Night Nursing

Today was my first day of summer vacation. I did not relax much- mostly because I have a long to do list that wasn't able to get done during the last two months. I always have a long to do list. We are not going to have night time nursing in a week and I feel like I really had to reorganize some space in my bedroom for Adam's crib- since he's joining us in a week.

Let me explain night time nursing because unless you've been there, or you are one of the 5 people living here, you just won't understand. 

Adam had a trach- so there was a hole in his neck that he breathed through and he could not make any sounds. The air escaped out the trach instead of going up past the vocal cords. If we all slept at the same time, no one would ever hear him or know if his trach was blocked and he could die. So, Adam recieved 16 hours of nursing a day (one eight hour night shift) each day. At 11pm, a nurse comes to my house. We go to sleep and she stays awake in my home until 6am, when her shift is over- we get up at 5:30 or earlier if there is a problem. 

It's ridiculously weird. 

It also takes us a while to trust the night nurse. The first few times a nurse comes here, we take turns pulling all nighters (playing video games or internet), because we don't trust them. The next step is that we take turns sleeping in the living room. If that goes well, we move to sleeping in Matt's room with the door open (his room is next to Adam's) and we relocate Matt to our room. Finally we sleep in our own room but we set our alarms for random times to interrupt our sleep cycle and check on the nurse and Adam. If all goes well, then we can sleep normally during that particular nurse's shift. We do this for every nurse at night, for a year and a half.  Sometimes the week is a bad sleeping week for us if there are a lot of new nurse shifts. 

It's weird because there is no privacy. You know they can hear you fighting and laughing. I worry if they judge my tv show choice or the jokes I laugh at. I can hear them running water, on their cell phones, and using the microwave.  

The night nurses are a blessing, too. Once we trust them, it's a relief to be able to sleep and know that they will wake me up if there's a problem. 

There have been some real wackadoo night nurses, though.

• Nurses we have found asleep- one even tucked himself in and didn't even wake up when Phil called his name
• A nurse who needed a cane and had a "no baby holding policy" before 5am. 
• The perfume and the makeup and the long nails. I mean, really? So ridiculous.
• One put a towel over his lamp, which caught on fire.
• Not changing diapers
• not noticing his feeding tube leaked all over his bedding
• Once we called 911 and the nurse left the house before the ambulance came

We've had some great ones, too. One nurse in particular has worked with us four nights a week since Adam got his trach and she has been a blessing- as loving as a grandmother and an excellent nurse.

On July 1st, I'm sure we will get no sleep. phil and I will just be way too nervous. But we will laugh hard at controversial comedians, swear a bit more, and say very inappropriate things.