldn't keep the thought out that these could be our last pictures of Mason.They gave Mason some painkillers while we were holding him, and he turned into a newborn again, not able to hold his head up and looking at me through glazed eyes. The Anesthesiologist took him, Mason laid his head on his shoulder, and he carried him down the hall to the operating room. It was easier to see Mason go being held like that instead of being pushed down the hall in a bed.
We went to the waiting lounge and Momma broke down into Justin's shoulder (I am the luckiest woman on the planet to have him as my partner in this adventure called life). Justin went to go get us some food since we'd not eaten all day. About 30 minutes later, the doctor came back to tell me everything was done! It was so fast! Then he handed me a vile with six or seven little chunks of cashew inside. It was about a quarter of a whole cashew nut. Unbelievable.

They did a direct laryngobronchoscopy, which means they took a tube with a camera attached and placed it down Mason's throat into his lungs and pulled out all the pieces of nut. It was one big piece of a nut when they started, but it crumbled as it was removed.
Mason was still out when I got there, and when Justin showed up several minutes later with our breakfast. When Mason woke up, he was surprisingly calm. The nurse on duty gave him as many popsicles as he wanted, and he ended up eating six purple popsicles. If he had run out of oxygen, we wouldn't have been able to tell from the color of his lips. They were almost black. We were grateful that he was breathing normally, his teeth were not damaged and there didn't seem to be any sores in his mouth, which we were warned could happen.
They took another xray and sent us to our room around 9:30am.
And we waited.
We played, we napped, the DVD player went dead the night before so it was no good, so Justin found a TV/DVD player in the hall and snuck it into our room. I kept asking the new shift workers what was up, and they always acted like they'd forgotten we were even there.

Around 1:30 we had one more xray done.
At 3:00 I asked if anyone had looked at the xray, and that nurse tried to reattach monitors to Mason since he was post-op. I told her to not put anything on Mason until she spoke to someone who knew anything about what we'd already had done. She obviously didn't know, and all the monitor stickers had been removed, leaving raw skin underneath. I wasn't about to let someone put more on his baby skin.

At 3:30 they released us (without sticking anymore monitors on him...honestly...), into DC's rush hour traffic.
At 4:30 we arrived home.

Today, Mason is acting as if nothing ever happened. We have a follow up appt tomorrow morning.
I love this little boy.
Summary:
Mason inhaled a nut, was admitted to Walter Reed Hospital where we stayed overnight. The next morning the doctors put him under general anesthesia, put a tube with a camera down his throat, and pulled these out:I won't be buying cashews again for a long, long, time.

Two Years of Mason

How blessed we are to have had this angel in our home for the last two years! We took these pictures this morning after his wellness check, so it's as close to two years as we could get without it being 5:12 a.m.
I wanted to make a note of who he is today for memory. I know it might be a bit dry for most to read; we just want it documented.

Age: 2 years
Weight: 31 lbs. (86th %ile)
Height: 38 in. (100th %ile) it's actually off the charts. lol.
Hair color: Blonde
Eye Color: Blue
Shoe size: 7.5
Diaper size: Pampers 5
Pants size: 2T
Shirt size: 3-4T

Development Skills:

• Eats with a fork and spoon, but still makes a crazy funny mess.
• Drinks from a "big boy cup" well, but prefers a sippy cup.
• Walks up and down stairs by himself, insists on doing it alone lately.
• Word vocab =?? He says everything we say in single word phrases. He uses occasional 2-3 word phrases like "I want that."
• Pronounces "r" well. "S" has a lisp. "L" is "W" (Pweeeeese!). "Ch,""Sh," and "J" are still trapped somewhere in his nasal cavity. Pronounces all other sounds clearly.
  
