Norah's Fight

Bacterial meningitis used to be a lot more common then it is now. When my Dad was a young resident almost 40 years ago, they were trained to do a spinal tap if a baby with a high fever came in, because often that is what it was. HB flu (hib) was the most common bacteria that they would see amongst children. Bacterial meningitis can cause brain damage, hearing lose, blindness, seizes, and even has the potential to be fatal. Luckily in 1985 they came out with a vaccine for that most common bacteria type, (hib), and since then bacterial meningitis has become extremely rare. (Thank goodness for vaccines!!!!) The stat I found said 1 in 100,000 babies. But Sweet immunized Norah didn't get the "hib virus", she somehow caught hib's newest relative that is only beginning to surface (hia) . In fact, I asked the infections disease team at primary children's hospital over and over for some reading material so I knew what we were getting into- and they couldn't find me anything. Norah was entering some pretty un-known territory, which in itself was terrifying. The infectious disease doctor told me at her final check up when the nightmare was over "Well, of all the types of meningitis your baby could of gotten- she certainly choose the wrong one." He made sure to let me know how lucky we are that it looks like she has a full recovery.

I'll back up to Tuesday night (May 26th) when I put my perfectly happy and normal 15 mth old to bed. She had had a very low grade fever for a few days, but the baby only has 4 teeth- I thought for sure it was teething. She didn't have any other symptoms. Zero. She was happy as can be. It's not an exaggeration when I say it all happened over night.

She woke up Wednesday morning a different child. She wouldn't let me set her down, she wouldn't eat, and she still had a low grade fever. I knew something was wrong right away and called my pediatrician as soon as it opened. They told me they couldn't see me until 4:15 pm. Things got worse as the day went all. She feel back asleep around 9:45 am and then never really woke all the way up again. She would open her eyes and look around for 20 mins at a time and then go back to sleep. By 2:00 I was terrified. I was giving her medicine and nothing seemed to break her fever. I called the pediatrician and thy assured me she would be fine- they couldn't see me any sooner.


I took her temperature around 3 with an anal thermometer so it would be more accurate and it said 104.5. My wonderful neighbors and greatest friends offered to watch Adaliah and Elizabeth and suggested I go to the pediatrician right away- even if it wasn't time for my appointment yet.

So, I did. The pediatrician looked at her for about 5 mins. She didn't fight. She didn't move. She didn't do anything. You could lift her arm and it would fall like a rag doll. Looking at her oxygen levels, her heart rate, and hearing she hadn't had a single wet or dirty diaper the entire day- he told me to go to primary children's hospital right away.


I left a frantic voice mail for Pete and started driving to Salt Lake. Luckily, my sister was able to drop everything and come with me to the hospital so I didn't have to be alone.


At primary's there was a lot of waiting. Waiting to check in, waiting for a room, waiting for tests... our poor baby was yellow by that point and her eyes were rolling in the back of her head.

Pete finally arrived, as well as Karen's husband Collin. They were able to give her a blessing. Without knowing anything we were up against- Pete blessed her with a full recovery. He blessed her that she would be return to her "Happy, healthy self". The blessing brought comfort. 

They admitted her that night. I frantically made phone calls to make sure my girls at home were cared for and we settled in the little hospital room with NO ANSWERS.

The next morning they ran more tests and decided to go for a spinal tap. She was just not looking any better. They came back pretty quick with her diagnosis, bacterial meningitis. I didn't know enough about meningitis to know how terrified to be. I was just glad they had figured something out so we could start treating her.

This is when things went from bad to worse. They started her on a very strong antibiotic right away. Bacterial meningitis is a race against time. It attacks the brain, which is why there are so many terrifying side effects.

Her little week body wasn't able to handle the stress and Norah's blood pressure begin to drop very rapidly, dangerously low. They called a "Code yellow", and the next thing I knew a large team of doctors were running in my room frantically surrounding her bed pumping he with fluids in 5 or 6 different places in her little body and calling out orders to each other. The hospitals therapist came and held my hand and talked me through what was happening and why they were going to have to take us to the intensive care unit.

Luckily we had visitors that day to give me strength and hold my hand. Norah didn't look like Norah anymore. It was hard to look at her. She was so puffy from all the fluids, and she was a shade of color that still haunts me at night. She didn't move. She didn't respond. She just slept.

In the intensive care unit it's just a long hallway of of curtains separating the babies. They only let one parent spend the night- so Pete let me stay. I had a small chair that reclined a little next to her bed, and that was it. I was one of the only parents there that night, because most of the other babies on the floor had probably been there for weeks.

