A Day at Children's

Yesterday we took Abby to Children's hospital in Birmingham for her yearly Neurosurgery check up.  Because she has been stable as far as her shunt goes for the past year she did not need a CT scan.  This turned out to be good, although we went 2 hours early b/c they had told us to come for the scan before her scheduled appointment.

It turned out we had plenty of time to eat lunch in a very crowded cafeteria and not feel rushed to make our appointment on time.  Eating has become very important for this pregnant momma.  It's been such a struggle for so long I've almost forgotten how to look forward to and enjoy a good meal.  It's slowly coming back

The doctor saw us and asked a bunch of questions about how she is doing over all, and how our family is dealing with her various health/developmental issues.  He was very nice and said that since she has not needed a shunt revision since her first VP shunt was placed in the NICU it would probably be safe to come back in 2 years!  He reminded me of the warning signs of a major problem, but said he feels like her shunt must be working fine.  (it's either working fine despite being disconnected, or she doesn't need the shunt anymore!)  

Mom made this trip so much more fun than it usually is!  Taking Josiah on wagon rides all over the hospital and keeping him occupied so Abby and I could actually "talk" to the doctor!  It's always nice to have someone to talk to on car trips too.

I tried to take a picture but my camera battery died and I was only able to get one sad little picture with my phone, that also promptly shut down on me after the picture.

One of the things the doctor had asked was how our son was coping with Abby's needs and how he fits in the family.  I thought this was an interesting question.  We have noticed that with the passage of time Josiah has become very sensitive to Abby and to our emotional responses to life... especially illness.  I shared this with the doc and he said that in most families with special needs children, the siblings do tend to become very compassionate and mature.

Patrick had a tooth that was bothering him the other day, and Josiah quickly picked up on it.  He asked Patrick if he could pray for him. 

    "Dear Lord, Daddy's feeling sick.  Please help him to feel better.  Amen." 

 The next day after Patrick had been to the dentist Josiah had not forgotten about the tooth and asked how he was feeling.  He seemed happy to hear that Daddy's tooth felt better and that nothing was wrong with it!  It was a fun moment.

He has also occasionally scolded me for getting up to help him with something, saying:

    "No mommy, you don't get up.  You're sick, you have a baby in your tummy!!"  I know he has been affected by the many weeks of my nausea/vomiting in addition to the bed rest.  Poor kid, he must be confused.

Just wanted to share our good news about Abby's hydrocephalus.  We are thrilled!