Sunday, July 31, 2011

Hey! Another Saturday Night

When my head hit the pillow on Friday night I let out a long and satisfied sigh. There is nothing like sleeping in your own bed after several strenuous days elsewhere. There was so much going on over the past few days that sleep was in short supply. The  nurses all showed up while we were in the East bay, which was great. But I would get into bed at night and stare out the window unable to settle down. That changed when I got home. Last night as soon as the nurse arrived for the night shift I went to bed and slept like a rock. The sound of the alarm at 7AM interrupted the first solid sleep I've had in a couple of weeks.  It was wonderful, but not enough. I was tired all day today and need a few more nights like Friday to feel back to normal.

Tonight is not one of those nights, though. There is nothing worse than getting a phone call at 10:30 from the night nurse advising that she is unable to come to work tonight. It's too late to get a replacement so mom is on duty. Even if she had called earlier so I could get a couple of hours of sleep first... but nooooo. She has to wait until the last minute. I did head upstairs and sleep for an hour while Steve handled Maggie,. but that was just a teaser. Right now it's nearly 1:00AM and I am on duty until 7 when Steve will come back down to relieve me.

That means I will be completely useless tomorrow and Monday. There always seems to be a delay until I can recover from staying up all night. I couldn't even do it in college, so this many years later, fergedddaboutit. When you add in the sleep deficit from earlier this week, it's clear that I won't be right for days. If you run into me and I don't greet you, please understand.

So it's Maggie and me tonight. I connected the tubing to the compressor and attached the oxygen. I set out the supplies I will need for the night and will get to her meds next. the sat monitor is hooked to Maggie' finger,  I am not using the feeding pump tonight but have opted to feed her manually. I find it easier than wondering if the automatic feeding is leaking.all over the bed.  The suction machine is poised and ready to do its thing all night long. Maggie, who became very riled up with excitement when she realized mom was on duty,  is finally falling asleep. I try to tell myself  her being up so late means she will sleep harder longer, but I now from experience that 's not necessarily the case.

Staying awake is not difficult because there is so much that needs to be done. I have suctioned her three times since I started typing this. Preparing and delivering the meds takes at least two hours.  In between I have to feed and change her and do the catheterizations.

If there is down time, which is unlikely I can continue to unload boxes to get us moved back in.  But I probably won't. The move back into the house will be pushed back another day or so. C'est la vie. Right now my goal is to make it until 7AM when I can return to bed. There will be another contented sigh when I hit the sack in the morning, but it may be inaudible as I will likely be asleep before the head makes contact with the pillow..

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1 comment:

  1. Wow, you are supermom! Hope you caught up on sleep today.

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