I'll never forget that night (Thursday, May 28th) as long as I live. I had never felt heartache like I felt that night. Norah was in such pain, she wouldn't let me touch her. She didn't want me to talk to her. My presence didn't bring any comfort. She responded the same way to me as she would the nurses coming in to check vitals. They told me to watch for "strange behavior" because brain damage is so common. I was terrified that my baby wasn't ever going to know who I was again.

I cried, and cried, and prayed, and pleaded, and begged the Lord all night long as I sat and watched my baby sleep in a room full of children that were fighting for there lives.

The next morning the doctors came in with some good news, and some bad. Good news, they had discovered what bacteria type she had which allowed us to be more specific with her antibiotic. The bad news was her CRP level was up to 36.  The CRP level is the level of infection in your body. The normal amount is 0.8. The doctors at primary's say they rarely see over 20. The more the infection in her brain- the more likely there is to have side effects. 36 was not a a number anybody wanted to hear.


At this point, when Pete and I Prayed together we didn't care what side effect she would have we just wanted her to stay with us. We kept saying "we would love a deaf baby, we would love a blind baby, we can deal with seizers, just let her come home"

The next 7 days were full of tests and procedures. Luckily she got released form the intensive care unit, and day by day we watched that number 36 slowly go down. On Sunday they installed a pic line into her arm that ran to her heart to give her treatment more effectively. On Monday they gave her a MRI and hearing test. Her MRI showed fluid in the brain and lots of infection - but there were no pockets of infection. The pockets of infection in the brain would mean brain surgery, so we got really lucky she dodged that. When the hearing test came back great and her vitals began to perk up, we  began to breath a little more easy.

We had so many visitors coming and going to show their support which gave us so much strength. My mom stayed at home with the girls- and brought them up for a few hours a day to see me. Karen and Collin came every single day at some point to be with me- especially when Pete couldn't be there.

Norah started to open her eyes a little more every day. There was so much pressure in her brain that she liked a dark, quiet room, and she liked to be held up right when she slept. I got to sit in a chair and hold her all day and sometimes all night for an entire week. As hard as it was- I began to enjoy the days. The spirit was so strong in her hospital room. I knew it was full of angles watching over her. It was peaceful and quiet. It felt like  a sacred place. I  kept reminding myself that I would never get a chance to hold and snuggle with my baby this often again. I tried to enjoy the time spent with my baby girl.

On Monday, it was my birthday, and Norah gave me the greatest gift I could have received. She still wasn't responsive to much around her. My mom brought up Elizabeth and Adaliah to visit- and this time we let them come see Norah. Norah's entire counenense changed as her sisters walked into the room. She lit up and reached for them and called them by name.

I balled my eyes out. It was the first assurance that I had that she was still very aware of what was going on. She had just been choosing to not respond because of her pain. 

By Tuesday (June 2nd) Norah began to show more signs that she was going to get better. She started to eat a little bit for food for the first time in a week. We got our first smile from her. She started pointing to the door, indicating she wanted to leave the room. She was to week to sit the first few times so we would pull her around in a wagon. She loved looking around and seeing something besides her little room. (Although, she would always throw up after her wagon rides- poor girl)

By Wednesday she was able to sit up with support. I got to take her outside for the first time in a week. 

Thursday morning, (June 4th) they sent us home to let her heal. I was terrified. She was still to week to walk- she wanted me to hold her all day. She was throwing up- and we didn't know why. She had her pic line in her arm which we were supposed to give her treatments with 2  times a day- with some help of the home health care. But Norah was ready. She smiled ear to ear when we got her in the car. She was so happy to be done with the hospital.

Day after day she got more strength and acted more like her happy self.

Her pic lines stayed in for 15 more days after the hospital, along with MRI's, blood tests, and lots of trips to the doctors for check ups, but on June 18th we got the thumbs up from the doctors and she got her pic line out. She had made it. Full recovery. IT WAS TRUELY A MIRACLE.

I could write another 5 pages about all the tender mercies we saw the the month of envents. All the people that helped take care of Adaliah and Elizabeth, that brought us meals, mowed our lawn, brought gifts, visited us in Salt Lake. We were not alone in our trial. Mostly- we knew the Lord was with us. I felt like I was blessed with so much strength and hope. The spirit filled our home with comfort. We never at any point felt like we had to face this trail a lone- and that was a miracle too.

