A Day in My Life

I've had several requests for a "day in the life" post.  Never one to disappoint my many fans (you know, all two of them), I finally buckled down to doing one.  I decided to do it this past Monday which meant writing down what I was doing so I could then type it up in blog form.  Monday started off as a good day and then by mid-morning, it went haywire.  I thought about scratching it and trying again on a more "typical" day, but realized that Monday was a typical day for me.  At least several times a week, my day is thrown out of whack because of doctors' appointments, last minute or scheduled, or other medically related issues.

6:45 am - My alarm goes off.  I think about throwing my phone out of the window, but decide against it.  I hit the dismiss button and drag myself out of bed to wake the two oldest kiddos up for school.  As usual, neither is happy with this.  Princess refuses to pick out her own clothes, but complains about what I pick out for her, Little Man throws several tantrums in the first 10 minutes of waking up because he wants to go back to bed.  He asks if he can pretty please take a nap when he gets home from school because he is sooooooo tired.  I oblige, but know that he'll have changed his mind by then.  Neither one want to eat anything we have in the house for breakfast.  Star wakes up and can't seem to understand why everyone in the house isn't catering to her every whim.  Little Dude also wakes up and is ready for his first feeding.  Hubby and I tag team this whole production.

7:30 am - I prep Little Dude's feeding and meds and make myself a chai latte.

7:40 am - Princess gets on the bus.  I am working with Little Dude to drink his bottle.

8:00 am - Hubby takes Little Man to preschool and then leaves for the farm.

8:30 am - Little Dude is finally done with his feeding.  He ate 4 ounces so I tube fed him the remaining 1.5 ounces along with his meds.  I get some warm soapy water ready for his tube care.  He got another infection around his G Tube on Friday so it's a little more time consuming than usual.  I also change his diaper, do his skin care routine for his eczema, and get him dressed for the day.  Star gets into about a million things while I do all this.

9:00 am - Little Dude eats 2 tablespoons of rice cereal.

9:30 am - I have just laid Little Dude down for a nap when the doorbell rings.  I forgot about the public health nurse coming for his weekly weight check.  Naturally, the house is a disaster, but she is pretty used to the craziness at my house by now and understands.  :)  Little Dude is up to 15 pounds, 13 ounces which is a weight gain we're both happy with.  I discuss his current feeding regimen with her and we agree to continue with it.  Just for fun, Star climbs on the scale too.  She weighs 21 pounds, 10 ounces, less than 6 pounds more than her baby brother.

9:45 am - After the public health nurse leaves, I lay Little Dude back down for a nap.  I have to go in and give him his pacifier several times and he refluxed and choked once, but he eventually falls asleep with a minimum of crying.  I check Facebook and happen to see that the wipes we bought from Sam's Club in July have been recalled for a bacterial contamination.  Immediately, my mind goes to the recurring G Tube infections Little Dude has had since we started using the wipes.  I make a phone call to the doctor to see if they think there might be a connection.  She says she will call back after doing some research.

10:00 am - I change Star's diaper and go in her room to pick out her outfit for the day, but lo and behold, all of her clothes are in the dirty laundry.  I pull out the box of 2T clothes and pick something out for her to wear.  It's way too big.  Oh well.

10:20 am - I log onto Little Dude's online medical portal and check dates on his G Tube infections and then call Sam's Club to determine when exactly I bought the box of wipes.  The dates line up.  Then the doctor calls back and informs me that Little Dude has Strep.  On his G Tube.  Great.  We talk about how I need to disinfect ALL THE THINGS and keep the kids from sharing germs.  I have a mild panic attack just thinking about it.  I call Star's doctor to make an appointment for her because I suspect she has Strep too.  While I am on the phone, Star has dumped out and eaten half a bag of chocolate chips.   

11:00 am - Time to pick Little Man up from preschool so I wake Little Dude up and am putting him in his carseat when I realize that he has soaked through his diaper and all over his outfit.  I change his whole outfit quickly and rush the kids up to the school so we're not late for pickup.  Little Dude is already 30 minutes late for his feeding.

