grrlTravels

From the Z. files

I had to be all secretive and stuff at the end of last week because we were sneaking off to see K.'s family for a surprise birthday party for his mom. (Hi S., my devoted reader!) Now we are back. Time to get caught up.

Z. had a big week last week. On Monday she PASSED HER HEARING SCREENING ON THE LEFT SIDE! Do you know how huge that is? Her right ear is blocked by wax, but she had a non-flat typanogram on the left side. Wow. Rock on, girl. We have a half check on one item on the endless list. Big. It's big.*

On Tuesday after a marathon session at the DMV which shall remain unrecorded in these annals for fear of too much profanity we retrieved Z.'s new glasses. Even though the schlocky places in the mall can make glasses in about an hour regular places still require a week. On Wednesday night Z. did a face plant into the floor for reasons she had not deigned to make clear to us and now the new glasses do not stay up. Not that they were, really [staying up], but now they just don't. In the mean time she seemed kind of freaked out by the whole thing in her Z. way, which is to make strange faces at me and stare a lot. Especially at her hands. I am letting her work it out in her own way. I mean, I forgot to warn her that everything would suddenly be BIG and CLOSE and CLEAR. Silly me. [I am working on a photo of the girl, but we haven't gotten anywhere yet.]

On Thursday we had an excruciating visit with the feeding team. Full of statements like, "So we recommended that you give her some vestibular stimulation 30 minutes before every meal and you haven't done that because...?" [longish pause] and "We really think you should try to feed her at least once more per day because we recommended 5 meals daily...?" [long pause] and "Her weight gain wasn't that great, was it...?" [longest pause] The good news is that we spoke with the doctor and clearly explained our desire to consider a g-tube and she agreed with us. That's a small "yay." because we aren't all about surgery here, but really, it's good. For everyone. Especially Z. because she begins to cry hard and writhe when we get out the little stickers for her face. And then things go downhill.

I didn't get a chance to call the GI Guy's nurse before we left for the weekend, but when I got back she had called on Friday. The wheels are in motion and I didn't even have to do anything. No calls. No emails. No begging. I feel like I should build a little shrine to something. Protector of gagging 1-year-olds? Patron saint of reducing zits caused by adhesives? Folks at J&J who decided that the world is no longer in need of K-Y?

The past two weekends Z. has had her fill of all of the swarming hordes [relatives] whom we have kept from her for most of her 9 months in the US. She is mostly non-plussed by crowds, but does seem to tire of the noise and constant interaction after a while. She does her tricks sometimes, but not enthusiastically. More with a sense of ennui and impending doom.

FROM THE BAD PARENTS FILES: We were all about getting out of here on Friday morning for an appointment 2 hours away. I packed the enteral formula, pump bag, medication #1, medication #2, dietary supplement, syringes, tape #1, tape #2, extra tube, extra stickers, adhesive remover, sticky stuff, generic K-Y, and various other accoutrements. But we left Z.'s pump. Without the pump it's all just filler.

We ended up spending a small fortune to rent a pump in the city of my MIL's birth. So the story has a happy ending. Except that I am dum, and no longer in the running for Mother Of The Year 2006. Crap. When will I get my 15 minutes of fame anyway? Hopefully not on the day when I leave the house with baby goo all over myself, unshaven legs, and lousy hair. Oh yeah, that's every day. Perhaps I am destined to remain in anonymity forever.

*Z. did not really have issues with ear infections. She's only had one ear infection—albeit a bloody pus-filled one. No ear infections, no fluid hidden in her ears, no discernable issues. (Except that her ears are "strange" and "interesting". Apparently she has canals worth a second look.) We have had questions about her hearing since we met her, and then there were all of those hearing screenings she did not pass. Although the fluid did not pour out as I had hoped when the tubes were inserted, those tubes did their magic. We heart tubes.

Posted by grrlTravels at July 16, 2006 6:13 PM