Beckett William Walker

Well, our little Beckett is already one month old, so I need to get his birth story down before I am behind by two posts! Here is a quick run through of the event.
During the two-three weeks leading up to my appointment on July 27th, I had been having false labor contractions at night or after periods of greater activity. They always seemed to stop within an hour or two and the contractions came at pretty irregular intervals.  I kept getting my hopes up that labor was right around the corner, but with so many false starts it seemed like Beckett was content to just stay in there for awhile.
At my 39 week appointment, we had starting talking about sweeping my membranes since I was a VBAC attempt and it was a way to encourage things along before we had to discuss setting a date for a c-section. However at that appointment, I wasn't dilated enough so we went ahead and put it off until my 40 week appointment on the 27th. When I showed up to the appointment, I wasn't convinced the contractions I had been having were strong enough to do much of anything so I wasn't sure we would even get to do the procedure. However, much to my surprise I had dilated from a 1/2 centimeter to a 3 during the week. As a result, we decided to go ahead and see if sweeping the membranes would get things going. I had heard from several people that it didn't really work for them so I tried to be realistic that I would probably go past my due date which was the next day. Although the midwife was a little more optimistic than I was, we went ahead scheduled another appointment for the following Monday.
When I left the office, I asked Luke if he could work the rest of the day from home since it was already noon. I am so glad I did, because I started to experience some cramping and spotting around 1 pm. Since the midwife said this could happen, I didn't really think anything of it at that point in time. Later in the day the cramping seemed to stick around, but wasn't really what I would call consistent contractions at that point. However by the time evening rolled around, it was pretty evident that these contractions were sticking around, and by 10 pm I decided to go ahead and start watching to see how close they were together.  By 11:00 the contractions were coming 5 minutes apart, but still pretty tolerable so I decided to go ahead and try to get some sleep. Once I laid down, I realized I probably wasn't going to be able to sleep through them. I continued to time them while I rested to see if they would get any closer. Although they didn't get closer, by midnight my pain level had increased and I decided to go ahead and take a shower since I figured we would be going into the hospital at some point that night. By 1:00 am I decided it was time to wake Luke and start loading the car with things for the hospital. He got up slowly a little surprised to discover I was actually in labor, since he had gone to bed early the night before and didn't know that my contractions had started moving closer together.  He went about getting the last few things together and took a shower before we called the midwife. She suggested we go ahead and come in to check things out. 
When we had gone to the hospital with Owen my water had broken before I was even in labor, but I wasn't actually in labor so driving while having contractions was new to me.  The contractions were now coming every three minutes, and I was starting to really have to breathe through them.  When we got to the hospital we made the slow walk to the Birth Center with several stops along the way for contractions. We spent about 30 minutes in triage before the midwife came in to see us. Unfortunately, I had only dilated to a four even though my pain level had definitely increased. I was disappointed, but the midwife reassured me that I was certainly in labor. She said I could be admitted or walk the halls for an hour. I was looking forward to getting out of triage and into a room with more laboring options so I went ahead and decided to have them admit me.
Shortly after I was admitted, I decided to try out my first dose of fentanyl. It made me really drowsy which then caused me to want to lay down. I don't labor really well while lying down so it was not the best option for my labor and I was ready to try something else when the medicine wore off. The midwife and nurse recommended I give the tub a try and I was pleased to find that it really did help me relax during and between contractions. I think I spent another hour in the tub before I was ready for my epidural. After being in labor for 7 hours and no sleep for 24 hours I was exhausted and wanted to rest. I had dilated to a six and we were hopeful that the epidural would not slow my labor all that much.
After I had about an hour of rest, Beckett had his first decel around 7 am. They had turned the monitor down fairly low so that I could get some sleep, however I noticed that when the midwife came in she spent more time looking at the monitor than I had expected and I knew that something wasn't quite right. When I asked how he was doing, she mentioned that he had a decel and we were going to watch it pretty carefully. It wasn't enough to issue an emergency c-section, but since decals can be a sign of uterine distress in a VBAC patient they tend to watch them closely. She left to talk to the OB on call and I tried to get a little more rest since Beckett's heart rate had returned to normal and he seemed to be doing well.  We discovered in this process that Beckett seemed to be doing better when I laid on my right side so we decided to go ahead and move me back to that position.