11:20 am - Home with a very talkative Little Man.  I try bottle feeding Little Dude, but he will have nothing to do with it so after working with him for a while, I tube feed him while he cries nonstop.  Little Man and Star are making up for lost time by getting into EVERYTHING together.  I set the alarms on my phone for the rest of the day's feedings so I don't run late on another feeding.  Little Dude is getting very worked up and I'm feeling just slightly extremely overwhelmed.  I vent him through the G Tube mid way through the feeding because his stomach is hard and distended.  I get a lot of air out, but his mood does not improve.  Mine doesn't either.

12:30 pm - Finally done feeding Little Dude so I throw a frozen pizza in the oven for the kids and Hubby.  I call my sister-in-law (kinda handy to have a doctor in the family) to talk about the Strep and wipes fiasco.  I end up venting my frustrations over Little Dude's health to her.  I give her extra points for not hanging up on me.  After I hang up, Hubby comes home for lunch.  I dish food out for everyone (except me) and sit down to feed Little Dude some pureed pears.  I finish my now-cold chai latte.

1:00 pm - Little Dude is in his crib napping and the big kids are eating goofing off at the table.  I clean the kitchen which hasn't been touched since yesterday afternoon.  So. Many. Dirty. Dishes.  I also wash Little Dude's bottles, med syringes, and tube feeding supplies.   When the kitchen is cleaned up, I lay Star down for a nap and do some laundry.  I call the school to arrange for Princess to go home on her cousin's bus today since we probably won't be home when school gets out.  Then I call my sister to let her know that there will be an extra kid at her house today.  Hubby leaves to go back to the farm and I feel a sense of despair as I watch him leave.

1:45 pm - Little Dude is still sleeping so I tube feed him his entire bottle.

2:30 pm - I get Little Dude and Star up from their naps so Star can go to the doctor.  Neither is happy with me.  We make it to the doctor's office in time.

3:40 pm - Finally done at the doctor.  Star does indeed have Strep.  Oh joy.  Like the idiot I am, I decide to run errands with the three younger kids before picking Princess up from my sister's house.  We start at the grocery store where I have exactly three things on my shopping list.

4:25 pm - We leave the grocery store with two things.  I fondly nickname our grocery store visit "The Worst Shopping Trip Ever" and head over to my sister's to drop Star and Little Man off so I can finish running errands with Little Dude (you know, the kid who doesn't whine, argue, throw screaming tantrums in the middle of the aisle, or run away from me).  I stop at the pharmacy which is practically our second home at this point and the library.  I don't need anything at the library, but I'm stalling picking the kids up.

4:45 pm - I pick the kids up from my sister's and we head home.  I get another feeding ready for Little Dude.

5:30 pm - Little Dude happily drank the whole bottle so the feeding went faster than usual.  When he's done, I lay him down for a nap.  I start supper for the kids while they jump off the couch onto the coffee table despite my warning to stop.  A few minutes later, two of them are crying because they got hurt (told you so!)  I pack Hubby's lunchpail for work and fold a load of towels.

7:00 pm - The kids are done eating supper and Hubby is off at work.  Little Dude wakes up fussy and crying just as I start getting the other kids ready for bed.  I rush to put the kids to bed so I can calm Little Dude down before he throws up or chokes.  The kids fight the bedtime routine and naturally, Little Dude starts choking and turning blue midway through Little Man's second tantrum.

7:45 pm - The big kids are in bed, but not sleeping.  I feed Little Dude half a jar of pureed pears and play with him for a while, incorporating some of his physical therapy into the playtime.

8:15 pm - I get Little Dude's bottle and meds ready for his last feeding of the day.  He refuses to drink most of it so I end up tubing it.  I change him into an overnight diaper and his pjs and change the gauze around his G Tube.

9:15 pm - Little Dude is done eating and ready for bed.  I lay him down and check on the other kiddos who are (finally!) all sleeping.  Woohoo!  Freedom at last!  I turn on Netflix and catch up on emails, texts, and Facebook for an hour and half before I go to bed.


Do you have a "day in the life" blog post you've written?  Leave a link in the comments so I can check it out!