Oh Otter!

It's been a hard past week and a half around the Williams' house.  Otter hurt his back again while going down our front stairs last Thursday night. When he hurt his back two and a half years ago it also happened when he was going down some stairs near the beach. That injury lead to an emergency surgery and a long, hard recovery.  So, when it happened again, I immediately feared the worst. Kate was already in bed for the night and Steve had to work in the morning, so Otter and I headed to the pet hospital. After waiting until almost 3 am, we got some good news. Otter was clearly in a lot of pain and wobbly when he walked, but he wasn't paralyzed in his hind legs like the first time. They gave us an arsenal of pain pills and an anti-inflammatory and sent us home to monitor him and wait.  

For some reason laying down, and especially putting his head down, causes Otter more pain.
The first night after his injury Steve stuck close by and made sure he had a good headrest.

After Otter did okay over the weekend, all last week was a roller coaster. He would be in really bad shape with heavy panting and uncontrollable trembling (to the point of his teeth chattering at times) for most of the night and early morning, but then he would improve in the afternoon and all along he was eating well and drinking. By yesterday though, Steve and I were exhausted -- Steve from having to carry Otter up and down our inside and outside stairs multiple times a day, even coming home on his lunch breaks to do so, and me from running back and forth all day between Kate and Otter trying to keep both of them from crying.  So, we headed back to the pet hospital. It was just our luck that they were very busy, and Steve, who only has to work one or two Saturdays a year, had to go to work.  He headed to work from the hospital and Kate and I, waited and waited, for almost 4 hours!

Mom, Where's Otter? And, why are we still here?
It was a long Saturday afternoon/evening.

The vet gave Otter a shot for pain and adjusted his medications. During her exam she did not see any neurological deficits. This means that he can recover. Keep your fingers crossed for him.

If one good thing did come from last week, it is that Kate is now sleeping in her crib! In all the chaos and after Kate and I got bit by something overnight (that's another story), I stripped the two covers from her bassinet to wash them, and when it was bedtime, I realized that I never put them in the dryer. After our nighttime routine, when I laid Kate down in her crib to zip her into her swaddle sack and wait for the dryer, Steve said, "Why don't you just leave her there." I did and just like that she transitioned into sleeping in her crib. I thought it was going to be a big ordeal to move her, but I guess not! It really hasn't interrupted her sleep at all.

Sleeping Angel.
She looks so small in that big space.

Steve took these pictures in a dark room.
(Yes, I am putting laundry away in the background.)

Kate's sleeping accommodations in our room are quite nice. Between her Twilight Turtle that projects colored stars on the walls and ceiling and her Sleep Sheep that plays the sound of a mother's heartbeat, the girl has no reason to not sleep well.

Kate looks so proud now in the mornings when she wakes up in her crib. As for me, I am probably sleeping less. Instead of reaching over with my hand to feel her chest throughout the night, I now spend a good part of it glued to this:

Sweet Dreams!
(Don't worry, it's not really 87 degrees in our room like the monitor says!)