Labor continued to progress and things seemed to go well for the next few hours and then around 10 am, Beckett had another decel. This time the nurse came in quickly and had trouble getting his heart rate restored by flipping me over so she paged the midwife to come in and help.  The had to really shift me around and get me up on my hands and knees in order for his heart rate to respond this time.  This decel also lasted much longer, 6-7 minutes from start to finish. After our birth experience with Owen, we knew a long talk with the OB was coming.
Once the midwife had Beckett stable she left to get the OB while Luke and I waited to hear about whether or not we needed to head back for a c-section. Dr. Jolly took the time to explain what she had seen on Beckett's tape. He had two pretty bad decels, but it appeared that with repositioning he was able to respond and his heart rate returned to normal. Both the midwife and Dr. were convinced that his decels were a result of an occult cord and not uterine rupture. We now had a decision to make. We could continue to labor and see how Beckett did (at that point his heart rate was the best we had seen throughout labor), or we could elect for a C-section right then. We spent a long time discussing the options and risks of both scenarios. We asked lots of questions most of which we knew the answers to since this discussion was very similar to our conversation with the OB during Owen's labor. Being in this place again, made it hard for me to keep my emotions under control and I spent a good deal of the conversation crying quietly while trying to talk. I was mostly concerned about Beckett's ability to tolerate labor and wanting the best delivery for him. Both the OB and midwife said that they felt it was a strong possibility we could make it through labor and delivery without a c-section since Beckett was doing so well and I was already dilated to a 9. However, if he had another bad decel it would be a mad-dash to the OR for an emergency c-section. The OB also reassured me that she would be able to get him out quickly and that if he had another decel he would be ok. I was also concerned about whether or not I would be able to stay awake during the c-section if it came to that point. She said that in most cases I would be able to stay awake during surgery, however if things were serious enough they would have to put me to sleep. She explained that in our situation she gives babies a chance at three strikes and Beckett was at strike number two at that point. With all the questions answered, we decided to go ahead and give him one more chance since a vaginal delivery is best for both baby and mom.
Since I was already dilated so far, we were hopeful that labor would continue quickly. For the next two hours, things went beautifully. Beckett's heart rate continued to do really well and labor was moving right along. Around noon it was time to check my cervix again to see how close we were. I had dilated to a 10, but my water was still in tact. We were just starting to talk about breaking my water since it was something we felt needed to be done before pushing to see how Beckett would handle the situation when Beckett's heart rate plummeted. Earlier his decels had been at the lowest 70 and highest 90. However, this time he dropped all the way to 40 and back up to 50. It was a horrible sound to hear his heartbeat so low, and I knew it was scary by the look on every one's faces. The midwife quickly tried to readjust me and get me up on my knees. She tried to move him around but it quickly became evident that this decel was really bad and it was time to run to the OR right then.
Before I knew it several more nurses were in the room and they were on the phone demanding an OR, Anesthesiologist, and that our OB be paged immediately. The stress in their voices was evident and all this time Beckett's heart rate did not change. Time seemed to be crawling, and what seemed like eternity, I found later was only 4 minutes. When we got to the OR, Beckett's heart rate was still low and I felt like I was frozen. I couldn't even cry I was so scared. All I could do was close my eyes and pray. I knew our baby was in God's hands, but it was still hard waiting to hear if he was okay. Since the situation was an emergency, they did the least amount of prep as possible and quickly tried to get my epidural strong enough so that I couldn't feel the incision. Just before they were about to cut the midwife leaned over to say that his heart rate had just gone up to 120. It was at that point that I cried, I just knew he would be okay and they would get to him in time. I finally felt like I could breathe.
Beckett was pretty lodged in there since I was essentially ready to push when we left for surgery, and I could tell they were having a little more difficulty getting him out than they'd had with Owen. However, after what felt like a long time (really only a few minutes), I heard the sweetest sound, his first cry.  I remember just beaming when they popped his screaming red face above the blue curtain. It was the most precious sight! He looked perfect, not like a baby in distress at all, and we were so thrilled that he did not have to go the NICU. Luke was able to go over and get him and then we spent the next 20 minutes just enjoying some time the three of us while they finished my surgery.  It was such a sweet time, one I had missed terribly when Owen was born when I had to return to my room alone and wait for him to come back with Luke.
Beckett was born at 12:22 pm right on his due date. He weighed 8 lbs 1 oz and was 19.3 inches long. With all of the fear and stress we endured at the end of our labor, we are so thankful and blessed to have our sweet little Beckett here.

