Home sweet Home

Finally, the time has come where I can be released from the hospital and go home. It was the beginning of June and somewhere around 110 degrees outside. Ahhh yes, Arizona summers. You gotta love em!!! Actually just seeing the blue skies was refreshing. I didn't care how hot it was because I finally got to see something besides hospital walls. Dull, drab white walls. I couldn't wait to get home and see all the kids. I was still groggy and weak but I knew I could lay in my own bed with my own family. It was awesome! My sister helped me inside and Randy and the kids all greeted mommy with hugs and kisses. I still had stints in my kidneys which was a little uncomfortable but survivable. I only had one more surgery left and that was to remove the stints in a month. Kyle's services have now begun at home. He has physical, occupational, early intervention and speech therapists that each come once a week. They were all so good about including Ellie and Andrew as well. Finally I can get into a routine. Every morning at 9am a different therapist came to work with Kyle. Even though he was a newborn, incorporating all these things in his daily routine really helped Kyle developmentally to not be so far behind with his milestones. We really never know whats around the corner with Kyle. we just have to watch him develop and see what he can or can't do. one thing that Randy and I felt very strongly about was not putting limitations on Kyle or any of our kids for that matter. i know a lot of people may think we are too laid back the way we raise our kids but honestly it only hurts their self esteem later in life to be told they can't do something. Our kids are raised knowing that if they want something bad enough they can work for it. I firmly believe that is why Kyle is so "normal". We let him fall, we let him crawl up stairs, climb on things. So many people would ask me "aren't you scared he'll hurt his head?" I would say "nope, I'm more afraid of holding him back". Well our new life is pretty much filled with doctor visits, trips to the neurosurgeon, cat scans, in home therapy sessions and play dates. I'm always tired and someone's diaper always needs changing and yes usually someone is always crying...usually me! When Randy comes home from work he takes the kids and tells me to go walk or take a bath. A lot of times I just want to sit in my room and be alone. Thankfully we have great neighbors and friends. Heather has 4 boys and Karen has 4 girls. We spend a lot of time together sitting on our driveways, letting the kids play to just survive the day. It was always a joke between Randy and Heather's husband Troy that when they came home from work we still had our jammies on. I know I wouldn't have survived those years without my girl friends. Heather and I use to laugh that our house looked like a bad white trash daycare. So what if Martha Stewart wouldn't be impressed...we had fun any how. It's now January 2004 and Andrew is turning 2!! Grandma Sandi came in town to celebrate the occasion. As we were getting ready to have cake we noticed Kyle was in the bouncy seat not looking very well. He starts crying and projectile vomiting. Whoa!!! he's now screaming and unconsoleable. We call the doctor and they tell us to feel his head for anything unusual. it feels a little soft so we go to Phoenix Children's Hospital. After a battery of tests they discover that Kyle's shunt is clogged and they need to do surgery to unclogg it. Randy and I both slept at the hospital with Kyle and Grandma stayed with Ellie and Andrew. We're going to come through this stronger I told myself.