On the morning of 29^th September and the last day of the school term, I woke up both excited and nervous, since Jonathan and I suspected that we may be adding to our little brood so before he and the kids left for work and school, I took a pregnancy test that I had bought the previous day, those three minutes seemed like and eternity, finally the little screen displayed “Pregnant 2-3 weeks”, we’re expecting baby number four! We are so, so excited at the news and we could hardly contain our excitement until we could tell the kids later that day! Our family is growing, the boys were ecstatic when we told them! Joel obviously didn’t understand but he cheered along with Caleb and Craig as if he did anyway. We told the extended family that weekend, and slowly told close friends too. We’re having a baby, we had also just gone to view a house that would be perfect for us and we love, and wanted to put in an offer, a short school break was upon us and I had some activities planned. We were on top of the world!

A few days into the school break, on the 4^th October, my mother-in-law planned a day out with Caleb and Craig, they went to a petting zoo and fed donkeys and even alpacas, then went on to enjoy some playtime at the park and then out for lunch. A day well spent for two busy boys on their school holiday.   I was at the office when my mom called from home, my mom-in-law had dropped off the kids but noticed that Craig wasn’t feeling well for a small while before they got home, he was complaining of abdominal pain. Shortly after getting home though his condition seemed to have worsened and he was doubled over in pain and had vomited too. Upon hearing this, after putting down the phone with my mom, I immediately called our doctor and booked the first available appointment, which was about 30mins later. Thankfully I work close enough to home and the doctor that it was just enough time to leave work, get home to fetch Craig and go straight to the doctor’s office in time for the appointment. I asked Caleb to come along since they’d had been together all day and I was hoping Caleb could help with any questions the doctor had if it was related to something he ate or did leading up to the sudden pain.

I watched the doctor performing the examination, as he felt Craig’s abdomen on the left, no reaction from Craig, on the top, seemed fine too, when he put pressure on the right side though, Craig screamed in pain. Watching this the first thought that entered my mind was that it’s his appendix. The Doctor said it seemed like it may be appendicitis confirming my suspicions, knowing we weren’t on medical aid he asked us if he could call Red Cross to speak to the surgeon on duty there about it, we were sent to the nurse’s station in the meantime to try to get Craig to pass urine so they could test a sample before going to Red Cross and while the doctor was on the phone with them.  In the waiting room, I realised that I had left my phone in the car and I couldn’t go myself to fetch it, and couldn’t send Caleb alone either, I was a bit distressed since I needed to call Jonathan to let him know what was going on. An elderly gentleman sitting next to me, who had been waiting on his wife to get some tests done, kindly offered to walk with Caleb to the car so he could get my phone (Caleb knew exactly where the car was and where to get my phone I just wasn’t comfortable sending him out to the parking lot alone), I gladly accepted his offer and they came back a few minutes later with my phone and I thanked him kindly for assisting. I immediately called Jonathan and he left work immediately. I had just gotten off the phone with Jonathan when in walked my father-in-law Randy, since Jonathan had called him and they live about 5 minutes away. The GP had spoken to the lead paediatric surgeon on duty at Red Cross and he suggested we go there immediately so they can assess him and run the necessary tests. Jonathan arrived and we went straight to the hospital with Craig.