A Hero's Story (and a few more pics)

Our bathing beauty...Ben basking in the sun to get rid of his jaundice
One of the rare moments that he has his eyes open!
Ben's brothers can't get enough of our little "Burrito Boy"

Most of you have already heard the story of our exciting "adventure" on Tuesday. But we are recording this for James' sake...our hero! He is pretty proud of the "big job" he did to help Mommy. He even told me today that his story was probably in the newspaper. Well, in our eyes, he does deserve to be in the news!

Here's the brief overview...I was taking Ben and the boys over to the hospital to get the baby's lab work done. I developed some incredibly intense pain in my abdomen. I found myself in the parking lot, without a cell phone, unable to walk, and with three little boys in the backseat, ready to pass out from the pain. After some moments of panic, deliberation, and prayer, I finally sent James into the hospital by himself to get help. I'll let Art tell the rest of the story in his words:

"I was on a phone call with a contact for eyeQ in the UK and my cell phone range. I ignored it as it was an number I didn’t recognize. A minute later Chris interrupted and said the boys' Dr. (their pediatrician)was on the phone.. I knew Amy was taking Ben in to get the jaundice test done this morning, but I thought it very odd that he would call me this early unless something was wrong.

He said that he found James wandering around the hospital, and to make a long story short, Amy was in the ER and I needed to get up there.

When I got there, here is what I found out. Amy was taking Ben in to get his test done and when she got halfway there she started having a stabbing pain in her abdomen. When she got to the parking lot she got half way out of the vehicle and couldn’t move. She was bent over on the seat of the Tahoe. With all 3 boys in tow she was in a bit of a predicament. The only thing she could think of to do was send James for help. James is 4 but he is not afraid of people. He was also at the hospital yesterday for the same test for baby Ben and so Amy told him to find one of the people dressed like a Dr. and bring them out to mommy.

He took off and found his way in the hospital to look around for a Dr. He saw elevator and was about to get on it when his Dr., who was actually off that day and just doing his rounds, saw James and realized that something waswrong. His dr. was dressed in shorts so it took a minute for James to recognize him, but when he did, he said something like, “Dr Nye, my mommy needs some help. She's in our white Tahoe” Assuming that they were parked out front, the Dr. took James that way. When they got there James told him they were not out here. So he took the Dr. back to the back entrance of the hospital to the lab, one I knew nothing about, and showed him exactly where Amy and the other 2 boys were. (Amy's addition: in the mean time, I had flagged down someone in the parking lot to help me and to find James. As a result, someone in the hospital was notified and a Code Blue was called! I soon found myself surrounded by about 12 hospital personnel, Dr. Nye, and James!!! Talk about exciting...)

Dr. Nye stayed with the boys and helped Amy until he got fed up with the hospital not calling me and then called me on his cell phone. He then called the office when I didn’t pick up. When I arrived he was still there checking back on Amy to make sure she was ok.

Anyway, I couldn’t be more grateful for a brave 4 year old and a good pediatrician."

To add to Art's version, I have to echo my thanks for a fantastic pediatrician. He stayed with me and the boys over two hours...on his day off, no less. He helped me fill out paperwork, got me through triage, kept the boys calm, called Art, and arranged for Ben's lab work to be taken care of. Talk about above and beyond the call of duty!!!

Most importantly, I just have to say that James was very brave and kept his cool amazingly well. He's a great little boy and we are proud of him. We LOVE you James!