Thursday 28 February 2008

Toddlers and Thankfulness

What is so thankful about toddlers ...

It is way past my bedtime and I am so tired after less than 5 hrs broken hours broken sleep last night (my fault staying up late reading my RSS feeds and demand nursing,twins, in middle of the night ... any advice on night weaning ???).

I (we all) had to be up early to take J for a renal ultrasound to check how his kidney reflux is ..
We get there through morning peak traffic crawl . I park in the huge Park - not car park .

I huff and puff pushing the 17kg stroller, 24kgs of toddler and 1kg of stuff stroll up the hill to the hospital .
I wait in line -9.10am

My turn. At last.

Only ... I found they had stuffed up the appointments. She tells me it is 3rd March. WTH eck(I gave up swearing for lent but it is not going that well)

Thankfully, after alot of whinging explaining my story they stuffed up,the receptionist though 'stern' sour faced, is understanding of my over 1hr journey (with toddler twins) and 2 hrs to get ready and she calls ultrasound to fit us in. She hands me back my form and says to take it to them, it will be an hours wait or more.She says I am to come back here and wait after I give them the form.

"no problem"

I am, really, so appreciative... I already have another 4 appointments there in next month or so.

I push the stroller down a few corridors to ultrasound and wait a few minutes -no one is around -one is door closed. Yes , they are real busy today.

After a few minutes I see a face I recognise from before.She takes the form and she says they won't be long -just finishing another child...

She is right about 5-10 mins later (not 1 hr ) a little girl about 3 yrs , comes 'skipping' out - she looks vaguely familiar. I see her mum -ah ha- the penny drops.

'A' is a twin , she has been to our local playgroup with her mum (and her twin sister) a few times. The twin sister was not there. I said hello to the mum, a little small talk and she asks why we were there. I explain J has kidney reflux. She said A is there getting her kidney checked too. (NB -I actually guessed the right twin 50-50 chance -Kate and Tiff)

J has his ultrasound (we don't get results till 3weeks at appointment) , I take the boys out to play in the wonderful children's outdoor play area. Grey skies , overcast and a few spits of rain. Boys are happily playing and finding every puddle from the torrential storms of last night.

More spits ... and spills. S & J both fall or sit in puddles.

Lots of rain and running away.By the time I catch them both -it is heavy rain.

Back inside ... I head to the exit . I exit the building ... d'oh - what was I thinking - it is pouring rain. I have a 5 min walk to my car. I go back inside. I have to pee . The twin stroller will not fit in the apparently disabled access toilet !!!

Is there anywhere in the state of the art Children's hospital that I can take my stroller in with me ?... not it seems !

I can't leave them with just anyone or in then open. Never !I cannot take them out of the stroller - are you joking (I saw a great post on kids in the public loo with mum last week ... but cannot find the link)

Busting -darn rain ! I go to the A & E desk and ask ... what can I do ? the lovely lady said I can take them behind the counter and she will watch them.

Relief ...
I retrieve my children in the stroller- the lady said they were playing - my kids are very cute.I don't deny it ,they are very friendly and smile a lot.

We buy a milkshake to fill in time. The "morning teas' "delivery lady we meet in the lift tells me she has 25yr old twins, she smiles and coos at them.

The rain looks like it has eased off
.It's almost 11am ...

I exit again and we bump into the little twin A, and her mum C as they are leaving -but on the way back into get their free parking pass. She forgot and it costs $8- 12 max otherwise.

Things they don't share at playgroup ... We chat about A , having one kidney removed due to malignant cancer diagnosed a month before her 2nd birthday .Chemotherapy first didn't shrink the tumour -12cms on a tiny less than two year old kidney. It has been almost 2 years . 'A' just has chest x-rays and renal scans ,check ups - just in case.The free parking is perk ...for being an oncology and/or private patient .I don't want any perks!

It is still raining but I just brave it.I have other errands to do... We only get a little wetter.

I go shopping to spend my $10 Cotton on kids voucher (yay - score free t-shirts 'Easter Bunny Rocks" normally $12.95 each). I give the boys a quick bite of lunch. We leave.

I also have to pick up teddy bears on my way home from someone and once home I also have tax stuff to do , due today (28th). I am a stickler for waiting till very last minute. Finally - home at 2pm. I get sidetracked by other stuff. The boys have a long sleep.I finish my tax at 5.30pm.

We have our dinner almost as planned sans the salad as it was too cool we had steamed vegetables. I nurse the boys on/off for next few hours ...they will not sleep after a late and long nap. Finally ...one by one they are asleep.

Well - you may ask

why am I still up at 12.54am still composing my post ...a few interruptions to nurse and because I am addicted to blogging.

