Day 4 - room upgrade!

Noah is so much better than he was - so much so, that we have been upgraded to a room across the hall which is MUCH bigger and brighter and not hot! It's so nice to be able to look out the windows. They like to keep the room where you can see through to the nurses desk for kids that are very sick, so it's a good sign when you get to move out of there. It's nice to have some space so we can all be in the room at the same time, and not be sitting on top of each other.

He is now down to 5 litres of oxygen, up to normal feeds and the canula is out (thanks to it tissuing), so today they will decide whether they will put in another canula, but I think they will leave it out and just keep him on oral meds from now on.

I'm sure we are in for at least a couple more days, but things are so much better....for Noah at least. I'm feeling really awful with bronchitis and am coughing up so much junk from my lungs, that I even gave myself some ventolin last night and had a hyper-saline neb to try to loosen things up! Kobe couldn't work out what was going on and kept pointing to me having a neb and telling the boys saying 'Mum!!'. I think it scared him a bit as he's only used to seeing Noah with it on.

Aaron is going to have the day off work tomorrow as carer's leave as I'm not really well enough to deal with everything going on at the moment on my own (plus dealing with last minute house stuff while all this is going on), so it will be nice to have the two boys at school tomorrow and have things around here a bit more peaceful (and restful!).

Day 3 - sick, sicker and sickest

Noah is continuing to improve which is great - he is breathing so much better, they have started feeds up again, and he no longer needs one on one nursing which is SO nice. He is still on 10 litres of oxygen though, so it will still be a while until we get to bring him home, but the doctors are really happy with how he's going.

One good thing about hospital is I get to see more people, to try to rally up some more votes for the SMILE competition :) The voting closes tomorrow and I really have no hope of winning, but it will be interesting to see who does. If you haven't already, PLEASE, PLEASE vote for my photo (click on the pic below)- I need all the money we can get at the moment (which is a whole other drama that I don't even want to think about right now!).

Yesterday Aaron spent most of the day and night up at the hospital with him. Kylie was going to the bike centre for a couple of hours yesterday, so offered to have the boys there. They had a great time and it was a beautiful day to ride around in the sun.




Kobe has been sick for a few days with a cold, but it just seems to be getting worse with his temp going up as well. I started off with a sore throat, then a cold and now I'm pretty sure I have bronchitis. I get it every year for the last three or four years, and I thought I got away with it this year...till now :( Simone was at the park with her kids, so after the bike centre the two boys joined her kids, while Kobe and I went home for a sleep. I didn't think he would sleep, but he was so sick that he went straight to sleep. It was so nice for us to both have a nap.

At the hospital Kobe is a lot more subdued than normal. He likes just laying around having a cuddle.

As soon as I pull out the (iPhone4!) camera though he is all smiles! Funny boy.

Yesterday Mum and Dad came to visit (sorry I didn't see you Dad - too much to do at the moment!) and also Annette, who had also cooked us a lovely meal the day before - thanks so much Nettie.

It was my night home last night which I was looking forward to, and it was nice to come home to tea on the doorstep that a friend had dropped off. I was hoping to have a good nights sleep, but as always I couldn't unwind and relax without having Noah and Aaron home. Harri came in after midnight needing a drink, and Kobe woke at 3am and in between I just couldn't sleep very well, so I'm feeling pretty rotten today with a tight chest, runny nose, and eyes hanging out of my head. I also got an urgent message from the builder saying we are two tiles short in the bathroom, so had to go out chasing that up this morning and of course no one has them in stock so our bathroom still isn't finished.

Despite everything going on, it's always nice to lay in bed with my boys in the morning and realise how lucky I really am.

Day 2

It's been a long couple of days in hospital with Noah. It's hard to believe that we had such a long stint in hospital just a month or two ago, and now we are back to the usual hospital routines again.

Being in a tiny room with no windows (except to look out to the nurses desk) that is stinkin hot is draining. The worst thing is not having a bathroom and having to walk up the hall at all hours of the morning to go to the loo. The first night I probably got 2-3 hours sleep on and off. Every time I would wake up a nurse would be standing right next to me doing something to Noah and then I couldn't go back to sleep for ages, and then it would be time to give him another neb, or I would get up and suction him (no one suctions him as well as Mum does! :).

