Crazy visit day

So I am in the middle of a packing mess! I packed baby's bag for a visit today and absentmindedly forgot the formula. He usually only has 3 a day now (6-8 oz)..morning, mid-day and night. Of course I didn't realize this happened until bio-dad texted me. I told him the type of formula and perhaps he could go to the store and buy a small can. Of course realistically I didn't expect that and just figured baby would wait till he got home. I was wrong....

A bit later I got 2 very random weird sounding texts that I couldn't even understand. HUH? Something about baby being sick. I told him that no, he wasn't sick he is teething (terribly!! we were up all night). Ok...then I get something that said he was grateful that we were good people. Ok :)

When Baby got home he was miserable from his teeth and the CM said that dad said the visit should have been cancelled. I guess that hit a bit of a nerve because I kinda went off on the CM a bit. I told her that he is not sick, he is teething and that's what being a parent is all about....the good, the bad and the ugly. Teething is definitely the ugly, I get that, but he should experience it all :) Maybe I'm a bit feisty from being up all night...maybe I wanted a break...just being real here!

Then I unpack baby's bag...remember he didn't get the formula, or the water?? Yeah...it was some nasty red gatorade in the baby's cup! :( Yuck...we tend to stay away from all things fake and artificial and that's just gross for a baby to drink. It at least could have been apple juice. Just sayin! Just for the record, baby was fine and didn't even want the bottle because it hurts him to suck :(

So the afternoon continues and baby needs a diaper change. I take off his pants to discover that dad put his diaper on BACKWARDS!!!! WHAT???? Baby is almost 11 months old and he has never done this before. Weird! I'm not sure if "something" was going on or if he was just frazzled from having to deal with a fussy baby. Hmmmm......

So that was our visit experience today. You better believe that I won't forget the formula ever again...well for the month he's left on it. Next week's visit will probably be a day or two before we move. I have a stack of papers to fill out for getting the new home licensed. Yes...I have 48 hours to get all of it done after we move in. That includes a health inspection and a social worker visit and some more paperwork she will bring with her. As if moving isn't enough!

Ok....I will stop whining now, pull up my big girl panties and move on! :)

Pulmonologist

Baby went back to the pulmonologist yesterday and when the Dr. listen he said he sounded GREAT! I was so excited to hear that after all that we have been through with his RSV. The Dr. then mentioned that kids who have been hospitalized with RSV have a much higher chance of developing asthma due to it. Couple that with the original reasons we are seeing him and baby is now being put on a very low dose inhaler. 2 puffs once a day. Let me tell you...I LOVE THIS THING!! If you have ever had to use a nebulizer, you know just how crazy long they take. I was so excited to get a little contraption that is a holding chamber for the "puff" and then baby just takes 5-6 breaths. 1 min break. Do it again and DONE!! He also gave me albuterol in the same form for "as needed" issues that arise. Ummm....I really wish they would have given this to me SOONER!! :)

Quiet

Wow...all those feelings of Baby's aunt calling and wanting him on Christmas were for NOTHING! :) Not only did she not ever call the case manager to ask permission, she didn't call me (totally expected this) yesterday to ask for his visit.

Baby's Dad was going to have a visit last week but then due to his illness Dad said he could just stay here and heal. They had a visit all set up for this Wed. I got a text yesterday saying he all the sudden had to leave town. Hmmm.....When I asked what the emergency was he said that it was his mother's 85th birthday. Something doesn't add up. You don't suddenly leave town for a birthday that has been the same day every year for the past 85 years-lol! Now he says he won't be back until Jan. 3rd. Ok...whatever! :) This has been an ongoing "thing." He says he's going out of town, but he doesn't. Sigh.....

I had a dream last night that I got a text from Baby's dad that said he loved him very much but couldn't care for him and would be adopt him. Ohhh...I am praying that's prophetic and really happens!! :) It would make the upcoming months so much easier :) Easy and foster care aren't words you really put together though-lol!

Little Man's (His nickname here is Moose so that's what I am going to start calling him in blogland too!) bio-mom keeps emailing me and asking me to call her and tell Moose that she loves him and show him her (weird) pictures she sends me, etc. I had to stop responding...she's wearing me out!!!! The last thing that sent me over a bit was when I saw her myspace page. WHOA...talk about living in the past. The whole thing is about Moose. She listed him as her occupation, the title of her page and in her "blurb" it's all about how she is second and she puts him first. Hmmm...really? The only cool part was that she has a few (blurry) pictures of Moose when he was really little. He was soooo pudgy even from the very start! It makes me wonder...why him??? She has 2 other children that she has given birth to and NO mention of them, no pictures, etc. Why Moosie??? Why do we get to deal with her?? LOL!!

