Head Under Water....

.....and they tell me to breath easy. Has anyone ever heard that song? That's how I have been feeling lately.

We've had six doctors appointments this week. Yesterdays appointment was 3 1/2 hours long! Little Catherine was with me, as well as Francesca and Victoria, so you can just imagine the fun we had. Towards the end of the visit, we were tossing tongue depressers at each other for entertainment.


The medical profession is kind of getting me down. First I had to hear from the nutritionist who said, "You needed to watch out that Victoria doesn't gain too much weight." Say what? Are we talking about the same child? The one that is diagnosed with failure to thrive?
Then she told me, "it might be hard for Victoria to loose the weight later. I mean, it's not like she is going to be mobile."

"You are aware that she isn't even on the growth chart yet, right?" I bellowed, "AND, I want to tell you, she is mobile! AND she just saw the GI doctor on Monday and he said she is doing fine!" I was getting a little testy, especially since I hadn't eaten anything but Frosted Flakes all day.

She still didn't shut up. "Well, can you tell me exactly how many ounces of water and exactly how many ounces of formula and solids she is getting everyday. And break it down by individual meals?"

I didn't even bother to answer that one. Clearly this woman was insane.

Then, I had to deal with the speech therapists.
"Why isn't she in speech therapy yet?",  they demanded to know.
"Didn't you all tell me that she wouldn't be able to speak until she had her cleft palate surgery?" I asked. "Didn't you say that since she STILL has fluid in her ears, she can't hear much?"

I think I was getting a little bit defensive.

So, we finally got home. I was cranky. I needed a nap, but no, my kids really know how to throw a party with the dogfood bag. It was kind of hard to stay cranky after watching them! So I ate some "Mike's and Ike's candy and cheered up a bit. Nothing like a little sugar coated food dye to restore my equilibrium.

My friend, Jen, (who adopted three kids at the same time and has 9 kids under the age of 8! She is way cooler than me! Here is her blog: http://letsfillthevan.blogspot.com/) asked me why my kids don't ever have clothes on n the pictures! Well, Francesca is a big sweat ball and Victoria is super messy with her food. Skin cleans way easier than clothes anyway, right? Is this weird? You all know I have no weirdness radar.

Then, little Catherine bugged the dog one time too many and he scratched her. I don't usually freak about blood, but the blood kept gushing and gushing. Francesca was screaming her fire engine scream. Then, I noticed that Victoria was soaking wet in her crib. She had pulled out her NG tube and the formula ($3 a bottle) had leaked everywhere!

It was a tad bit overwhelming. I wanted to climb into my bed and hide, preferably in another country. Or maybe even Mars.

So, off to the emergency room we went. I was so glad my mom came with us!

Two hours later.

Catherine actually screamed more about having her temperature taken than she did when she got the stitches.

Three stitches later. I wonder if Catherine learned her lesson?

Today Victoria had to get fitted for some new hand splints. For two hours I had to hold her down while they stretched her fingers. I know it's for her own good, but I hate to see her in pain. She can't use her hands at all when she wears them, so she only wears them at night. She can't play with any toys in her crib. I kind of felt like I was betraying her.

For a while she just lay there in her crib, pondering her life. She rolled over. She sighed.

She looked at the splints.

Then, she tried to touch a toy. She looked up and smiled at me.

Lately I've been questioning whether I was going to be able to do all this, but if little Victoria can hang in there, then I guess I need to stop my whining!