The Amazing Twin Adventure

Like ripples in a pond, the virus continues to spread. It has now claimed two of Debi's four kids and our other daytime nurse. Poor things! Will the infestation ever end? The good thing that came out of it is that we have a night nurse tonight and tomorrow to make up for yesterday's missed shift. Six blissful hours of sleep, hallelujah!
Today I made my first foray with Will. We took him to the pediatrician's office. It went really well. The hardest part was packing all the "just in case" stuff in the car. we had to bring the vent, the battery, oxygen, portable suction machine, extra trach, vent circuits, etc. The minivan was pretty much a rolling hospital! And since Will was on his HME, we didn't need a bit of it (except the suction machine). But we found out he weighs 12.3 pounds, so he's gained almost a pound since he came home from the hospital! We changed his feedings around a little. He's getting a little more during the day and a little less at night because he's been spitting up the past couple of nights. Other than that, everything's looking good.
I did think I was going to have to slap the nurse tech at the doctor's office. She had never seen a kid with a trach, so she had a lot of questions. The questions were fine, but the horrified, slightly disgusted look on her face wasn't. I seriously thought about kicking her. I bet Debi would have held her while I did! There was another lady in the waiting room who heard Will before she saw him. He makes a real raspy sound when he's on his HME, somewhat reminiscent of Darth Vader. She commented, "Aww, somebody's got the croup." Then she saw him, but recovered very nicely! She just said how adorable he was and that he had the cutest chubby cheeks. Ahe handled it much better than the nurse!
Hays seems to be feeling better. He was sleeping much better today and had fewer diaper blowouts. And he weighs nine pounds! Matt weighed him using the slightly less scientific method of standing on the scale holding him, then without him and subtracting! So go big Hays!!!!
And the cute Masonism for the day- This afternoon I took Mason and Hays to the grocery store and they were both perfect little angels. Mason gets gold post-it note stars to stick on his bedroom door when he does something good, so after I told him how proud I was that he had been so good, he asked if he could have a star. I gave him one tonight before bed and he told me, "Mommy, make a star for Haysie too and I'll put it on his door for him. He needs a star for being good at the store too!" He is such a sweet big brother!