Beckett William Walker is here!

 

Meeting our sweet baby boy for the first time!

Owen meeting Beckett for the first time

Our first family photo

Meeting the grandparents, aunts and uncles 

 

 Some pictures from the day we left

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 On our way home!

 

As if having a baby was not enough change . . .

We have decided to go ahead and throw moving into the mix!  I have joked with people that I have taken nesting to the extreme, but in reality we have been talking about this move for awhile now.  We knew when Owen was born that we were quickly outgrowing our two-bedroom townhouse, but we loved our neighborhood, and we weren't really in a rush to relocate.  We discussed simply buying a house down here, but the reality is that Luke's work is north and our ultimate desire was to shorten his commute.  We checked out several locations and settled on Fairwood as the next place for us to buy.  We started looking in March/April with a deadline of May 31st to find something or else we were going to put off purchasing until summer 2013.  As time was starting to run out, a house we had been watching dropped its price, and we decided to jump on it.  We put in an offer an offer on May 20th, and on the 21st we accepted the sellers counteroffer.  That began 30 days of craziness for us! 
Right after we put in an offer, Luke had to fly down to Oklahoma for a week of work.  We spent quite a bit of time faxing paperwork back and forth and working on finding a time to get the inspection done.  The inspection took place the following weekend and resulted in a week of negotiations over some of the items we wanted to see dealt with in the house. In addition to all of this, we had decided to keep our townhouse as a rental.  Once we had the negotiations worked out on the new purchase, we decided it was time to list the townhouse on Craigslist.  Within three days we had four appointments scheduled for people who wanted to see it, and by the end of that week we had a signed lease agreement with a tenant that was excited about moving in July 1st.  Since then, we have been packing, cleaning, and preparing for our move.  Needless to say we are tired and have learned a lot about rentals and purchasing a new home in just a mere 30 days!  Thank you to everyone who has listened to our questions, offered advice, and helped us get this place ready!  Tomorrow is our official close date on the new house and we should be getting our keys in the afternoon.  This weekend we are moving, and we plan to finish up the final painting and projects on the townhouse over the next week before our tenant moves in the following weekend.  Since I can't seem to write a post without a picture, here is one of the home we are saying goodbye to and the one that we are excited to be moving into!

Here is a picture of our townhouse.  It is certainly bittersweet to leave it behind.  I am glad we still get to claim it as ours even though we won't be the ones living there.

Here is a picture of our new house in Fairwood.  We had wanted an older home that had been updated but still had room for us to add our own touches.  This house really is the perfect fit.  It has lots of room for us to grow, some great updates on the inside, and also lots of areas where we can get in there and change things to make it our own.  Granted all these changes will take time and certainly happen after baby boy #2 arrives!

Our Big Two Year Old!

It is hard to imagine that Owen is already two.  I am pretty sure I say that every time I write a post about him, but the reality is I am never ready for him to grow older.  I must say though I have enjoyed each stage of his growth and development, and although we have certainly entered into the stage of strong wills and tantrums, I am loving his toddler-hood.  He makes me laugh daily and brings me such great joy even on the rough days!  Owen, it has been a wonderful year and I am so excited to celebrate you and your big birthday. 