Anyway....Christmas was wonderful celebrating Christ's birth :) Baby could have cared less about the presents...all he wanted to do was roll around in the wrapping paper!! LOL!!!

I had no idea...

Wow...after several more emails and some questioning of bio-mom I found out some pretty disturbing things. Wow...thank you God for saving Little Man from that life and potential harm both physically and emotionally. SO MUCH TO BE GRATEFUL FOR!!

Input

So Little Man's bio mom has been emailing a lot again and she just emailed me a picture of his biological sister. She and little Man could be twins...seriously!!! They look exactly alike!! Little P. was adopted at birth by a family in another state. Bio-mom also has a son (9 yrs old) that lives in her state.

All of my children have biological siblings...somewhere! Some I know about and I bet there are more I have no idea about.

QUESTION:

How have you all addressed this issue in your families?? All the bio-siblings I know about are all adopted by other families and not with the bio-parents. Have you asked bio-parents for info (email/phone) to connect with them? How have you talked with your children about this? At what age? I know just by looking at my kids which ones will be ready for this information before others.

Little Man's bio-mom wants me to call her on Christmas...whew...gonna have to pray about that one!

Hallelujah!

Baby had his follow up appt today and the Dr. said he sound GREAT! She thought he just had a treatment when in fact it was 4 hours ago, so WONDERFUL news!! She wants us to space them to 6-8 hours now. NO PROBLEM!! :)

Little Man's stitches also came out today. He was such a big boy while she was snipping and pulling them out. He cried when she was done-LOL!! A lollipop made everything better and other than a cushion bandage for a few more days he is good to go!

Now...I would really appreciate it God if we could stay OUT of the hospital for a bit!!

A couple of things I forgot.....

1) Friday morning when we were admitted I just happened to put on my licensing agency t-shirt. God sure got some attention! I've never had so many inquiries about foster care! Praise God :)

2) A nurse actually asked me how my pregnancy with Baby was. Ummmm....I am super pasty white (even though I live in a state that sees a lot of sun!) and Baby is dark chocolate! LOL! I laughed out loud because I thought she was kidding...she wasn't! lol!! I composed myself and said that I was his foster mother and did not give birth to him :-) A little humor in a tense situation-hee hee!

Ready for things to slow down already!

Friday morning I woke and baby just sounded horrible. The meds he was on had not made a dent in how he was feeling or sounding so I planned on taking him in again. I called the Dr. and she just happened to be out sick so I told the nurse that his RR was 70 (for a boy his age it should be between 30 and 40 typically). She recommended we head to the ER. I called hubby home from work and took him in.

The nurse was really snotty with me about his condition saying that no child gets like this acutely unless there was trigger (her suggestion was a live Christmas tree). I insisted there was nothing new and she continued with her comments. Whatever! The dr. came in and said that he wanted a chest x-ray and RSV / flu test. A bit later it came back that sweet baby had RSV and was given some super strong meds. After one treatment his pulsox was still 89-90 so he said he's have to admit him.

I called my hubby and was not very pleased, but neither was I! We rearranged our weekend and plans completely. It was a lllloooonnnggg 3 days of treatments every 2-4 hours and we became good friends with the suction machine and percussor! I was practically begging the nurse to get me out of there!!! I had about 1-2 hours of sleep each night and we couldn't leave the room because he was contagious. For this Momma of 4 who is constantly moving, sitting in a small room was torture! lol! I thought my arms were going to fall off as well from holding baby 24/7! Time to get back to the gym for sure :)

At 5:00pm last night we were released. I told baby we were going home and he raised his little IV'd arm and said "Pay Gah!" (Praise God!) Soooooo sweet!!! Today he continues to sleep a lot and is very whiny and only wants to be held. I can totally understand, but I am grateful that there is another set of arms to take him :)

Due to all of this I missed the pick up for the foster angel gifts so our wonderful social worker picked them up for me today. They have been so blessed once again this year, although I'm not quite sure baby is going to be so interested in the High School Musical remix-lol! Maybe we can bless someone else with that!

I was pleasantly surprised that Baby's dad realized the situation for what it is and agreed to delay a visit (even on Christmas week) so baby can heal. What a contrast to our other case where the child's needs were not thought of first (by the birthparents).

So that's us...we are trying to catch up and finish things up for the holidays. :) So excited to see Baby on his first Christmas :)