Our Little Turkey: 6.13.10 ~ Our Life is Not Boring

So much is going on right now that I think my head might explode soon.

First, before I jump into all of our new developments, an update on Liam and his spica cast. The day after I posted the last blog entry Liam was scheduled for a follow-up appointment with a new doctor here in New York (since the cast was put on in Baltimore). Just as our pediatrician had promised, he was very nice and great with Liam; which was good because, apparently, the hospital had really traumatized Liam. As soon as we stepped into the examining room he took one look at the bed covered in paper and burst into tears. He quickly calmed down when he realized he and I were just waiting in the room and nothing was happening. He was happy until the doctor came in a then burst into tears again. After he realized that doctor was friendly and was keeping a safe distance from us, he calmed down again only to start crying again when the doctor did a quick x-ray of Liam’s leg. The image popped up on the screen and, yup, there it was. The factured femur. In all its glory. Definitely still there. Darn. No miracle healing for poor Liam. The doctor told us that it looked well set and that the cast should come off in six to eight weeks. I suppose he noticed the look of horror on my face when he said that because he asked what time frame they had given me at the hospital. Three to four weeks. “Well,” he said, “you’re back in New York now and we’re a bit more conservative here.” Awesome. I prefer progressive. So I told him that just wasn’t going to work for us since we are leaving for a long vacation on July 1^st. He smiled and said that we would see. He would keep x-raying Liam’s leg and monitoring the bone growth and hopefully we’d have it off before our trip. Even though the doctor said it wouldn’t help, I have been stuffing Liam’s face with milk and vitamin D supplements. Our next appointment with the doctor is on Tuesday this week. Of course I’m on the edge of my seat and can’t wait to get an update on that bone growth.

Overall, I am totally ready to get this thing off. It makes me so nervous that I can’t see Liam’s leg. I feel like his skin could be peeling off or, worse, rotting off in there and I would never know because I can’t see it. Some guy who started chatting me up outside of the Lohmann’s dressing room (and had apparently had many broken bones in the past) suggested we put the thin attachment on the vacuum cleaner and stick the end into Liam’s cast. He said the suction would pull fresh air into the cast and would help keep his skin healthy. It was a good idea in theory. In practice, the attachment was still too big to fit into the foot of his cast and Liam was hysterical with fear that I was trying to vacuum off his toes. To add to the fun, Liam has been consistently peeing inside the portion of his cast that wraps around his waist. We first discovered that the inside lining was sopping wet last weekend. For the next three days Liam smelled like a homeless man as Jason and I tried everything we could think of to dry the cast out. We tried soaking the pee out with towels and diapers, we tried a cool hair blow-dryer, and we tried leaving his clothes off in hopes that air would circulate in and dry the cast out. However, with an ever-present supply of new pee, drying was impossible. Finally, after trying to stuff diapers into his cast and realizing that they were bunchy and uncomfortable, I had the brilliant (thank you) idea of buying G-Diaper refills to line the cast with. G-Diaper refills are flat. So, we wrapped them around the entire waist of his cast and they both soaked up the old pee and caught any new pee. And improved the smell of both Liam, and subsequently our apartment, ten-fold. So now Liam wears four diapers all the time. Two G-Diapers to line the inside, one tiny size 1 diaper shoved inside the cast and one huge size 6 diaper wrapped around the entire thing to hold everything in place. He is never cold.

Although the cast has added lots of new frustrations to my life, Liam seems to be dealing with it very well. I think he’s gotten pretty used to it. There are still times - when he tries to do something he remembers doing in the past, like climbing off the couch or pulling up to stand in his crib - that he gets very puzzled and frustrated. But mostly, he has settled into life with the cast and has adapted quite well. At the beginning of this week he even figured out how to crawl. It’s been amazing to see him learn how to maneuver with such a large part of his body restricted. It reminded me of when he initially learned how to crawl. He started by pulling with his arms and rotating his upper body to sort of pivot around. Then he began rolling. And finally he lifted up his torso and started crawling. This whole progression happened in about two days, though. Much quicker than last time around. Liam’s sleep is shit and he’s not eating much. But for the most part, his happy and silly personality is back – which is what I care about the most. I think I owe a large part of this to his school. They welcomed him back with open arms and immediately thought of ways to accommodate him in the classroom. At first, they had a few spots around the room (a small couch, some pillows, the high chair, and his stroller) through which Liam would rotate in order to be included in what was going on with the other kids. Since he’s figured out how to crawl, they’ve given him more space and time to discover what he can and can’t do. Even if he’s struggling a little, they don’t jump right in and interrupt his efforts to just hand him whatever he’s going for. They wait and see if he can figure it out himself. If he does, he seems to feel a sense of autonomy and accomplishment that he wouldn’t otherwise feel. I think the space the classroom affords, the entertainment provided by the activities and the other children, and the independence the teachers allow him have all played a huge part in Liam’s overall happiness. It’s been harder for Jason and me to let Liam test his abilities at home because we’re currently living in chaos…. which brings me to my next update.

Jason was recently offered and accepted a new job here in New York. He’s now with a new company which means we’ll be in New York for several more years, at least. When we thought we were moving as soon as I graduated, we were ok with sticking out the remainder of our time here in our tiny apartment. However, as soon as we knew were staying, we started apartment hunting. Our hunt took us to Brooklyn where you get a little more bang (or maybe more like a tiny pop more) for your buck and the neighborhoods seem a little more laid back. We ultimately found a place in Prospect Heights. It’s a two bedroom which means that Jason and I will finally be able to sleep in a bed. In a bedroom. Not the futon in the living room. In fact, we Craig-listed that futon and happily waved goodbye to it early this morning. So, with our pending move, and Jason’s training schedule for his new job, we were forced to start the packing process a bit early. Two weeks early. So now we’re living among the boxes and chaos. And we have to keep clearing off space in different areas for Liam to be able to play. He seems confused and a little irritated. Probably because both Jason and I are a bit irritated with the whole process. But I keep telling myself that it will all be worth it in the end. In a just a few more weeks Liam’s bone will be healed and his cast will be off and we will be settled into our new home. Till then I will be trying to keep my kid happy, my husband from divorcing me, and myself sane. And I certainly can’t complain of boredom.