Here are his accomplishments since 18 months:

• Owen is talking up a storm.  He mimics most of what we say and is starting to talk in 2-3 word sentences.  My favorite sentence of his is, "I love you".  It is music to my ears and we try to get him to say it at least a dozen times a day!
• In addition to talking he loves to sing.  Both grandma's have spent time teaching him their favorite songs, and we often find him singing to himself or to anyone who will listen throughout the day.  Here are the songs he can sing most of/part of: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, ABC's, 5 little Monkey's, Apples and Bananas, Happy Birthday, Zacchaeus, and Ba Ba Black Sheep.  He has also started repeating any song on the radio that has an easy tune and repetitive lyrics.  It cracks us up every time he breaks out in song with Selena Gomez or Justin Bieber.
• Now that Owen is talking pretty well, he is also becoming more opinionated and vocalizing it.  We are trying to teach him how to use nice and kind words, but it has been a challenge.  His favorite phrase right now is "go away".  He says it when he is mad or playing.  He also really struggles with sharing and is starting to have "favorite things" (more on those later).  The other day, while we were at a friends house, he broke out in tears probably ten times because he had to share a toy or someone else had something he wanted.  He is not normally that possessive, but he does have his moments. 
• Like I just mentioned, Owen has a variety of favorite things.  Here is the list of things he loves right now:
• cars, trucks, planes, and trains
• sports: specifically basketball, football, and baseball
•  Curious George and Winnie the Pooh
• Reading books on any of the above subjects!
• His imagination with these toys has recently exploded as well and we love watching him play pretend with his monkeys or race his cars around the house making noises.  Owen also loves building forts, playing chase, and anything that involves being outdoors. 
• Owen is also looking forward to baby brother showing up!  He loves to give my belly hugs and kisses, and as of late, he has started telling me "baby out".  It is hard to communicate the fact that baby still a good month or so left before he is ready to arrive.  Time is a concept that is rather beyond him at this point. 

It amazes us how quickly he is developing at this age.  It seems that weekly he is expanding his vocabulary, thinking/problem solving skills, and gross motor movement.  He is certainly hard for this very pregnant momma to keep up with!

Here is our attempt to get a picture for his birthday invites.  It gives a little glimpse into our active little boy.

He started out in the chair for only a few moments

Then he decided it was time to get up and run

 

We got him to sit down again by offering chocolate chips.  Here he is asking for one more.

However, It didn't take long before he ran again. We had to take a break to nurse a skinned knee.

 But eventually we got a few smiles and steady poses. 