By the morning we were both exhausted. Noah had a high temp all night and even though his SATS were okay he was breathing up a lot.

By mid morning things started to settle down and we gave him a wash and he looked much more comfortable. We still have one on one nursing and the nurse is constantly there keeping an eye on things. It's good as it means we get a bit of a break, but it's also a long day as you feel like you have to make small talk with them.

Before lunch yesterday I told the nurse I was going to try to have a nanna nap while it was quiet, and dozed off for an hour. When I woke up I was so embarrased that Noah's paediatrician had come in while I was snoozing, spoke to the nurse, decided on what treatment Noah needed and decided to let me sleep the whole time. This morning he came in with a huge grin saying 'oh you are awake today!!?', being very cheeky. He told me he was in the room for half an hour and I still didn't wake up! Lucky the nurse told me it was only a couple of minutes, or I would've felt worse.

Jay and Harri kept us entertained yesterday with the kids guitar they found in the playroom. There's no way you can feel down with these two around! :)

Yesterday afternoon we got a lovely surprise. Becky and Ben from America, who were very sneaky and arranged through Alison to send in some lovely helium balloons and chocolate. The nurse came in with them and said 'these were given to us nurses from a patient to say thanks, so you can have the balloons and we will have the chocolates'. I was like 'okay, that's nice' and then read the card and realised he was pulling my leg, but was so surprised that they were from Becky and Ben and was confused for a sec about how they did it.

We were so grateful for such a thoughtful gesture, from so far away. I hate being in hospital with Noah, but always remember how lucky we are to still have Noah with us, as I know Becky is missing her beautiful little Ben so much.

We've been lucky to have nice nurses who look after the boys and all of us, as well as Noah. Yesterday afternoon one of our favourite nurses made us some milk shakes with ice cream and all. The boys were in heaven. It's nice that they try to make hospital as nice as possible for the whole family.

Noah is much better than he was, but there is still a ways to go until we can go home. He is currently on 11 litres of oxygen so it's going to be a while till he is weaned from it. Fingers crossed he will pick up quicker than they think.

Not Supposed To Happen

Just as we are getting excited to really start packing our house up so we can move, Noah decides to throw a spanner in the works. He seemed like he had a bit of bad hayfever or a cold a couple of days ago as he needed a lot more suctioning than usual. Yesterday when he got home from school he just didn't seem right, and was breathing really fast. It continued all night and every now and then he would settle down, but then start up again.

This morning at 9am I rang our GP to see if they could fit us in, and they could but not until midday which I knew was too late. Instead I took him to Emergency at the hospital. As soon as they saw him they put him straight through (thank goodness we didn't have to wait!) and nurses started doing things straight away - taking blood, putting a canula in, doing his obs and getting oxygen onto him.

We spent 3 1/2 hours in Emergency and Kobe pretty much had everyone in the palm of his hand! The nurses were getting him so much food, drinks and colouring in pencils. He sat up at the desk with the nurses who you first talk to when you come into Emergency and had the best time ever. One of the male nurses helping Noah was so lovely and kept getting him lots of fun things to play with.

Finally at 1pm we headed up to the kids ward and are in the tiniest room ever with no bathroom, and no windows (except out to the nurses desk, so you feel like you are in a fish bowl with everyone looking in at you).

They are 'specialing' him which means he has one on one nursing, so there is a nurse in the room the whole time - including during the night. It's going to be VERY hard to sleep tonight! :( It's nice having someone there though, as it means I could dash home now to pick up the boys from school and grab some things, before heading back up there. Kobe and I both have a bit of a cold and a sore throat, and Noah's x-ray and bloods aren't really showing up anything, so they think he's probably got something similar, but just can't handle it like we can. and goes into respiratory distress. They are pumping the oxygen into him as well as antibiotics and steroids, hoping that he will pick up fast. The Dr told me to expect to be in for a week!

