Playing ball and various advertisements.

I have started to feel like the mother of a special needs child. I bought a calendar to keep track of all his up coming appointments, all the super secret phone numbers and emails of doctors, his b.m.s, water intake and calories. Woo, it is a lot. I have been gathering documents, sending notes to the different doctors offices, filling out intake forms and faxing things left and right (thanks to my employer :))

We had hoped that when we put Simon under general anesthesia for his dental surgery we would also be having his cloudy eye fixed. However, that eye doctor says that he won't do his surgery at the same time as the dental surgery because of a risk of infection. :( We still haven't seen him yet, perhaps he will have a change of heart when we see him next week and will want to help us???? Or perhaps he could explain his point of view (WITHOUT SAYING LIABILITY, which is a word that is driving me NUTS lately, it is a cultural problem, that is all I am going to say on that today) and I will understand and I won't want to combine the surgery any more?....perhaps.

Today we went to have Simon's hearing checked. Well, they couldn't really do anything because there was a layer of dark ear wax in the way, completely in the way, in BOTH ears. So we thought, well, perhaps someone could come to the dental surgery remove the wax and then do the hearing test while he is under. Then we were told that no one will do that for us because the audiologist or the ENTs aren't allowed in that O.R. (bummer) I plan on calling on Monday to see if they could just check his hearing while he is still asleep in recovery? (somehow I am doubting they will help us with that but I figure it is worth asking)

I got home and thought, why should we go to a specialists to get wax removed? I googled it and started getting some of that wax out myself. I was pretty excited when it started exiting his right ear...however, I have gotten no movement out of the left. You can pray for that. If we can get it all cleared out, we could go and get it tested again, successfully and then we wouldn't have to worry about getting his hearing checked while he is asleep.

We did have a wonderful conversation with the doctor who was trying to check Simon's ears today. She used to work at Boy's Town in Omaha and was briefly involved in the international adoption clinic up there. (it has since closed, the closest one to us is in Minnesota) She is pretty sure they would do all our surgeries for us at once. But that would mean starting all over really, so we would have to do an intake up there with the ENT/audiologist, a dentist and a ophthalmologist... and then get the surgery scheduled. That would surely mean pushing the dental surgery out much further than it's scheduled date of Oct 2nd. So we will have to pray about that....because it sounds like starting over....which would be a bummer. It would also require a lot of driving to Omaha, which could get stressful when both of us are working. Right now we have been able to get appointments during Ishmael's naps and get monitor sitters, that sort of thing isn't going to work if we have appointments in Omaha.

So on Monday of this week we had a meeting at the local school about getting services for Simon. we are getting that ball rolling, but I don't really know how fast we will let it go. As we sat there with the vice principal, the speech therapist, Occupational therapist and the school phsycologist the subject came up of a swallow study. This was not the first time that this has been brought up. Simon eats slowly, he holds food in his mouth and feeding him is a chore. The OT told us that getting a swallow study will be the first thing that anyone asks us to do before they will want to help us....its a liability thing. Anyway, the fact that we haven't gotten him a swallow study and that he COULD be a silent aspirator, really got into my head and freaked me out. Then last night Simon started coughing, and he coughed all today. I am sure that it is just a cold.....but I am a little stressed. So please pray for our hearts in this...and that the Lord would lead us in what to do.
(on a lighter note, he started sniffling yesterday and I was able to introduce Simon to the nosefrida...I sucked that snot right out of his nose. If you don't have one, you should really get one. They sell them locally at circle ME, the cloth diaper store where I have worked in the past! It would be great for you to buy one going into winter! For my friends not in Lincoln, you should order one online, they are very handy to have. Simon laughed a lot after he got used to it)

Another tool I had to purchase was a very small set of nail clippers. Simon's nails are growing very quickly and they are very thick and sharp. He scratches his face up if I don't keep them cut nice and short. I have to cut them every other day! Which I figure is a good sign that he is getting some good nutrition absorbed in him!

Simon has also not been digesting very well yesterday and today. Although, on the bright side he is eating well. Please pray that we will know what to feed him to help his stomach digest better.
Please pray that all of our insurance stuff will go through and get resolved for August's bills. So far I have
Thanks everyone.
For other adoptive moms. Mealtrain is a great way to organize meals for the first month you are home. We had a wonderful soup brought to our home tonight and cookies. It was great. As I ease into laundry and eventually work I have LOVED not having to worry about cooking. I have been running to the store but only for a small amount of staples, fruit, yogurt and toilitires...and that has been a HUGE blessing. Google mealtrain, it is easy to use and free ( you don't need the fancy one!) My friends and family like knowing what they can do to help and I like having the food and company. They get to meet Simon, I get to eat great food....a WIN WIN.

Simon has been doing great with these appointments. I wear him in the baby carrier in all of them....it really relaxes him and the doctors and pretty much do whatever while he is on me. Most of them are very okay with that and so am I. We borrowed a Boba carrier from my friend Grace....it has worked wonderfully. I am VERY thankful we have it. If you are an adoptive mom, you should really at least give the carrier a try it is GREAT for attachment with you little one and it is really helping me with Simon in these appointments and anywhere really. I tried to go in the pharmacy without him in it yesterday and it was ridiculous. He doesn't hold still and attracts a lot more questions when he moving all around in my arms and I couldn't set him down anywhere....the baby carrier is where it is at. (Again, this can be purchased locally at circle ME!...shoot they will even mail you one will you are out of state :) )

That is all, I am tired and going to bed and I am turning into one big commercial :)