Baby on the Way: 1st and 2nd Trimester

I was looking back at old blog posts and realized pretty quickly that I have not blogged much about this pregnancy!  When I was pregnant with Owen, I had so much time to write and think about being pregnant.  I guess that is normal when you have no other children you are chasing.  This time around, I still spend a good amount of time thinking about this precious little boy that is growing so quickly, but I unfortunately do not have nearly as much time to write about it.  Since I am on a mission to catch up on the blog before Owen turns 2, I thought now was a great time to sit down and share some of the memories from this pregnancy before it is over!
When we found out we were pregnant again, we were thrilled!  We had been praying and hoping for this little one since before Owen turned one, and we were so excited that they would be just two years apart. Both Luke and I have siblings two years younger than us, and we do enjoy that age spread.  Now that we are nearing the reality of having two little ones so close in age, I must admit that I am a little more nervous about having such small little ones to look after at the same time.  Owen is so incredibly active right now, and as I watch my good friend balance her toddler and newborn, I am reminded that newborns require so much hands on attention between nursing, naps, and diaper changing, not to mention the lack of sleep.  Regardless, we are still excited, even if my head is spinning a little at the start. 
The first trimester of this pregnancy was a bit rough.  I was extremely sick, just as I was with Owen, and by the time we went to my first midwife appointment (at 8 weeks), I was ready for some relief.  When I was pregnant with Owen, I lost a good 10-15 lbs during my first trimester and my sickness lasted until I was 23 weeks.  I decided during that pregnancy to forgo any medication to help with the throwing up and nausea, because I thought it would end around the 12 week mark.  Little did I know, that I my morning sickness likes to continue at least 1/2 way through the second trimester as well.  At just 8 weeks, I could already tell that this pregnancy was going to be quite similar, and I was struggling with the thought of being sick and throwing up several times a day for 5 solid months.  The midwife remembered how sick I was last time and decided to go ahead and prescribe some medication even though I hadn't really lost weight yet.  It was enough to take off the edge and reduce how often I threw up, but it didn't completely take away the morning sickness.  Fortunately, it was just what I needed to help me keep up with my active toddler and feel a little bit more normal.
When the second trimester rolled around, I realized pretty quickly that the morning sickness was going to last.  However, despite that difficulty, I was so excited to feel the little flutters and kicks of this precious baby at 14 weeks.  It was the perfect distraction from how sick I felt.  I also started showing pretty early with this pregnancy which everyone said is pretty normal the second time around.  By the time I hit 14 weeks I was mostly wearing my maternity clothes.  As I mentioned earlier, my morning sickness decided to stick around well into my 23rd week again, and I remember wondering around week 20 if it was ever going to end!  Fortunately, I am feeling pretty well now, other than the fact that I feel like the size of a whale.  The best part of this stage is that our little boy has become incredibly active!  After the issues we had with Owen's reduced fetal movement and his complications at delivery, I am so thankful for his kicks and squirms, even if they keep me awake at night.  It is a blessed reminder that our baby boy is growing and strong.
We found out we were expecting a boy during my 21st week.  Leading up to the ultrasound I felt like it was going to be a girl, and most everyone we knew thought the same.  Luke was the sole holdout for a boy.  Since Luke had a congenital heart defect as a child (that has since been healed), we have an echo ultrasound with each pregnancy between 20-24 weeks.  This time around we had our echo before our big gender reveal appointment.  We were a little surprised when the tech told us at our echo that she could tell us the gender a little early if we wanted to find out.  Of course we said yes, and within a few moments she revealed that we were indeed expecting a baby boy!  When she first said the word boy, I was a little stunned.  I had been picturing Owen with a baby sister that he could dote on and protect.  However, it was only a few moments before I was imagining life with two little boys.  Owen was going to have a brother, and I was quickly becoming excited.  My house will definitely be filled with days of rough housing, wrestling, running, and sports, and I am going to love it.  As we have been talking about this baby boy, I can't wait for Owen and him to meet and grow up together.  Owen does talk about baby brother often, and has lately decided it is time for him to get out of mommy's tummy and play.  We have since had the gender confirmed at two other appointments so we are quite sure this little one is no doubt a boy.

Here is our sweet boy at 21 weeks

Here is our boy at 27.5 weeks

San Diego: Our last day

We had one objective for our last day in San Diego: keep Owen awake until we boarded the plane at 3:00 pm!  After our crazy flight down, we were hoping to get him to sleep for the entire flight home.  His usual nap starts around 2:00 and while we were in San Diego he often fell asleep by 12:30.  We knew it would be tough keeping him awake, but we were determined.
After we were all packed up, we decided to load the car and head to Seaport Village with our remaining time.  It was a great way to spend an hour or so.  We strolled around, looked at the aircraft carrier, and statues, and then walked around near the shops before we bought a lemonade and left.  We had just enough time to drop Bekah back at her house, get gas, and turn in the rental car.  I got hungry before we dropped off the car and we decided to grab something quick for me to eat.  While I was grabbing some food, I left Owen and Luke in the car with strict instructions to keep him awake.  By the time I got back out, Luke was looking up directions to Alamo on my phone, and Owen was passed out in the backseat.  We went ahead and woke him up, and then listened to him cry for the rest of the drive.  We managed to keep him awake while we waited for the plane and then boarded without any trouble.  Just as we were about to take off, Owen crashed in my arms.  He slept the ENTIRE way to Seattle and woke up as we taxied to the gate.  It was glorious!  Here are the last few pictures we took with my phone from our trip.  It was hard to say goodbye to Bekah, but we are definitely excited for when we get to take two little boys down for our next visit!

