It’s a little after 4 in the morning and I can’t sleep.  Allistaire just had her vitals checked again.  What a strange new world we’ve entered.  So many new sounds (beeps and ventilation), new ways of doing things.  Each diaper is put in a bucket to be weighed to help determine how she’s doing with her fluid intake.  When I asked about some diaper cream, the nurse Megan, joyously exclaimed that they have, “a whole algorithm” for that.  Thoughts of calculus came flooding my mind as I tried to see the connection between butt paste and math.  Apparently it’s just a fancy way of saying they are quite thoughtful about what type of cream to use in differing circumstances.  We have a wee little bin – and I do mean wee – in which we can put food in a refrigerator.  You must label each item with the patients name and the date .  Food that is over 48 hours old will be tossed.  Can you imagine coming home from Trader Joes and piling your food into a container about 8 inches by 14 inches, labeling everything and knowing someone will come by and throw it away within hours?  This would just never do for mom – of course I’m guilty too.  Only a few weeks ago I threw away a bottle of lemon juice that expired in 2008.  I hope to figure out how to add some pictures soon so you can get an idea of our new homeland.

As for little Allistaire, she is doing okay though agitated by the confinement of her new life.  Until she gets her central line on Tuesday, she will continue to have an IV in her foot.  She has been drinking well so they have been able to disconnect her from fluids at night.  During the day she is usually attached to her IV pole.  Because her hematocrit was down to 20 yesterday morning, she received 2 transfusions of blood yesterday evening.  I think this perked her up because she was lively, even playful, to past 10pm last night.  Her goofy, toothy smile brings us great delight.  Even her insistent, plaintive, “All Done” during blood pressure checks is adorable.  She is a joy to everyone who encounters her.

I’m going to attempt to include some very specific things for which to pray each day for those who are interested.  At the moment, sleep would be lovely.  There are constant interruptions here at night.  For myself I struggle with sleeping so lightly and lots of neck and shoulder pain which isn’t helped by our sweet “bed in a chair” contraption.  Also, every time I wake up, my mind starts going immediately so that it takes a while to fall back asleep. For Allistaire, she is woken up at least several times each night for vitals, diaper changes, etc.  And for now she has a silly sleeping outfit consisting of her footy jammies that we call, because she does, “Jammie Shoes.”  Because the IV is in left foot, we can only get her arms and right foot into the jammies – zipping the front up is not an option so she sports a little hospital gown over the top to at least semi cover up her tummers.  I imagine this isn’t the most comfortable or warm.  So sleep – pray that the Lord would provide us with as much sleep as we can get and the ability to thrive on less.

Speaking of sleep, I think I should try to re-enter that land before 6 am rolls around and Allistaire has to be poked again for her morning blood test.