I know that the last post I made was a wee while ago and that the busy-ness was overwhelming. Well, I don’t think it’s necessary for me to say in every post how busy we have been. It’s like that all the time now. I know that we all have our own busy lives to lead and it certainly makes the time fly too. I think that this ‘busy’ world I have been thrown into was not at all the sort of ‘busy’ I had dreamed, hoped, yearned for. I’m mostly accepting of it on a day where Thomas is stable “health wise” and is generally happy for most of the day. I only ever want for Thomas to be happy. I have accepted that we will have days or weeks that are really rough.
This past week has been rough for Thomas and I. Not only was his sleeping all over the place for reasons for which I’m still unsure of but the week has ended with some new medications and more referrals.
Thomas skipped his Conductive Education session on Monday because he was really grizzly. On Tuesday, Joe and I both went to the BLENNZ Homai Playgroup together. Although Thomas was a bit off still, he had a good session exploring different objects. He especially loved a medium sized, bright red, fluffy crab that vibrates when touched. He sat there in my lap, kind of semi grasping it (Go Thomas!) and seemed quite content. I will need to hunt down something similar like that. I will post a short clip of him with it shortly on his facebook page!
Wednesday, Thomas’s VNT came with his new sleeping system to trial and it was immediately evident that the sleeping system was too big for Thomas. It is like a giant bean bag that molds a certain way to support Thomas to lie with correct posture while sleeping. Well, it swallowed him up! The VNT and I both agreed that it wasn’t right and perhaps when he’s bigger he can move into using this kind of sleeping system. This has become a big part of our world for Thomas – equipment. It’s about trialing equipment and finding what’s right for him. I find this process the hardest because there’s never any guarantee that a piece of equipment will work for Thomas and you end up spending a lot of time waiting for it too. We are still waiting for a seating/buggy system and a car seat. The seating/buggy system is the link below. We are really excited to be getting it in apparently less than 3 weeks!!!!! The car seat hasn’t been selected yet. The good news is that we can choose our own from Babyonthemove and once an application has been made, we may be waiting 3 months + Meanwhile Thomas’s current capsule seat is not giving him the support he needs and he is growing too long for it hence why the waiting game can be quite difficult!
http://shuttlediscovery.com/parents
Thomas did not go to BLENNZ on Friday, and instead we visited his GP. His eczema was proving difficult to manage with a really bad all over body mad flare up. He continued to be unsettled all week and I caught him straining to um, you know, make me a present hah! Well, after all that straining, nothing! He hadn’t gone for awhile so this led me to think maybe constipation or his lack of muscle strength to push? (cerebral palsy related) Well, we came back from the doctors on Friday with a plastic bag full of medication that included lactulose, antibiotics (just in case!), a new stronger ointment for the eczema plus some pinetarsol for the bath. So far the lactulose has helped big time. He is suddenly regular again. The ointment has eased his eczema too. The doctor thinks he needed something a bit greasier. She has made a referral for him to have an extensive skin test as well as see an eczema nurse specialist at Waitakere hospital.
Thomas is also having a referral done to see a dietitian to ensure that he is eating enough because he is a little fella for his corrected and actual age. I believe that this might be due to his prematurity and having cerebral palsy. Thomas does seem to be eating fine with the solids but seeing a dietitian will be a good way to check that he’s getting enough or find ways to add fat into his diet if necessary. Our goal is to try and get him to feed from a bottle so I can have more than a few hours away for a break. This has proved tricky already. We went out and bought a bottle and the 0+ month teat flow was way too fast. We have since tried the Dr Browns as well and he managed to drink 40 mls and refused to have any more. At the time we didn’t know why but his spew about an hour or so later told us maybe his tummy didn’t agree with it.(Thomas very rarely spills) I also learned this week that the SLT can provide us with bottles for free for children like Thomas who struggle with feeding from a bottle. Who knew? His SLT is going to leave a few different brands with us to try out during the week.
Today Thomas seems a bit chirpier as his skin looks to be clearing up and he is regular again. I knew that something was not right during the week because he wasn’t interested in his sensory room and was crying a lot. Even when held he was really upset. This was really distressing for me because I had been unwell with some viral thing that Joe brought home from work. It made me realise how hard it is when you’re unwell with an unwell bub. It’s not like I can call in sick! On that note, I’m feeling much better.
As I look at my Thomas’s diary, I can see that next week will be interesting. Yes, we have appointments everyday next week plus Thomas gets to see his ophthalmologist again. This is just a routine check up but Thomas has only seen the eye doctor once before when he was about 4 months old so it will be interesting to see if there is any developments/changes.
I also had a very lovely phone call with the Parent2Parent support parent during the week and it was really great to talk to someone who completely understands. She gave me some really great advice so I am thankful for that. 🙂