And it's birthday time again!

So my main mischief maker is turning 8 today!

8 years ago today – 22 Jan – it was a public holiday here in Wellington in New Zealand. I should probably be thankful because I got the registrar on call instead of the OB who was determined, whatever the cost, to prolong the pg – even though I was clearly becoming sicker and sicker.

In the end the on-call specialist decided that with markedly hyperactive, a big BP jump despite the fact it wasn’t high high, the swelling I had and other signs – that in fact I did have pre-e, that my kidneys and liver were starting to fail despite the standard blood tests still being okay – and that I needed another emergency c-section.

N arrived at 8:29pm at 36 + 3 days and weighing 5lb 12 oz and wound up doing 3 ½ days in the NICU and most of that on CPAP.

He did battle with reflux, eating problems, failure to thrive and some developmental delay.

He’s had at least 2 good dices with death – when he was 6 months old and had a really bad bout of croup and chest infection. He was in the ICU and nearly had to be vented. They said when we brought him in he was indrawing so badly that his breastbone was touching his spine. He was so exhausted but would not give in, relax or sleep – he was totally focussed on breathing and staying alive! He had 8 days in hospital and 6 of them on oxygen.

Then when he was 3 he slipped off a rail he’d been swinging on and fell about 4 ft – head first onto concrete. When I rolled him over there was a dent in his forehead but that soon rose into a massive egg! Despite getting the all clear from the GP that afternoon he slipped into a delayed concussion that night and was so unconscious that even the ambulance officers couldn’t wake him. He came round in the ambulance and stunned the docs at the hospital by announcing that his name was N (full name) and his birthday was in January!

He had a lucky escape that time – although suffered double vision, headaches and forgetting well known words (like colours) for about 3 months after the fall.

These days – he is an amazing kid, amazing great and amazing frustrating!

Reflux was finally resolved when he was nearly 7 with a nissen although we still struggle greatly with eating and weight gain.

His ADHD was diagnosed at about 6 ½ and medication has made a big difference to him and all our daily lives although we still struggle with behavioural aspects.

As I said to P a few weeks ago N is one of those people with the strength, energy, drive, determination, intelligence, inquiry – and impulsivity – to change the world we live in. He is going to be a mastermind evil genius or one of those figures who stride across the world stage in some form or other. We unleashed him on the world so it’s our job now to leash him in just enough to keep him on the good side! It’s going to be a bumpy ride – but boy, you can never say life with N is boring!!

Wheeeee woooooo

Yes, that's right! T has loved emergency vehicles since he was tiny (alright then, tinier!)

As the day of his operation is coming closer and we're all suddenly realising what he won't be able to do for a while afterwards - eat his beloved brownies, eat his hehe ray ray (- what he calls cornflakes because of course it's not a kangaroo on the packet but a DOG silly!), jump on the new trampoline, play in his sandpit (sand in healing incisions...don't think so!) or even be too easily transportable - we decided to try and pack in some fun things for him now.

P sings with someone who is also a volunteer fire fighter and had said a number of times that we should organise a time for us to bring the boys down to the station - so we did it this Saturday.

He showed them round all the different compartments and what all the things do. Unsurprisingly N was taken with the tool called a Hoolahan (named after the man who invented it) but they all call it a Hooligan tool - axe/crowbar/metal rod/whatever other wrecking tool you can name! N's eyes lit up at the idea of being ALLOWED to wreck things - a career plan change might be happening for him, especially when he discovered that so long as you are strong enough to carry the gear there is no height or weight restriction for entry into the Fire Brigade here.

They got to get the hoses out and even spray a little. W got really into that...T did the typical thing you see with little kids and garden hoses, right up to the face and then started to fiddle with the triggewr part - that was before he flicked the switches and let them play...

They saw the gear they'd need to use if our hillside went up in flames as well.

Then they got to go inside and try on some of the gear - W had a ball in a helmet and coat carrying round a hose to show that he could take the weight. N nearly dropped an oxygen cylinder!
T looked fantastic in a proper helmet (he'd insisted on wearing his toy one to the station) but declared the boots "too big Mummy!"

Due to N's interest we learnt how the radio works and the different stations called out for different events.

Then we went for a ride! Sadly he wasn't allowed to use lights or sirens because he wasn't on an official job but did let off a whoop as we pulled up outside the station.

He showed us how sprinkler systems work and the benefits and negatives of smoke detectors.

We were there for about 90mins and the boys all had a fantastic time!

I managed to take a number of good photos and have edited and printed them already and put them in T's photo album of current or important events to show people as a talking springboard. He'll thrust them under the nose of anyone prepared to stand still for a minute!

So hopefully when all the post op restrictions come into play he'll have some cool things to look back on - it's only 21 days away now!

Welcome 2009!

And a Happy New Year to you all!

Wishing health, happiness, wealth and gee - let's go all out and wish for world peace while we're at it too :-)

As I went to bed on New Year's Eve I pondered what the new year will bring us.

As I said to P - we know some of the challenges ahead - and we know some of the joys too - one of my sisters is getting married this year and the way it's worked out only I will be going as it's in England but it'll be only my 3rd break on my own since having W. The first was accompanying my mother for moral support while my father had surgery, the second was a Parent to Parent break weekend which was unfortunately the day after I dislocated my shoulder so I didn't really appreciate it as much as I could have done!

T's surgery and learning to eat are a big challenge, like many these days we're facing some big financial challenges.

P's still having random rashes, foot pains etc after the nail incident last year - and we really need to get to the bottom of that one too.

We are working on behaviour modification for N, and scarily I'm going to have to start reading up on Asperger's teens as W is clearly heading that way and already struggling a bit.
Hopefully Tau Toko (an organisation which helped us so very much when the AS was first diagnosed) will be able to help us out soon again - been on that waiting list for nearly a year now.

Anyway, since we have officially ended the holiday period - or what I called the "No number days" when I was little, I want to wish people a good new year with as few big surprises as possible!

Explaination - No number days were the days between Christmas Day (which everyone knows is the 25th!) and my birthday on the 4th of Jan. Those days were always so laid back and relaxed and no one ever seemed to look at the calender that for a while I actually thought those days didn't have dates to them, we just floated seamlessly along in summer relaxation.
Of course it all ended on the 4th because we can't lose track of a birthday now can we??!! :-)