Saturday, March 11, 2017

Real talk about sensory sickness

Sickness. Let's get real about it. In your average sensory regulated child, it sucks. Cold? Terrible. Stomach bug? The worst. Now put that in a child whose sensory synapses are wired to code red all of the time?? Well, let me tell you, it is a world like no other. It is kine of like living through the apocalypse only to find out that means you are one of the few people left to fight the zombies. I am 100% sure I did not sign up to be that person, yet, here I am now!

How do you know you are living through the post sickness life? Let's consult the checklist...
    1. Has not returned to a normal bathroom cycle?- check!
    2. Is acting like a complete lunatic when she needs to enter a bathroom?- check!
    3. Sees her mother and runs screaming because she knows Mommy is going to make her sit on the potty?- check!!
    4. Has to be wrestled into pjs because he has decided sleeping butt naked in 10 degree weather is better for her than avoiding hypothermia?- check and check!

Living the dream people. Living the dream!

Oh and by the way, if you are the person who so graciously shared your stomach bug with my child, I would like you to sign up for a shift on the sensory train. It only seems fair.


Sunday, March 5, 2017

I wish

I wish...

I wish that my daughter's IEP came with a budget for alcohol and chocolate because that would help us out a lot.

I wish that people could be here to witness her meltdowns. That they could watch as she hits me, like she did tonight so people would stop being so shocked that something is wrong.

I wish I had someone with me all the time who could tell me what to do on nights like these because I am at a loss and I don't want them to continue. We have been to a behavior therapist and a GI and no one has helped.

I wish the phrase "Mommy, I need you" didn't strike such dread in my heart.

I wish I was able to spend more time divided evenly between my children so I was assured that Isaac felt he got equal attention.

I wish we had started this whole process when she was 2 so she would have gotten help focused around the home. We would have been given more strategies.

I wish we knew what the food trigger was that causes her to want to poop and not want to poop.

I wish I wasn't so tired.

I wish so many good days didn't end in such disruption.

Friday, March 3, 2017

One step at a time...

When Isaac was in the NICU there was a pivotal day. He had gone several days without "bradys" and the medical team said that once he had gone 7 days without one, he would be cleared to go home. I excitedly said to my baby "you hear that? You might go home early!" Our seasoned nurse heard this conversation and went to the attending on duty.

Now, if you haven't had the lovely opportunity of having a child in the NICU, there is an important fact to understand about all of this. The nurses are not allowed to leave their stations unattended. So my nurse stepped across the aisle to have this hushed conversation. Being a teacher, I am well versed in the behind the hand hallway conversation and instantly knew they were talking about me. A few short minutes later the head neonatal doctor came over to talk to me about Isaac's progress. Long story short; even if he mastered his brady's in 7 days, he had a lot more work to do before exiting the nursery. He was making forward progress but it was going to take the expected length of time.

Today I felt the same way about Sophie's progress. We have been so excited about all of the great things she has been achieving that this set back has been devastating to us. We needed to have someone step across the aisle and let us down easy. To remind us that this is a long journey and even though many things are exciting right now, we need to pace ourselves because this is going to be a long haul.