A Day In The Life

This post may be boring to most of you, but since I'm making Blog Books from the blog, we sometimes put posts up of things we want to remember. So humor me.

We often think "what did we do today?" or "why didn't I have time for x, y, and z?" so I thought I'd recreate a day in our life. We try to find the humor in it, so please see the sarcasm as that and not as a complaint.

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Our Days Pretty Much Go Like This...

• Wake up in the morning, immediately call the hospital to check on Carter & find out what the plans are for the day
  



• Take showers, check email, check blogs, cross things off the to-do list (laundry/work/pay bills/return phone calls/review insurance payments)




• Drive to hospital, dodging cyclists, picking up a quick lunch on the way




• Drive around the parking deck for 15-20 minutes stalking people who are leaving in an attempt to find a parking place




• Walk through the underground tunnel and take elevator to 5th floor, anticipation building of getting to see Carter




• Go to the desk at the ICN and request permission to visit your child (this part gets me every time--do I really have to ask to see my baby???); wait for them to call the nurse and tell you that, yes, you are "allowed" to see your baby




• Roll sleeves up past elbows, remove all jewelry, squirt a dollop of gooey, medicinal soap in your hands and wash up to your elbows for a minute




• Don a hospital gown--the "uniform" of all ICN parents




• Accidentally touch something on the way in & rewash hands




• Go into the ICN or TCN to greet the nurse taking care of Carter for the day & get the update




• Round the corner, hoping he's having a good day, hoping he's not puking or crying--usually to find Carter sitting in his bouncy chair, arms flailing around like he's at a rock concert, with some musical toy playing




• Take him out of bouncy seat or swing, to which he usually protests by crying. Change diaper (please let there be a "present" in there), sometimes change clothes (oh darn, he spit up).




• Play with and attempt to entertain Carter (whew! he has a short attention span like his Mommy) all the while constantly checking the monitor, even though you know nothing's wrong now, but you're so used to it, it's become a habit




• Wonder aloud many times how he can be such a joyous baby when he's been through so much




• Watch OT/PT/ST do their thing & enjoy the progress he's making; laugh when he gives them strange looks for trying things like tummy time




• Wait for the nurse to take blood pressure (please, oh please let it be normal)




• Talk to the nurse/doctor who stops by to see Carter and make him laugh




• At 3:00, wait for the nurse to bring you YOUR milk so you can prepare a bottle




• Take 5 minutes to arrange Carter & all the leads/wires attached to him only to realize that he has another wet diaper :) Take 5 minutes to put him back in the crib, change diaper and sit back down with him and his wires.




• Spend 30 minutes trying to feed him from a bottle--he falls asleep




• Put him in bouncy or crib for a nap and try to sneak out. He's awake! Spend 10 minutes getting him back to sleep and sneak away.




• Finally get a chance to go to the restroom (thinking do they ever clean in here?!?) and go to the cafeteria for a snack....is it really 5 o'clock already?




• Go through the entire calling back, scrubbing in, donning a gown process again




• Change another diaper & maybe another outfit




• At 6:00pm, go through the entire feeding from a bottle process again




• Leave at 6:40 even though you were supposed to be out of there before 6:30 for shift change




• Go to parking deck, trying to remember which floor you parked on, while being stalked by drivers trying to find a parking space




• Drive to nearby restaurant/Target/store to eat dinner and run errands




• Repeat parking deck process




• Repeat calling back, scrubbing in, donning a gown again




• Play with Carter, finding new ways to make him laugh




• Give him a bath, change clothes




• Anxiously stare at the numbers on the scale while the nurse weighs him, keeping fingers crossed that he's gained weight




• At 9:00pm, go through the entire bottle feeding process again




• At 11:30pm, realize that it's 11:30 and wonder where the day went???




• Try to get Carter to go to sleep, but he wants to play




• Eventually decide that he'll go to sleep if you leave and try to sneak away, feeling guilty that he's thinking "where are you going?" when he's probably thinking "thank goodness they finally left so I can get some sleep!"




• Gather all his dirty clothes & blankets to take home and wash




• Drive home, dodging deer, trying to stay awake




• Finish laundry/to-do list tasks




• Remember what you forgot to do and make a mental note to do it tomorrow




• Finally get to sleep at 2am, knowing you have to wake at 4am to pump




• Wake up at 8am and start again....

It's our life, but it will be worth it in the end! This is our normal. It's really going to be an adjustment when we get home, but I don't ever want to forget from where we've come.