This is what we returned home to!

San Diego: La Jolla and Tommy's

Since we had such a late night on Saturday, we decided to keep Sunday pretty low key. Luke and Bekah let me sleep in while they got up with Owen. Then I took a turn with Owen while Luke took a quick nap. Bekah is pretty hard core and didn't take a nap at all. I can only hope she caught up on sleep after we left.

We had left the ER the night before with a prescription in hand, and it was decided that Luke and I would venture out to run the errands (my phone was also out of commission), while Bekah hung out at home with Owen and got ready for a scholarship interview she had later that day. I dropped Luke at the Verizon store with my phone so he could figure out what was wrong with it (I am not a fan of technology), and I took his phone and left to find the pharmacy.
I tried Target first, because they were the closest, only to find out they didn't carry the medicine the Dr. had prescribed at all. They directed me towards a Walgreens. When I got there, the pharmacist said not only do they not carry it, he was pretty sure that prescription was discontinued for kids a little while back. He said the last time he had a customer looking for it he was able to find some at CVS. The pharmacist graciously called over to the CVS and the clerk said they did have some in stock.  Yay!  I drove over to CVS, told them I had just come from Walgreens, and handed over my prescription. To my surprise the pharmacist said they didn't carry that medicine any longer. The clerk who had answered the phone overhead us talking and apologized. She had the medicine confused with something else.
Fortunately all three pharmacies were within a mile of each other so I hadn't gone to far out of my way hunting down medicine that didn't exist, but I was still a little frustrated that I couldn't get what I needed to help my baby with his rash. The pharmacist said to keep up with the Benadryl and call my pediatrician when I got home to see if they wanted to prescribe something else. Since we were leaving the next day, it didn't make sense to try and special order anything. I went back to Verizon to pick up Luke, only to find out he was still dealing with my phone issue. What was supposed to be a quick 30-45 minutes of errands had turned into an hour and half.  Bekah had to leave for her interview shortly, so I left Luke there to figure things out and went back to pick up Owen.

Needless to say, the running around ate up most of our day, and when Bekah got home, it was already after three. We decided to make a quick trip to La Jolla so we could see the seals resting on the rocks, and then we were going to head over to Tommy's for a yummy burrito. La Jolla was a perfect way to end our day. We took a nice walk along the coast, got some great pictures, and saw the beginning of the sunset. We then drove over to Tommy's picked up dinner and went back to Bekah's to eat.  Overall, Sunday turned out to be a pretty quiet day, despite all the craziness with my phone and the prescription.

* For those who are wondering, we did touch base with our pediatrician when we got back home. Since it had been a couple days since our ER visit, and Owen appeared to be improving, he decided to just have us continue with Benadryl until the major symptoms were gone. 

Here are the pictures from our trip to La Jolla.

