Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Sleep deprivation

Yes, I realize it has been a week since I last posted about Maddie so here we go........We finally made it home about 5pm last Tuesday. I didn't think we were ever going to get out of there. Maddie came home with taking only three medicines. She will have to be on a blood pressure medicine for a few more weeks, a baby aspirin every day for the rest of here life and a multi vitamin with iron. I was very relieved. She still does need chest physical therapy to help keep it clear because of the strep-pneumonia but she doesn't mind that.

Our main goal now that we are at home is to fatten her back up. She is eating almost double what she left the hospital eating which is great but she still is not up to what she was eating before surgery. To make sure she gets as many calories as possible I have to wake her every three to four hours to eat. This is a child that would sleep from 8pm to 5am before surgery. Not to mention I have to be conscience enough at what ever ungodly hour it is time for her to eat. I thought I was sleep deprived when she was born, that was a walk in the park. My hope is that by Christmas she will be back up to her weight before surgery and I can just let her sleep till she wakes up to eat. That old routine is looking better everyday.

Once we settled in I realized how exhausted I was. I slept when she slept at least I tried. It was all I could do just to move around the house. Poor Phil has been so busy with work and side work he hasn't had a day off in about 13 days. It was all he could do to help get Katie and Jack fed and bathed and back off to school the next day. Finally, yesterday I started to feel better and went out and ran some errands. Phil only had to work Monday and he has the rest of the week off. We are hoping to get some sleep and get few things done around the house.

We were going to go to Cleveland for Thanksgiving to visit my brother. I was really excited about it, However we felt it best not to travel. My parents are still going. So Phil and I had to decide what to do. After talking with a few of our close friends they also were going to be alone for the holiday. Well not anymore. We are going to have 11 people at house for Thanksgiving. Phil and I are going to deep fry the Turkey and make a few sides and everyone else is bringing the rest of dinner. It is going to be unbelievable chaos but it will be the good kind.

Maddie had to go for a chest x-ray this morning and she goes to the family doctor tomorrow for a weight check. We have told Katie and Jack about the Thanksgiving dinner at our house and they are very excited. There is no school for them Thursday and Friday so I believe they will help me decorate the house for Christmas. I always like to have the decorations up before Katie's birthday (Dec 4th). I haven't really talked about Katie and Jack too much. Katie was acting up in her class but that has really subsided now that Maddie and I are at home everyday. She is finally getting used to the fact that Maddie and I will be at home and not the hospital. The next hurdle is getting Maddie sleeping back in her crib. Katie asked when Maddie was coming back to her bed in her room.

Maddie is a very soft voice and cry since having the breathing tube in for so long at the hospital so she is sleeping is a pack n play in our bedroom. It actually has worked out pretty well because when she cries it doesn't wake up Katie and Jack. Jack, I am not even sure where to begin with Jack. He has had the worse time with all of this. His behavior at school and at home has been a pure reflection of that. However, he has a teacher that was born with incredible patience and has been working with Jack. She has discovered how smart he is and how bored he is in his current classroom. They believe that this is part of the behavior problem. I have had to challenge him at home and he loves it.

If all goes well after the Thanksgiving Holiday they are going to discuss moving Jack out of his current class in in with the 4 year old's. His current Teacher is aware he needs a bigger challenge and she can not give it to him because the rest of the class is not there. So they are considering moving him. I will find out more on this later. His current teacher thinks this will curb most of the behavior problems because he will learn new things. One of the other reasons Jack has been having problems is because his best friend in his class left the school. I wish some one would have told us. Jack finally started talking about it at home. It took me a few different conversations and asking the right questions and he told me. That was a really big deal to lose a best friend and not understand why they just disappear.

My hope now is stay on top of things more so that things like that don't slip thru the cracks again. Since I am on a leave from my job till Maddie can go back to public daycare I can just focus on our family and get everyone going in the right direction again. Phil jokes all the time that we are going crazy and Jack is the driver hopefully in the next few weeks I will be the driver.
Hope you are having a great week.!!!!! TTFN

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