It’s amazing how different it feels to walk into a hospital when you know you’re visiting than when you know you have to stay. Today my friend Kim let me drop off the kids so that I could drive down to St. Pete and visit Tiffany and Anna. The trip down was relaxing because I had the chance to make phone calls in perfect peace, a rarity and a much appreciated thing.
When I got to the hospital I was greeted by smiles and happiness from Anna and that was fantastic because even though she was so friendly, there hadn’t been a lot of smiles on her face while we were there. Apparently she’d been dehydrated and after giving her some fluids along with some more bloods, she really felt a lot better. She was in such a good mood and I took her a bunch of toys that the girls have outgrown and we sat on the floor and played. Her mom and I took a walk, pushing Anna in the stroller while she pushed her baby in the play stroller, and we talked about all that was going on. It was just a time for Tiffany to be able to vent and to voice some of her fears and for me to listen and be there for her. We talked about crying and being ok with letting loose with the tears, we talked about friends that pull away because they’re not sure of how to handle all that’s going on in our lives, and we talked about the fears that we have for our children and how we do our best to handle them. Tiffany told me how much it bothered her that Anna might loose her hair even though she felt silly for it because Anna is so little and she knows it won’t bother her. I shared my emotional breakdown surrounding the same subject and my realization that I had to look at it as a sign that her medicine and her body are working to do their job in making her healthy, not a sign of her illness. Tiffany liked that idea, she hadn’t thought of it that way and it makes it a little easier to face.
When I walked in Tiffany laughed and told me she liked my hair….pretty funny because I either wore it in a ponytail or a scarf the whole time I was there so I don’t know that she thought I had any.
After my hospital visit, Kim and I took our kids to get a bite to eat and that’s always an adventure with 5 kids. We’re so enjoying our spring break, not doing a whole lot, but just using our time to hang out and relax.
Kim and I swapped out some kids, she took Nathaniel and I took her daughter Lily and we parted ways. Sharon then came and got all the girls and took them to pick strawberries, something my girls absolutely love to do. Then we all got back together and went for a nice long swim at the YMCA. It was along day, but that was the plan.
Peyton’s sleep schedule gets all wacky when she’s in the hospital, people are up and around all night, she goes to sleep late, she wakes up late, she naps funny. It’s hard to get her back into the normal swing of things when we get home and then with spring break and the difference in schedule with the kids being home it’s been even rougher. So, today in an attempt to get her back on a reasonable timeline, I researched out an ancient Asian secret….known only to a few…used only by the wise….I refused to let her nap and I wore her out until she was ready to tear the fuzz we call hair out of her head and then put her behind to bed where she fell asleep in under two minutes. It was beautiful. No fuss, no fight, no “I need a drink, I’m scared, my legs hurt, can mommy lay down with me”. Just silence. Blissful silence. The great thing is that it worked like a domino effect and Rachael passed out on the couch in exhaustion and Nathaniel fell out shortly after….round one to the parents!
f.ro.G…fully relying on God
—-Anissa