• Recognizes most of the alphabet, in no certain order. Letters he knows: A, B, C, D, F, I, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, X, Y
• Recognizes body parts: Eyes, ears, nose, mouth, tongue, teeth, lips, chin, cheeks, eyebrows, eye lashes, neck, hair, shoulder, elbow, wrist, hand, knuckle, finger, nail, chest, belly, bottom, legs, ankle, feet, toes, toenails, and freckles.
• Names he knows (written how he pronounces them): Maymon (himself), Daddy, Momma, Granma, Pampaw, Granny, Kris, Ohn, Weesa, Pete, Opa, Babi, Nick, Osh, Arah, Nikki, Meggers, Ack, Eus (The dogs Jack and Zeus), Mewissa, Dean, Atalie, Pencer, (Stace, we need to work on your name more, sorry)
  
• Holds a pen correctly. Not sure how he learned that, we sure didn't teach him on purpose. He knows the difference between a pen, marker, pencil, and crayon, and prefers different writing utensils on different days.
  
• Builds towers with blocks, but prefers to line things up in a row on the ground in a perfect line.
  
• Knows the names of colors, but we aren't convinced that he knows the differences between them. He may just be guessing right sometimes. Colors he knows the names of: black, red, pink, purple, brown, yellow, blue, green, and sometimes orange.
• Throws overhand and kicks a ball.
• Likes to suck on his toothbrush to brush his teeth, but hates when I actually brush his teeth for him.
• LOVES to clean. We got him a duster, and he uses it on everything. He also helps with sweeping and mopping. He is sometimes traumatized by a messy room. "Oh no! A messss!" (yippee! That definitely did not come from my blood.)
• He loves to pretend to cook. Sometimes he uses my pots and spoons, but he creates a kitchen anywhere from his car seat to the bathtub.
  
• Playground time: Likes slides and swings, but usually prefers the little game boards on the ground with twisty knobs and steering wheels.
  
• Obsessed with trucks, cars, and buses, and can distinguish between all of them. I think I called all automobiles "cars" until well into adulthood.
  
• Favorite foods: Spaghetti, fruit of all kinds, peas, corn, carrots, pancakes (when he cooks by imagination, he always makes "cake"), pork chops, plain cheerios, applesauce, ice cream, and yogurt.
  
• Loves the bath, hates getting his hair washed.
• He does not dress himself yet. He'll start to do it himself, but then just asks us to do it for him. I'm sure that stage is nearing an end soon.
• Still in diapers, though he asks to sit on the potty sometimes, and will stand and pretend to go potty like daddy.
  
• Sleeps 10-14 hours each night, with a 2-4 hour nap in the day.
• Still in a crib, though we extended crib use due to lots of travel, but the crib is soon to convert to a toddler bed.
• Favorite sleep toys: Scout, oversized football pillow.
  
• Loves books. He does not recognize words, but he remembers the story and will help us tell it as we read. Favorite books: P.D. Eastman's Are You My Mother?, Al Perkins' Hand Hand Fingers Thumb.
• Songs he likes to sing: "I'm a Child of God," "There Was a Little House in the Middle of the Woods," "Rocco and Roll" (from Sesame Street. Sings it all the time.), "The Wheels on the Bus." He likes other songs, but he just listens to those. These are the only ones he sings along with.
• Favorite Movies: Cars, Toy Story, Robin Hood, Robots, The Incredibles
• Favorite TV Shows: Sesame Street, Backyardigans, Word World, Clifford the Big Red Dog (Thank you PBS)
• Favorite Toys: Cars, trains, sports balls, duster
• Likes to play with older kids and adults, but gets nervous and fussy around babies and toddlers younger than he. Hopefully this will be overcome before the end of July.
• Hates the doctors office. He starts to cry as soon as we walk in the room and does not stop until the doctor leaves.
  
• Otherwise a very happy boy who smiles and laughs often. Very comfortable around strangers who do not remind him of doctors.
  
• 100% Daddy's Boy
  

That's all for now. I'm sure I'll get back on to add or change a thing or two.
Note how the cars are lined up in the picture below. I love my Mason.

