I just had the most INSANE few days. On Sunday I took Kaylee over to the Royal Children's Hospital for her Cardio review.
* I missed the plane because I got distracted when Kaylee had a bit of reflux and I had to suction her just before I got in the car and forgot her feed sets (which I can't feed her without) and turned up at the airport 15 minutes after booking had finished.
* The nice Jet Star man took pity on poor little blubbery me who was lugging a suitcase and three bags of designer-baby paraphernalia and changed my flight totally free of charge then let me into the EXECUTIVE LOUNGE and told me to help myself to the free drinks and nibbles for the next four hours! And best of all there was a chair the PERFECT size and shape to put my skein of yarn around while I wound it into a ball.
* On the other end I totally forgot what colour my suitcase was and watched my blue case go past me three times before I realised it was mine. I was about to go and have firm and business like words with someone about my "lost luggage" when I realised. Thankfully my chauffeur thought it was funny. In order to get a car with a baby seat I need to hire a chauffeur to take me to and from the airport and hospital in Melbourne - meaning I have the pleasure of leather seats, very polite drivers who hold a sign with my name on it and a $70 bill! My driver was a very nice, funny guy from South Africa who was one of 11 siblings.
* Kaylee and I stayed in a nice hotel. I had room service, a long hot bath and woke up to Kaylee vomiting stomach juices and needing suctioning 4 times. I think she has a touch of a cold and the snot goes through her cleft into her stomach causing her to reflux. Yes, you can thank me later for that lovely image.
* We went to the new RCH hospital building for the first time and it is SERIOUSLY like disney land with doctors. It is AWESOME. While we waited for the cardiology people we were watching meerkats play in their enclosure!
* Kaylee's surgery is set for next February which is great. I had talked myself into the idea that they were going to admit her and not let me go home so I packed for three months....just in case. I may be a teeny weeny neurotic at the moment.
* Kaylee's (insert unsavory adjective which I would NEVER use) feed tube kinked while I was in having the cardio assessment so rather than spending a few leisurely hours catching up with some cardio pals and checking out the new hospital before flying home late afternoon I spent 7 hours in emergency waiting for them to get a new tube in and didn't fly home until after 9pm eating mainly food from vending machines while I waited.
* Emergency has a TWO STORY aquarium in it. It was fantastic. And I had some beautiful yarn which I happily cast on and knitted to my hearts content.
* I was secretly highly amused by the little boy in emergency who had put a potty seat over his head and gotten stuck. The fire department had to be called in to cut it off and the poor kid screamed blue murder while it was happening but the whole waiting room burst into applause when it was all done. The poor mother looked like she wanted the ground to swallow her up - I was struggling to keep from snorting I was laughing so hard
* I got to educate a doctor, a nurse, and four radiographers about CDLS.
* The insertion of Kaylee's tube was a bit of an ordeal involving tubes coming out of clefts and causing gagging and vomiting and a poor young radiographer freezing like a bunny in headlights. I am considering getting my own lead apron I spend so much time wearing them and the hospital ones make me look a little wide in the hips. The senior radiographer got the job done in the end.
* I got time for a 20 minute fly-by visit with one of our favourite roomies from our RCH stays - a fellow Tassie kid who is heading home THIS WEEK! Yay for them! And I got to sticky beak the new cardio ward which is BEAUTIFUL.
* I got to my plane in the evening with time to spare and tried Krispy Kreme donuts for the first time. I can't say I will be doing that again. I slept the majority of the flight back to Tassie.
* By the time I got home, administered meds, expressed etc it was past 2am. Then the SODDING tube kinked AGAIN!!! ARUGH!!!!
* We called an ambulance because neither Jon nor I would have been safe to drive we were so exhausted. I slept the whole way in to hospital with Kaylee laying on her right side on my chest. Which jiggled her in such a way that the tube un-kinked itself before we got to hospital! Yay!! Inserting the blasted thing is an ordeal that involves a radiologist who doesn't start work until 9am, a temporary NG tube and continuous cardiac monitoring until the radiologist comes in and, in Launceston, me repeating Kaylee's diagnosis and treatment plan approximately 345 times before things get done so I was ecstatic when we got to the hospital and the tube was OK.
* I was then stranded in Launceston General Hospital at 4am. Thankfully they took pity on me and gave me a fold out bed in the parents room and the lend of an IV pole and a pram for Kaylee. I got to sleep somewhere around 5am and woke around 8am to a room full of parents making themselves a coffee.
* I decided to take advantage of the situation and do some paperwork at the hospital and ended up getting home mid-afternoon.
I have got the first significant amount of knitting that I haven't had to frog (undo and start again) done since I had Kaylee and it feels great! I just wasn't in the headspace to knit before now and whenever I tried to cast on I ended up having to frog only a few rows in. It is so lovely to have something growing on the needles again!
Yesterday we had to go into town for a speech therapist, occupational therapist and physiotherapist assessment. They have given me a little wedge type thing to lie Kaylee on, recommended a pillow to help with her head flattening and told me I am doing everything they would recommend and more so I will see them again in March. We had a lovely day with picnics in the park and I am looking forward to not going anywhere for two days now. I'm very tired.
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