I have so much stuff going round in my head tonight- I had to. Some days I feel like I am on a merry go round and others a rocking horse ...I never get anywhere

Because life with kids is all about going back and forth, and getting nowhere.
Got time for a quick giggle ...
... and no I don't have a toy rocket ... yet!
*sigh* I am in for it tomorrow.
I am so thankful for my active, run amok healthy boys.
please don't shoot me for my sleep deprived grammar !

18 comments :

just jamie said...

Oh I feel your pain (and obsession with blogging). It took my twins way too long to sleep through the night. Ummm...does that sound like they do now? Oops, well one little booger still comes to Mom and Dad's bed *every* night. (So I'm halfway there at 3 1/2).

You're book-marked!

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Crazed Nitwit said...

Having been through the whole children's hospital experience I could see why it's taking time for you to wind down and count your blessings. Even though we did lose Brennie(he was at home his final months) there was always someone at Children's who was worse off. One family lost or was losing 4 girls and was pregnant with number 5 just in hope of having one healthy child(her risk was 1 in 4 like mine) she watched 4 of her children die.....I could not. I could not watch another one or even take the chance that the next kid might be healthy. We stopped having kids. Even 12 years later, there are some days, like today, where I am knocked to the ground by grief. I know you know how that feels.
So I can see why you were still awake here.

Hugs and love, Janice

Rebecca said...

Okay, reading that felt a little bit like falling down the rabbit hole 8-) Still, someday I hope with every fiber of my being that I'll be in your shoes. Okay, not literally - but to have a couple of cute kids and be a stay at home mom with them - what an awesomely wonderful job you have!

Paula said...

Hey Girl,

Whew...Im worn out just reading about your hospital visit! I know from experience how exhausting dr visits in general are..and then multiply that by 2 in your instance. So glad she got you in! I would have CRIED and cried right then and there if they would not have.

Regarding night weaning...kellymom.com forums...are a great resource for breastfeeding topics (just in case you dont already go there).

Sweet dreams mama.

Unknown said...

I can relate to the rocking horse and merry-go-round analogy! So very well!

Marita said...

Exhausting day for you all.

Think that coffee must have been invented by a mother who needed something to keep her going.

Anonymous said...

Phew! What a day!!! Glad you were able to at least get the ultrasound done and not have made all the effort for nothing.

As for night weaning. The only way we found was for DH to get up to our first born (who started well but degenerated into feeding 2 hourly). If I got up to him he'd smell the milk and I had no hope. Ended up being great for me as up until that time DH would happily sleep through the kids crying in the night but once he started getting up, he now still hears them. LOL. But don't tell your DH that! ;)

We also went to setting our kids up on the floor of our bedroom if they came in during the night. That way they were close if they needed security but it wasn't quite as comfortable as sleeping between mum and dad. And we could sleep a little better without them in the actual bed!

The Miss of Abyss said...

I am exhausted after reading that.

I don't know how you find the energy to make it through a day.

Maybe blogging is your secret for recharging the batteries.

Widdle Shamrock said...

A busy day indeed !!!

I preferred the side by side stroller, but yeah, not door or shop friendly.

Lucky they were able to see you after all.

Hope your little fella's results are positive.

Jayne said...

EEK! Hospital and specialists appointments are such a hassle and need the planning of an army general!
With your brain wired into overdrive no wonder you were up late - I still have those days/nights too lol.

Corey~living and loving said...

ummmmmmmmmm just reading about your day made me tired....really tired.

HOpe you have a relaxed weekend.

Laura Paxton said...

Sounds like an exhausting day for you...hope you got some sleep! (I am still wiping away the tears from teh toddler song!!)

Anonymous said...

But you made it! And she fitted you in!! Yay! Hope everything comes back ok.

hugs

Anonymous said...

AHHHHHHHH! I am right there with you. Silently dragging my enormous twin stroller through halls and stores, banging into doorways, wanting to cry because no one knows. Every day is like groundhog day. I also nurse my guys, day and night, all the time. Night weaning????? I can't imagine how?

Texasholly said...

I have peed with the bathroom door OPEN, but blocked by my double stroller--ugh! I loved the comment about both sitting in puddles...so boy.

Anonymous said...

I had the reimplantation operation when I was 10 for kidney reflux.

So I hope you don't mind me asking you how little J is going now?

Best wishes, Jane :)

♥.Trish.♥ Drumboys said...

J's -left kidney has grown slightly but still small.The right ureter is also slightly dilated so they are thinking maybe bi lateral reflux now -but left side is IV -right not as bad if so.
We are due to have another dmsa scan (radioactive one) soon.
They tend not to do reimplantation now unless they get break through infections -
thanks for asking - I hope your surgery was successful.Did you have any other problems after it ?

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