I am looking for answers. We all are. I've been avoiding telling what I saw, what's happened, but now I want to know if anyone out there can help us find out what happened to Andrew. There CANNOT be NO reason! That is just insane!
Andrew, 2yo, died July 23 unexpectedly, suddenly. He woke up fine in the morning. Was dancing to Bob Marley with my 3yo, and then he looked tired. He hadn't gotten to bed till late, so I asked if he wanted to lay back down...he did.
I heard him crying in his sleep twice - now that I look back, it may have been crying with slight moaning - but this was not abnormal for him to cry in his sleep. I babysat Andrew almost all his life. I was watching him for a few days while his parents went out of town. So I knew what was 'normal' for him.
The second time I checked in on him, having heard him crying, he was sweaty, so I took off the blanket, turned on the fan, asked him if he wanted to get up and have breakfast. He shook his head no and turned the other way. I took it that he just wanted to sleep. He looked really tired.
this is really hard...
My DH came home early - he doesn't usually - but he wanted to work on my car. But before he did that, he wanted to go out and run an errand with all of us, so I went in to wake up Andrew. It had been 10 minutes since I last checked in on him. He was laying in the total opposite direction now, but still heavily asleep. I rolled him over. Still breathing. I've changed his diaper before while he still slept - he's a very heavy sleeper - so I did while talking to him, signing 'wake up! wake up!' thinking he would. He sounded a bit raspy, but wasn't stirring. His eyes were slightly opened. I changed his pants and went to take off his shirt. This is when I realized that he was not 'normal'...
his little body flopped out of the shirt. I tried sitting him up. "Andrew! Wake up!" he wasn't. I rubbed his arms and legs, thinking he was in a heavy sleep, but he would not wake up! My kids were in the room, giggling, since he seemed to be a doll, lifeless. I ran to get my DH, the phone, and carried Andrew into the living room and laid him on the couch. DH held open his eyes, talking to him while I called 911. Andrew looked right at him, shook his head from side to side, but could not, would not move his arms and legs.
The paramedics came, took him, I rode with him in the ambulance. They later told me his heart stopped on the way to the hospital. They couldn't even use the paddles as he didn't have any electrical charge in his heart. They continued for 72 minutes to bring him back. But...he died.
As I mentioned, I babysat Andrew much of his life. He was a markedly different boy from when he was 1 and when he was 2. His parents chalked it up to "terrible two's", but I feel that there might have been something else there. He cried constantly, sometimes inconsolably. He hit his head repeatedly all day long when he threw a temper tantrum. Once I put a helmet on him for a few minutes - he didn't like it - but I told him I was scared that he was going to really hurt himself. He was an extremely heavy sleeper, sometimes taking 2 naps a day, the afternoon one 4-5 hours.
He was loving, kind, a very good little friend to my 5yo and 3yo...I was looking forward to him growing out of his "terrible two's" as I watch him all week and after crying all day, slamming his head all day, I was ready for that 4-5 hour nap. I would CONSTANTLY check in on him. It was just so different than my own kids. I mentioned numerous times to his parents that I was concerned. They just thought I was overly motherly and thought it cute...now I wish I had said more...
I used to carry him around in my slings. Lay down with him and my DD when it was nap time when she used to nap...he was like a third child during the week...and I've watched him overnight before and he was totally fine. Just feel into his usual routine at my house.
But then this past year he's been a different kid. And now he's gone. He did have a vax early in the year that he cried horribly the day after, feverish, but his dad told me to just give him tylenol and have him nap...of course, me being anti-vax, I'm looking at this moment as a maybe for what could have caused him to die. But I'm no doc. I haven't a clue how to start to understand. Or even how to mention this to his parents. They are close friends of ours and have kept us in their lives and are looking for answers too...
Andrew, 2yo, died July 23 unexpectedly, suddenly. He woke up fine in the morning. Was dancing to Bob Marley with my 3yo, and then he looked tired. He hadn't gotten to bed till late, so I asked if he wanted to lay back down...he did.
I heard him crying in his sleep twice - now that I look back, it may have been crying with slight moaning - but this was not abnormal for him to cry in his sleep. I babysat Andrew almost all his life. I was watching him for a few days while his parents went out of town. So I knew what was 'normal' for him.
The second time I checked in on him, having heard him crying, he was sweaty, so I took off the blanket, turned on the fan, asked him if he wanted to get up and have breakfast. He shook his head no and turned the other way. I took it that he just wanted to sleep. He looked really tired.
this is really hard...
My DH came home early - he doesn't usually - but he wanted to work on my car. But before he did that, he wanted to go out and run an errand with all of us, so I went in to wake up Andrew. It had been 10 minutes since I last checked in on him. He was laying in the total opposite direction now, but still heavily asleep. I rolled him over. Still breathing. I've changed his diaper before while he still slept - he's a very heavy sleeper - so I did while talking to him, signing 'wake up! wake up!' thinking he would. He sounded a bit raspy, but wasn't stirring. His eyes were slightly opened. I changed his pants and went to take off his shirt. This is when I realized that he was not 'normal'...
his little body flopped out of the shirt. I tried sitting him up. "Andrew! Wake up!" he wasn't. I rubbed his arms and legs, thinking he was in a heavy sleep, but he would not wake up! My kids were in the room, giggling, since he seemed to be a doll, lifeless. I ran to get my DH, the phone, and carried Andrew into the living room and laid him on the couch. DH held open his eyes, talking to him while I called 911. Andrew looked right at him, shook his head from side to side, but could not, would not move his arms and legs.
The paramedics came, took him, I rode with him in the ambulance. They later told me his heart stopped on the way to the hospital. They couldn't even use the paddles as he didn't have any electrical charge in his heart. They continued for 72 minutes to bring him back. But...he died.
As I mentioned, I babysat Andrew much of his life. He was a markedly different boy from when he was 1 and when he was 2. His parents chalked it up to "terrible two's", but I feel that there might have been something else there. He cried constantly, sometimes inconsolably. He hit his head repeatedly all day long when he threw a temper tantrum. Once I put a helmet on him for a few minutes - he didn't like it - but I told him I was scared that he was going to really hurt himself. He was an extremely heavy sleeper, sometimes taking 2 naps a day, the afternoon one 4-5 hours.
He was loving, kind, a very good little friend to my 5yo and 3yo...I was looking forward to him growing out of his "terrible two's" as I watch him all week and after crying all day, slamming his head all day, I was ready for that 4-5 hour nap. I would CONSTANTLY check in on him. It was just so different than my own kids. I mentioned numerous times to his parents that I was concerned. They just thought I was overly motherly and thought it cute...now I wish I had said more...
I used to carry him around in my slings. Lay down with him and my DD when it was nap time when she used to nap...he was like a third child during the week...and I've watched him overnight before and he was totally fine. Just feel into his usual routine at my house.
But then this past year he's been a different kid. And now he's gone. He did have a vax early in the year that he cried horribly the day after, feverish, but his dad told me to just give him tylenol and have him nap...of course, me being anti-vax, I'm looking at this moment as a maybe for what could have caused him to die. But I'm no doc. I haven't a clue how to start to understand. Or even how to mention this to his parents. They are close friends of ours and have kept us in their lives and are looking for answers too...
. How awful for everyone.
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