HEBE

Number six. The fourth son. It was a Sunday afternoon. We had been to church and had dinner and then the pains started. So it was once again time to go to the hospital and have a baby. We had decided to try to get along this time without Mama and Daddy coming to help. (They were at Lake Tahoe with Aunt Janeen for a few days.) We had a young friend named Cindy Eastman (no relation) who came to stay with the other kids while Dad and I went to the hospital. So he was born at 11:30 Sunday night. Mama and Daddy came soon after to visit. He was the last grandchild born before Mama died.

We named him Heber Christian, after Mama's dad. But we had assumed all along that HE was a SHE. We even took a dress to the hospital to bring him home in. Dad had to return it and bring something a little more appropriate. He was the first baby we brought home to this house. We put the crib in Samantha's room and they were roommates for a while.

He was a great baby. Started doing everything early. Nearly walking at almost 8 months. And then the weekend of Mother's Day, 1978 he started getting sick. I assumed it was an ear infection because he wasn't nursing much. So Monday morning I took him in to Bryner Clinic. Our regular pediatrician there was Dr. Richards, but Monday was his day off so we saw Dr. Evans. It wasn't an ear infection. He wasn't sure, thought maybe some sores in his mouth. He told me to try giving him juices and call if he didn't get better. Two days later I took him in again and he saw him in his personal office. Still couldn't say what it was, but he could see Hebe was getting worse. The next day I called and told him Hebe wasn't drinking anything and really couldn't hold up his head anymore. He told me to meet him at Primary Children's. I called Dad and he met us there from work.

And so it began. Questions and tests. What had he eaten...nothing much; he was still nursing, mostly. Did he drool a lot?...yes. I stayed in his room all night and dozed in a chair. Dad went home to be with everyone else. The next morning (I think it was Friday or Saturday, Dad came back to the hospital and made me go home to relax and clean up. While we were home they called from the hospital and said they had moved Hebe into Intensive Care. It was Infant Botulism. They assured us they didn't lose babies with Infant Botulism, if caught in time, but that he would hit bottom before he started getting better. And he did. He lost all muscle strength. Couldn't swallow, couldn't hold his head up and couldn't breath. They fed him through a tube in his nose. He was on a ventilator. A therapist came in several times a day to pound on him to keep his lung clear. We went to the hospital every day and could see him once an hour for five or ten minutes.

After two weeks he was well enough to move to semi-intensive care. That was a big deal. That meant we could see him anytime. We even brought all the kids in a time or two to visit him. By this time Mama and Daddy had moved from Calif. to Bountiful (they did that in Feb. 1978). It was such a blessing to have them so close. Once school was out on many I days I took the kids to stay with them and I went in to the hospital for the day.

Then about four weeks later, early one Sunday morning in July, I was walking into the hospital and met Dr. Joel Thompson coming out. He was in charge of Hebe's care. He told me Hebe had pulled out his feeding tube, again. That had been happening a lot. I said, "why don't you just let me take him home?" He said that would probably be OK. So the next day we left the hospital and went home. That was a GREAT day! I had to keep track of everything that went into him and everything that came out. Had to call Dr. Evans every day and report. (I want to mention that at this time we had Health insurance. After we took Hebe home Dr. Evans and Dr. Thompson both said that whatever the insurance paid, was it. If there was any amount unpaid, they would write it off. And they did. Wonderful men.)

And so he was better. It took a little while to build up his strength, but then he was good as new. Took right off again. Was soon walking and doing everything else that was age appropriate. I took him in for Dr. Thompson to check some months later and he was amazed. Hebe changed the thinking about Infant Botulism at the time. Doctors had issued warnings about dipping pacifiers in honey for babies under three months. Hebe was the oldest baby they had seen with the illness at the time. (By the way, Hebe never used a pacifier.)

So this was our miracle. One of many.......