Memorial Day weekend

We decided now that Chris was finally going to be the last Ackerman to get married, we should do a little bachelor's party brothers trip. I sort of too the responsibility to plan the outing. Jake agreed to graciously donate his amazing 40 foot RV to housing all of us. I had planned a 4 day 3 night backpacking trip to KOLOB arch in Zions national park, only to learn a valuable lesson that memorial day is literally one of the worst times to try to get a camping permit at Zions. So our plan drastically changed to a road trip to the grand canyon instead... still way sweat. When we arrived it occurred to us how different those conditions are there vs what we were planning on at Zions. We were prepared for weather in the 60-90-s not 20s-40s. It was snowy and cold and foggy there, we could barely see past the rim... HA... but it still was a great time full of laughs. The driving time was filled with naps, some good conversation and naturally a lot of weird conversation too. When we were tired, --we slept, hungry,-- we ate. gassy,-- we'd fart. It was a great way to do a brothers trip. 

At the Grand Canyon we hiked and got to see the beautiful scenery from the rim. Then we also stayed a night at an RV park near hurricane. While there we made a movie, Dave and Joel directed, Matt filmed, and we all acted in it. It was about a guy that recently moved into to an RV community and his eventual acceptance from his co-weirdo neighbors. Of course a great way to pass the time with a lot of laughs. We capped the trip off with a great breakfast at a diner in cedar city. We really all talked about how we need to do things like that a lot more often. 

I feel very grateful to have the brothers that I have. All are great examples and have helped mold me. I think about them and how they are and the standard that they have lived up to collectively as a whole and it makes me want to hold to that standard. We are the Ackerman brothers and I think we all feel a sense of brotherhood and familial pride that few people get to experience as deeply as we do. I look forward to coming years to strengthen that bond even greater. 7 Brothers, 7 missionaries, 7 married in the temple and still have burning testimonies of the gospel. Im proud to be an Ackerman brother.  -Pete


When Pete was gone on his brothers trip, the girls and I had a fun weekend. We were able to visit Carsons grave before going down for a quick trip to Manti. Elizabeth got to go down a day early with her Aunt Karen and Uncle Collin. She thought that was the funnest thing ever- and talked about for months later.

We did graves in Manti as well.  I love this picture I got of my dad spending a moment at his best friend Paul Fore's grave. 

While in Manti, Norah started calling my dad "Bob" after hearing my mom call him that. She kept running around the house yelling "Bob!, Bob!" it was cracking us all up.

We came home from Manti and and spent some time with the sisters- in law while all our hubbies were away.

May moments

Elizabeth has been acting very.... two. I love this child but she sure loves to get a reaction out of Pete and I and even her sisters. When you ask her "Elizabeth, is it okay to kick Norah?' She'll always says "yes, with a smile." "Would it make you said if someone kicked you?" "no!", she'll say.  She'll always respond with the opposite thing you want her to say. Sh'e very clever. So I decided what she needed was more time with her mom. Poor child probably suffers from middle child syndrome. We went out for a fun date and had a great time, and I really think it did help! (For a few days at least...)

Mothers Day came and went. As soon as they announced in primary that mothers day was coming up (3 weeks before) Adaliah started on the card making. She probably made me 20 cards and pictures by the time Mothers Day came. I love that thoughtful girl. She made this in Pre-school. 

OOOO! And look what I got for Mothers Day from Pete and my Parents. I am so excited the girls will have something to do out in the back yard!! 

Adaliah graduated from Pre-School. She goes to Kreative Kids Preschool at our neighbors house and has LOVED it for the last two years. She was sad to be done.

Some other May highlights: We made it to Manti to visit family. The kids got to meet their Cray uncle Craig.

We had Grandpa Lenard over for his birthday 

These two sisters have started to become the best of friends- playing for hours and hours a day. This particular day Adaliah gave Elizabeth a "make over"

Adaliah learned the hard way not to play with the toys in the check out line. We couldn't get her hair  untangled out of the fan so we had to buy it attached to her head.

I completed my 3rd women of steal triathlon. This time I was able to train a race with my great friend Jessica. I was hoping to a new PR but I had major bike problems which prevented that. Bummer.

It has been raining, raining, raining, all month. My girls have loved it. 

Pete got stitches in his eye playing basketball early in the morning and didn't mention it to me until he got home late that night. Poor guy.

We've been loving the warm weather when all the neighbors start to feel the streets.

We started working on our yard- getting ready for summer!