SOS and Georgia

Justin was sent to Montgomery, AL for training last month, so Mason and I joined him! Well, we joined him on the drive down to the south and then we stopped at my parents' house in GA. I love being home. The weather was perfect, the people are wonderfully familiar, and the shopping is right around the corner. Mason is now bff with his Aunt Kristi (aka Kris) and Uncle John (aka Ohn) after playing with them everyday. Of course he loved living with Grandma and Grandpa and Granny. And it will take me weeks to unspoil this little boy with all the love and sweets and attention he received down there. I'm okay with that.
Here are some pics of what we did while we were down there:

Justin and I visited the Birmingham, AL temple with my mom and dad. We attempted to take a pic of ourselves. . .
We visited my dear friend, Merle Bean, who just turned 102 in February. I love this woman! She is still cracking jokes and playing the piano. There is one century and one month's age difference between Mason and Merle. I hit 20 weeks on my pregnancy, so we took a halfway pic. I think I'm wearing the same outfit as my halfway pic of Mason's pregnancy. . .
We took a trip to Yellow River Game Ranch. I used to go here all the time as a kid and LOVED it. I'm not sure it's as fun as an adult, but Mason seemed to like it! Justin braved feeding the animals and getting all slobbery and gross. I held the camera.
Mason found a little girlfriend (Becca Paige Bartlett).
We went swimming with Aunt Lisa, Uncle Pete, and cousin Zeus. The water was freezing, but Mason didn't seem to mind. I'm grateful that Lisa and Pete were willing to splash around that freezing water with Mason, because his mama was in shock with the cold temps.
We celebrated both Mason's and Justin's birthdays with friends. My granny helped make this Mater cake and it was so fun! Well, I must say it was long and maybe a bit stressful, too, but I had a blast working with my granny. I took pics of the process just to remind myself what a miracle fondant is and also what a cake master my granny is!
Here's the bday party. My Dad and Jessie took some better pics, but this is what we captured on our camera. We had a pinata and we pinned some tails on a donkey (not our neighbor's obnoxious donkey, just a plastic picture). It's so fun to see my friends' adorable kids growing up! !!
Uncle Nick came to visit! So glad he made the drive for such a short stay, but Mason loved playing with him! (The picture doesn't really reflect that, but he really did have fun with him.)
So now we are back in DC. The trip home was great, thanks to the help of our new portable DVD player (why did we take so long to buy one? Must be craziness). I got to listen to Mason's new 40 Years of Sunny Days Sesame Street DVD, and it was fun to remember all those old songs.
Now we are trying to unpack, restock our house, and clean away all the dust. Justin is taking the week off since we only got to see him on the weekends for most of the stay. Mason missed his daddy so much during the week, it was hard to watch. But the reunions were priceless! It was a long trip, but I'm so grateful we got to stay with family for so long.
LOVE YALL!

Hochstein Update

I just realized I haven't talked much about what Justin and I have been up to lately. Justin is working 70+ hour weeks as the OFFICER OF THE YEAR in the USAF Honor Guard. His days vary in activity. One day he could be in the pentagon, the next in Arlington Cemetery doing either funerals or wreath-laying ceremonies, and the next day could be in his office. He's been doing all sorts of retirement and promotion ceremonies for the big-shot military folks in this area. He's briefed Generals like General Schwartz (the Chief of Staff/#1 guy in the AF) a couple times. He comes home with coins from most of these guys and gals. Coins are cool in the military, I guess. Personal souvenirs or something. He also gets to babysit adult men who don't know how to control themselves and get into trouble. It will all soon be changing as his assignment is changing to the Drill Team. More on that later. He begins when we get back from the south.
Justin is also the 2nd Councilor in the Bishopric at church, which doesn't take up as much time as we'd thought; it's a cool opportunity for him. When he's home, he's the DADDY OF THE YEAR, and the center of attention for our little Mason. Mason can't get enough of his daddy. I'm pretty sure Daddy feels the same way about Mason.

