Journal Entry - Jan 3, 1993. Travis is a unique child! He has changed over the past few months. He is four and a half years old and has finally hit the terrible twos!
He still has the deep voice that he was born with. Everyone is shocked when he speaks because of his bass tone. Jared and I thought that Daniel was such a sweet baby and that there could never be a sweeter baby....and then came Travis. He was even more sweet and loving than Daniel - something we thought impossible. Travis would sing in his bass voice in the morning, but we had no idea what he was singing. He never spoke much or even jabbered and when he finally did speak, we could not understand it. It is still something we have to work on with him. He and Daniel go to a special preschool for speech therapy. They ride a bus to and from and think they are so grown up. Travis is his teacher's joy. She can't believe what a sweet, happy and loving little boy he is. But really he has changed lately. He can scowl with the best of them. He knits his eyebrows together and throws darts with his eyes. And boy can he pout. Jared describes it as being moody. He says he enjoys being tickled and played with as long as it is his idea, but he can turn stubborn and ornery the very next minute.
Travis used his expressions and eyes to communicate when he was little. I guess that is why he didn't talk. People would fall in love with Travis because when they would say hi to him or even smile, he would flutter his long eyelashes and coyly grin and look away. I would swear he was almost flirting with them. It's something I just loved about Travis and even today - between his mood swings, I catch him fluttering those eyelashes and grinning a sweet little grin!
Mike O'Brien (Travis' nursery leader) is one of his favorite all time people. He loves her probably as much as she loves him, which I know is an awful lot. While Jared was in the bishopric, Mike would sit with me and help with the kids. As a result, she's become a second mom to Travis - being there every Sunday since he was born. Today he graduated from nursery and went to Sunbeams. And he threw a fit!!! He did not want to leave Sister Mike. I had to sit by him for a while in Jr. Primary, but left after a few minutes and he was fine. I can't believe my four boys are all in Primary. I am old!
Recollections of Travis' birth - Journal Entry Jan. 4, 1993
Around the time when I was four months pregnant with Travis, I was helping Brenda Burr with her dance and tumbling classes because she was nine months pregnant and due anytime. Well, I'm not sure what happened but one night after getting home from doing gymnastics with little kids all afternoon, a gush of water poured out and soaked me. I just knew my water had broke and something terrible had happened. Jared rushed me to the hospital and Dr. Groom gave me a quick exam and ordered an ultrasound. It showed that my placenta had started to rip and the amniotic fluid had leaked out. The ultrasound also showed that I was having my fourth son. I was ordered to bed for six weeks! It was horrible. I had an eight month old who wasn't even crawling yet. I couldn't lift him up at all. My mom, Jared, Tonya, Pat and others would come over and get Daniel up out of bed, and then get Derrick off to school and take care of Brandon. Then they would vacuum and do laundry and clean and put Daniel down for a nap. Then someone else would come back and get Daniel up from his crib and feed the boys lunch. They would make dinner and go home and then Jared would take over. It was terrible! I felt so useless and bad. No one ever said anything to make me feel bad or guilty, but it was hard to see others doing all of that work while I laid in bed. Relief Society helped with meals and babysitting, but Tonya and my mom really sacrificed and worked hard for me, not to mention Jared who took on a lot for a while also. I hope I can repay them back someday by taking care of them in a time of need.
During my imposed bed rest time, the placenta reattached itself and the amniotic fluid was replenished. I could finally get back to my normal life after about two months.
Travis' due date was March 23rd, but after the ultrasound tests, they moved it up to the end of Feb. He actually was born Feb. 8th, six weeks before my first due date; three week s before my second due date.
Dr. Steele was on a trip to Hawaii so Dr. Groom delivered Travis. When I started contractions, Jared and I dropped the kids off at moms and picked up Kellee. I invited her to come into the delivery room with me. It was an unusual day. It was snowing. Jared didn't realize how intense my labor pains were and he was just taking his time to get to the hospital. First he stopped off at Thrifty's to find an 8 mm tape for our video camera. He didn't fine one there ans was heading over to Home Express. I threw a fit and informed him how bad the contractions were.
Actually, let me back up to two days before I went into labor. Daniel was only 14 months old and was really sick. He couldn't eat and had a high fever. I had opened up a brand new bottle of Children's Tylenol and given him two of them to reduce his fever. I don't know how long of time went between, but I found an empty bottle of Tylenol and one tablet left on the kitchen floor. I called poison control and they told me to give the boys Ipecac My mom ran some over and I gave it to all three boys because no one owned up to eating the Tylenol. Well Brandon threw up over and over and so did Derrick, but poor Daniel just couldn't So my doctor said to rush them all down to the emergency ward at the hospital.
Derrick said he didn't take any, and he was six at the time and I believed him. And Brandon who was four, said he hadn't taken any either but Jared and I weren't convinced about it. The doctors were most concerned about Daniel because he was so little and so sick and he was the only one who couldn't throw up. So they gave him a sulfur and charcoal mixture and monitored his liver while he threw-up over and over. They said that if he had ingested a complete bottle of Children's Tylenol, that it could be fatal or really cause great liver damage. The test they gave Daniel to determine how high of Tylenol content was in his system took four hours to get the reading back.
Meantime, while poor little Daniel was poked and prodded and vomiting again and again, Brandon finally confessed to getting the Tylenol down and eating them all. Both children were admitted for overnight observation and tests on their livers. Jared and I (8 and 1/2 months pregnant) slept on a cot in their room. Derrick stayed at mom and dad's. The tests came back showing Daniel had two Tylenol in his system (the two I had given him) and Brandon't test showed he had around 25 Tylenol in him; even though he had thrown up earlier at home. They released the boys the next day after they had been treated.
The night they were release, I felt my water trickle out and sure enough I went into labor that next morning. So I went right back in to the hospital ( a different one however) to have my baby.
By the time we got to the hospital, I knew I wanted my epidural and quick. That was the first thing I did was to ask for an anesthesiologist to give me my epidural. The nurse at the desk said that was fine, but she wanted to know my name and admitt me first!
Travis came a few hours later. He was so so small at 6 lbs.1 oz./ It was wonderful!! I was thrilled to have another boy. Travis was born on a Wednesday afternoon and we left the hospital Friday morning.
Jared was in the bishopric at that time and Bishop Judd had heard about the boys and the Tylenol incident, but not about Travis being born. Bishop Judd called Jared to see how everyone was doing. Well Jared thought Bruce was talking about me and the new baby, so he told him that both were fine and coming home Friday morning from the hospital Bruce was shocked when Jared explained that I had had the baby too!!
That Friday night, with Travis bundled up in a basket, all three of us went to the Ward Valentine's dinner dance at the church. No one even knew Travis had been born. They didn't know that the cute basket I was carrying actually had a sweet new baby in it.
That was quite the experience!!
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