ER Visit

While in San Diego, we made our first trip to the ER with Owen. During our trip to Seaworld on Thursday, we noticed that the back of his neck had started to get a little pink since we forgot to apply sunscreen to that area. We loaded him up with some sunscreen on that spot, which seemed to prevent the burn from getting any worse. Then, while we were at the beach on Friday, I started to notice that he was getting some little bumps over the small sunburn. We kept reapplying sunscreen hoping to stay on top of it, which in turn caused the sand to really stick to that part of his skin. By the end of our time at the beach the bumps seemed to be spreading down his back a little, but still mostly staying near where he had been burned. After we got home and gave him a bath, we decided to take a closer look to see if there was something more to the redness and bumps. Since we had come from 30 degrees and snowing, the weather seemed quite warm at 75, and we decided that it was probably just heat rash.
On Saturday while we were at the zoo we loaded him back up with sunscreen and tried to keep an eye on the rash.   We noticed that the rash had spread to his arms, chest, and most of his back. We were a little surprised, but thought maybe we had dressed him too warmly for bed the night before.  By the end of our time at the zoo, the rash and moved had to his legs and seemed to be getting worse.  We decided to keep him dressed lightly for bed still thinking the warm sun had caused the rash to get worse. However, by 10:30 he was awake and screaming.  After trying to get him to calm down for about 30 minutes, we started to realize that this was more than a bad dream (he has had night terrors in that past) and that his skin was really sensitive to the touch. When we got his pj's off, we noticed that the rash had spread to almost his entire body, minus his diaper area, and had even started spreading to his ears and face. It was at that point we decided a trip to the ER was in order.
Although, we had been somewhat calm while we were trying to figure out what was going on, I started to get a little bit overwhelmed at the thought that this was more than heat rash, and I didn't know what was wrong with my baby. Needless to say, I wanted to get loaded up in the car and on our way as fast as possible.  Unfortunately in my haste to get out the door, I headed to ER with my pjs and loaded Owen into his carseat in just his diaper with a blanket draped over him and his pj's stashed in my purse.   Luke and Bekah and their wits about them to put on actual clothes.
When we were finally ready to leave, we realized that none of us knew where a hospital was. Rather than head back inside, and ask Bekah's roommate's boyfriend (who is a firefighter) where to go, we decided to go ahead and call 911. Bekah made it very clear we were able to drive him to the ER ourselves, and that we simply needed directions. Owen was still crying pretty hard and definitely uncomfortable so when it came time to making a decision about going to the Children's hospital (which we didn't quite know how to get to) or going to the closest ER right off the freeway, we chose the latter.
When we got to the ER and up to the front desk, I couldn't answer the receptionist's questions and suddenly felt a rush of tears and heat run to my face. I looked at Luke hoping he would see my inability to talk, and just explain everything for me. I remember muttering a few phrases and then after being unable to provide Owen's social security number (reminder that I need to memorize it), we went ahead and took a seat.
We discovered that an ER on a Saturday night is quite an interesting place to be. One man had been in a bar fight, and was still clearly unable to feel the cuts and bruises on his face since he was still numb from the alcohol he had consumed.  His buddies ordered pizza to be delivered to the ER during the wait and while he was in the back triage area he continually wandered around and went back to the lobby to chat with his friends, eat, and flirt with girls.  The nurses tried to get him to stay in one place since they were hoping to take him back for a CAT scan.
Another huge family that had been at a fiesta were ALL there because Grandma had fallen and broken her hip while at the party. When we arrived, I thought we would be waiting till morning since the ER was packed with people.  Fortunately, we realized that half of the people in the room were from this one group all waiting on Grandma.  At one point while Bekah was waiting for us, she was completely surrounded by the family and didn't quite know what to do. 
After two hours of waiting in the lobby, we were finally called back to triage. At this point Owen had fallen back asleep. We were asked a couple questions by the same person from intake and then we proceeded to wait for about another hour. Finally the Dr. and nurse came in to see us. The Dr. took one look at Owen, heard our story, and promptly told us it was not heat rash but rather an allergic reaction to something. After asking us a ton of questions about what we had done over the past three days, we decided it was probably the spray-on sunscreen we had been applying to help him with his "heat rash".
Talk about a MAJOR parenting fail! I felt terrible. We had been making his rash worse for two and half days. Owen was such a trooper through it all. We decided he must have a pretty decent pain tolerance since he didn't really get irritable or lose it until the rash was covering about 90% of his body.
The Dr. ordered a shot of prednisone and benadryl, which took another 30-40 minutes to get, and then we were finally on our way. It was quite the night! Oh, and I forgot to mention this all took place on daylight savings so we lost an additional hour of sleep on top of the ER visit.  By the time we made it back home we were exhausted and desperately needing sleep. However, Owen had slept for a good portion of our time at the ER so at 8 am he was up and ready for the day. 

Here is a picture from our time in triage.  It was taken after the first visit from the Dr.  It is hard to actually see how bad his rash really was.