This wasn't supposed to happen - not when we are about to move house! Luckily Aaron is now home for 4 days (thank goodness for the Show Day holiday!).

Is it really going to happen!!?

We've been getting a little frustrated lately with the new house, as we should've been in over a month ago. I hadn't been up for about a week as I was sick of going up there and seeing that not much had happened, but thought I'd better go up today to see the builder, and to ask he had any idea of how far away it would be till we could move in. I was very pleasantly surprised to see that we now have carpet, the laundry tub was in and the bathroom is just about done!!

I'm so excited about our big bathroom with an open shower. We will now be able to give Noah showers by using a shower chair.

Aaron, Mum and the boys came up after school to check it all out and he thought he'd give the shower a test. The plumber has put the wrong shower head on, so it has to be swapped over tomorrow.

It's going to be so nice to have so much space in the bathroom to hoist Noah around, and move his shower chair around easily (the hole under the bath is into our built in cupboard - access to get to the spa pump - it will be covered up with a door).

The spa has been built up higher than usual, so we can use the hoist under it. We will have a removable step in the front of the gap which will be moved away when Noah is being hoisted in.

The boys had to test out how the new carpet felt with a wrestle.

Now the inside is just about finished we hope to get a certificate of occupancy by early next week which means we can move in FINALLY!! As for the outside - that's a whole other story, but that will be finished once we have moved in. For now I'll just be so happy to get in and to not have to pay the mortgage plus the rent.

Grand Final (take 2!)

It was strange having another AFL grand final on Saturday. I just couldn't get into it like I had the week before. It just didn't seem right that another game was being played, so instead of the usual preparations of getting lots of junk food, and watching the pre-game stuff beforehand, I decided that my morning was much better spend, laying outside in the beautiful sun...which we haven't seen much of for a very long time.

It was such a beautiful day. The boys came out and joined me for a while, while Aaron and Noah stayed in and watched everything relating to the footy. I asked Jay to grab my camera for me and said to Kobe 'go like this Kobe', demonstrating how to lay down on the grass, putting his head in his hands to try to get a cute photo and this is what he did.

After a while he realised what I actually wanted him to do - such a poser!


Jay thought he would like to join in on the modelling too.




Harri came over to me with a dandelion and said 'here's a flower for you Mum because I 'wuv' you so much'.

I had to get into the spirit of the footy somehow so cooked a potato pie for lunch. Aaron came out with it looking like this - nothing says you are loved more than a dandelion, and a pie with sauce in the shape of a heart! ;)

We gave in and came in from the beautiful sun to watch a little bit of the footy...not that it was really worth watching.

Hopefully next year the Hawks will be back and it really will be worth watching! :)

The Short Kid

Back in the day (the days of when I was in grade 6) I was actually 'the short kid'. If our house wasn't half packed away, I could drag out the old school photos of me and my friends, of them all towering over me. It's hard to believe I was so short as I am now taller than most of my friends.

Yesterday Jalen asked me if I could come up to school in the afternoon to watch him play basketball against another school. I know Jay is short for his age but it's funny when I see him with kids the same age, and realise how short he really is.

I'm hoping that during high school he will start sprouting up like I did.

Jay doesn't seem bothered by it at all and actually jokes about it.

Kobe is being a pain lately and fighting his day time sleeps. I put him into bed, and an hour and a half later he is still wide awake and calling out to me. I hate to admit that it looks like it may be time where he no longer needs a nap in the afternoon, but the upside is that he will be going to bed a lot earlier at night. It also means that I no longer have to make sure I'm home by lunch time so he can have a sleep, but can get out and about more and spend more time up at school in the afternoons watching the boys do different things.

Kobe was so happy to spend the afternoon with Jay yesterday. All day long he says 'Jay!?' asking me where he is. Today he actually fell over and after giving me a cuddle he kept crying and said 'Jayyyyy', as he wanted to find Jay so he could give him a cuddle to make him feel better.

Kobe loves being out and about and with the warmer weather and no naps (not even my nanna nap when I need one!! ) so we will be spending a lot more time out and about, enjoying the sun. I guess I should be glad that it's happened at this time of the year and not in the middle of winter.