Sunday, December 15, 2013

1 Month Later :-) .... 8 years later

It's been a month since I have written on Schnaderbeck Blog:
since then I've been at home for Thanksgiving, in Atlanta for work, in Orlando for other work and will go to Troy NY for meetings this week.

December 15 is usually a hard day for me - today it was filled with cookies and  projects around the house -- we got about 8-10" of snow overnight and it seemed like a great day to stay inside.

8 years ago we were having a different kind of night.  Matt took me to Lawrence General, for what we thought would just be dehydration and much needed rest.  Instead, we found out that Kaitlyn had died and I was taken urgently to Tufts-New England Medical Center.  Alexis got lung steroid shots - two doses over 2 days and I was put on bedrest.  Thankfully I was able to stay at home and not have to do bed rest at the hospital.

Alexis "stayed put" and grew to her huge size of 4lbs before she was delivered by c-section 8 weeks later.
I call the time between December 15, 2005 and February 8, 2006 as the wodgy period of my life -- yes, wodgy is not a real word.  It's the only word I came up with for explaining how it feels to carry alive baby Alexis and dead baby Kaitlyn.

Alas spending the past few days with Alexis (she was sick) -- has reminded me how precious she really is and how her health is generally balanced on a sword edge.  

She's made a lot of great progress this year - before she recently got sick, she was eating about 50% of her calories by mouth (purees and thickened liquids).  She's also more social than ever, and clearly indicates her wants and needs very clearly.  She's been so exhausted the past few days, I've gotten some great cuddle naps with her (holding her on my lap and letting her body rest).  Not all almost 8 year olds will tolerate that.

Take care folks - hug your little and big ones tight this evening.  And this season!

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