Categories: uncategorized
Date: 05 September 2008 03:29:14
Thanks, all. Things are just about okay really - the major factor in how things are is how much sleep I've recently had, and we've had a couple of really bad nights in succession, so yesterday was a bit grim. The respite thing was just annoying really - one nurse mentioned it in 'this is what you'll get' confidence that it would happen. When we talked to the person who would arrange it she said she didn't think we'd have enough points to be eligible. They assess you on a points system depending on how significant your child's needs are - we're going to do the assessment anyway, but my hopes aren't high.
When you have a child with medical problems there is an awful tendency to attribute everything to that - it's easy to feel that surely you should be eligible for respite (or whatever) because your child has X Y and Z conditions, and you haven't slept for days, when actually, the two are not related at all, you just have a grumpy colicky screamer of a baby who keeps you awake because they have tummy ache which has nothing to do with anything else. Another aspect of this is the tendency to feel that you have to get permission from someone medical before you change anything about the way you look after your baby. I realised this the other day when I was thinking it might be good to change the timing of some of Ginger's feeds, and wondering if I should check this out with the dietician first. But I wasn't planning to change anything in terms of the volume or levels of calories she's getting, just tweak the times. I had to sternly remind myself that I really don't have to check absolutely everything with a medical person before doing anything.
Next week is going to be a bit manic, appointment-wise. Tuesday in particular may be a logistical nightmare - partly because the local people I would normally ask to collect groover from nursery etc if I'm elsewhere are all away - all of them! This means that Big Sister (may angels shower rose petals upon her every step) is coming down to do it - a journey of a couple of hours just to cover the 30 minute-ish window of the day I can't see how to do any other way. So yes, we may not be getting Respite, but there's some respite!
Anyway, the most annoying of last night's list is still the Sky Plus adverts. (Although I'm not quite at the pitch of irritation that Mr b has reached with the DFS adverts - the awful 'I wanna be a rock star' ones - which cause him to leap across the room with a yelp and turn the tv off.)