I have been working as the key spouse for the Honor Guard here, and it's been fun. Busy, but fun. I help the spouses of the Honor Guard members get to know each other, get involved in service and activities, and I'm a point of contact when they run into problems. There's about 120 spouses. In my first week, three girls had babies=15 dinners to arrange. Most of the spouses are in their 20s-30s, so there are many babies on their way.
Speaking of babies on the way, I am 17 weeks pregnant, and I honestly forget at least once a day that I'm pregnant at all. I feel great! I have a bump making my shirts a little snug around the belly, but I'm not into maternity clothes yet. I just heard the heartbeat again yesterday, and everything seems to be going fine!

We had a cold go around our family last week, and little Mason suffered the most. Poor boy was so tired, he would fall asleep anywhere. Justin got one picture of him sleeping in my lap- this never happens. I can count on my hand the number of times he's slept outside of his crib or carseat in the last year of his life. Three of them were last week. I have to admit I thoroughly enjoyed snuggling my sleeping baby again. Mommy doesn't look so hot in this pic... we had a few long nights prior to this photo. We're all as healthy and happy as ever now!Here's a few pics at the playground. Note the big boy swing. Oh my.
Yay for warm weather!


We're so excited to see the folks in GA next week!! Woohoo!

A few moments of Mason

This entry is for those who just want a little taste of Masonry.

We had some snow. A friend of mine called and said she was sledding with her 6-month old and invited us to join! Mason wasn't too happy when I was holding still, but he loved the sled! We didn't have any hills where we were, so I just ran and ran and ran. It was a fun morning!
And here is a snippet from dinner. He was being really adorable and I wanted to share. Once the camera came out we had to pry the cuteness out of him a bit, but Justin and I could watch this video a dozen times.

Announcing. . . .

The next Baby Hochstein! !!
Due July 30.

I think he looks like his dad.
JK. I'm not sure why they printed out the measuring line, but that's what I have, so that's what I'll show.
I have to admit, it's been a pretty easy pregnancy thus far. Only a bit of exhaustion in the evenings. Mason has no idea. I'm debating buying him a baby doll to practice being gentle. Maybe I'll get one that cries so he can practice not crying with the baby...

POST SCRIPT: I just checked Mason's first ultra sounds from the same time (11 weeks), and the quality of Mason's civilian doctor's equipment and my current military/universal healthcare equipment is not quite equal.

White Christmas in Georgia

I should have posted this in December, but I sure didn't think about it till yesterday. We spent Christmas in Georgia and they had a white Christmas! That never happens! Had I not just been in a blizzard in South Dakota and had snow all over in DC, I may have been really excited, but instead I just began to wonder if I had a little snow cloud following me around. We just realized we took very few pics while we were down there, but my dad took a bunch, so maybe I'll get some from him and do another post.
Santa was super nice to us this year! My dad gave me the coolest present! He made copies of all the home videos from just about my whole life! He always has his camera out, so there was a lot of footage. It was fun (and sometimes painful) to remember the good ol' times. Justin got to see me in all my glory back in those awkward years, meet some old boyfriends, etc.


My Uncle Jim works as Santa Clause sometimes and grows out his beard and has a killer suit! He makes a great Santa, in my opinion. We were lucky that he brought his Santa suit out to Georgia so Mason could sit on his lap! Mason didn't even cry this year!
Mason got his first haircut while he was down there. It was much-needed. I waited so long because I couldn't imagine cutting off his perfect curls!! It is still cute after Grandma cut it, even with his thrashing through the whole process. How does Grandma do it?! No tears from Momma. His curls are still there. Whew!
Mason is talking like crazy! He calls Grandpa "Pampa" and started calling Grandma "Ninny," but she wasn't a fan of that one. I thought it was hilarious! So Grandma worked really hard at getting him to say something else, and he now says something like "Mamaw." I liked Ninny.


We also had a nice game of tennis. Fun times! ! ! Mason even enjoyed the evening on the courts. I'll bet Federer didn't look this good at 21 months.



Thanks for the good times, Georgia folk! Can't wait to see yall again!
We drove back to DC on New Years Eve, so we weren't exactly in the mood to party all night. We woke up to fireworks, wished each other Happy New Year, and then passed out again. The year 2010 was fast-- full of challenges, transition, and happy adventure. We're excited to see what 2011 holds.