You Take the Good, You Take the Bad

This has been a week of milestones and has ended with some impending sadness. I'll start with the good first.

I reached 23 weeks on Wednesday. Now I know 24 weeks is viability, and believe me I'm so excited to be almost there, but I can't help but keep 23 weeks in my mind. It's hard to believe that I was born at 23 weeks and that I even made it at all seeing how it was 1972 and I was in a normal hospital with no NICU.

Pic taken at 1 month old ~ 3lbs 10oz

Anyway I know how fortunate I am that I was born as healthy as I was. I also can't imagine having Sebastian now. I keep thinking, he's not done cooking yet! It makes me put myself in my mom's shoes. How scared she must have been. She hadn't had any childbirth classes, any showers, hadn't a thing ready for me (not that that would matter much seeing how I was in an incubator in the hospital for two months). She wasn't able to hold me or even touch me for those two months.

To this day she still doesn't know why I came early, just that I did. That poor woman was in labor for 36 hours without any meds of any kind (they wouldn't give her any) to not know if I was going to make it in the end.

So keep cooking Sebastian. We don't want to meet you just yet.

A good thing that happened this week centered on the arrival of a FedEx envelope. My step-daughter was accepted into the pre med program at Guelph University in Ontario, Canada. Plus she already is going to receive a $3000.00 scholarship because her grades are so high. I think this made her year is not life. I am definitely proud of her and all of her hard work. I knew she'd get in (she didn't think she would) but I am excited it's a reality for her. Now we have to focus on getting her more scholarships.

The bad thing is the discovery of Tristan, my last little rattie, gnawing and picking at the base of his tail. Alex took him in and they gave him some cream to put on it and some antibiotics. A couple days later it was ten times worse. Poor thing was bleeding all over the place. He's taken in to the vet again and they find a fast growing tumor on his spine. This one is inoperable. It's deadened the feeling in his tail so he doesn't know he's hurting himself when he picks at his tail. He's just trying to relieve the pressure back there.

My poor baby love. We will be taking him in on Monday morning to get put to sleep. I am so sad to lose my little rattie boy. For now I just have been spending lots of time with him and giving him crap loads of treats and kisses, which he has also been giving (kisses, not treats).

I will have no more rattie fuzzibutts in the house after this. I know we will get some more someday but this isn't the time. I can hardly imagine a house without ratties.

RIP Henri

Sweet Henri pased away today. I found him when I came home from work. I feel even more sad than normal because he had to die alone. Most of my ratties have passed as I held them. I just hope he didn't suffer.

My poor, sweet baby...I will miss his ratty kisses, his cuddles, and even how he smelled of caramel corn.

I let Tristan see him before I took him to the vet to be cremated and he wouldn't leave Henri's body alone. He kept licking his brother and trying to groom him. It was so sad.

I Can't Take it Anymore

My dear sweet baby Sweetpea died about 20 min ago. She was fine for most of the day, her usual happy kamakazi rattie self. When we got home from getting groceries I looked in the cage and saw her rolling around funny. Then for a couple hours she alternated hopping around with dragging her legs behind her. Then she seemed to magically get better. I had hope that she could make it til the morning to go to the vet. I kept checking on her and while I was at the cage she jumped on the door like she always did to come out. I opened it and she climbed up my arm to my shoulder. She died in my arms not 5 min later.

This hurts so bad because she was my little baby runt rattie from the beginning. I held her from the time she was born. It's like one of my own children dying.

What makes it worse was that I lost my old Zoe girl on Friday. Zoe was three so it was horribly sad yet expected. I love my rats so much but if I lose another one in any short period of time I'm going to lose it. They always come to me right before they die. I don't know why they do it.

Zoe, who was always skittish of people until the end when she wouldn't let me put her in the cage for a day. We spent some quality snuggle time in the end.

I'll add a picture of Sweetpea on July 4th when I can scan it.

Hooray for Squeakers!

I had been planning on getting Sadie a new little friend soon because I feel badly leaving her all alone during the day and rats are very social. I thought I would get one for her after my first paycheck but Alex just bought me one today :) So sweet he is! She was so cute we just had to take her home! She was the runt of the litter and is just the tiniest little thing. White as can be and just cute as a bug. Like sadie, we were in love with her immediatly. So Chloe is now a wonderful ratty addition to our growing menagerie.

Here are some pics of our little ladies. Sadie is about 6 months old and Chloe is probably a month old.