A reflection on the past 5 months...

As I prepare to go back to work, I am filled with a thousand different emotions.  I am a completely different person than I was 5 months ago, and not just because I had a baby.  David and I had everything thrown at us since the day he was born...from high bilirubin levels that kept us going back to the hospital for a couple of weeks after he was born, to enlarged kidney scares, to the whole reason I wrote this blog.  5 months ago, I would have been hesitant to call a doctor knowing she was in surgery.  I wouldn't have spent hours wasted on the phone with the insurance company to make sure a certain test was covered.  I laid down at every rude and incompetent front dest medical staff member until I had Jack.  Now we know, we are his biggest advocate and you bet we'll do what we have to. 

The first three months of his life were all about figuring out how to get back to normal with an infant.  We had just gotten into a groove and the cataracts hit.  Part of me feels a bit jipped - that the majority of my maternity leave was spent on the phone, in a doctor's office or hospital, or stuck in traffic on our way there.  But most of all, I feel completely blessed to have had these last 5 months at home.  I learned a lot about myself, after being "screwed and tattooed" as my mom puts it.  I went from being absolutely terrified to leave the house, to toting Jack anywhere and everywhere.  I got to meet a wonderful group of moms (who I actually blame for making going back to work so hard - I didn't think maternity leave would be that fun!). 
So here I go, back to work.  It will be nice to be somewhere where I get to use my brain and my talents, and hang out with people who are older than one, but it breaks my heart to leave Jack.  He is going to a wonderful daycare center, where they love him already. 

The blog entries will slow down...for many reasons.  One is that hopefully there will not be much to report on Jack's eyes.  He's done with eyedrops, and we have been getting the contacts in and out pretty successfully.  His opthamologist couldn't have been happier with his progress at his checkup on Wednesday.  The other reason is that I am a teacher, and let's be honest, there just won't be time!  Thank you to everyone who has been keeping up with Jack's Journey.  At the opthamologist on Wednesday, I met the mother of a 9 week old who had just gotten the diagnosis of an eye problem for her little one.  It broke my heart to see her so heartbroken, because that was us only 2 short months ago.  It is AMAZING to see how far we have come!  I hope that this blog will continue to be shared and help moms like that, because we are living proof that you do survive this. 

I'll leave you with a picture of my little angel - contacts and all!

This is worth blogging about!

Just last night, David said he was thinking to himself that I wouldn't have much to blog about anymore.  After all, between the 3-4 days when we have to change Jack's contacts, life feels almost "normal."  Well, that didn't last long! 

We got Jack's contacts in this morning with not too much drama.  Jack and I got dressed and headed out to Mommy Bootcamp.  When we got home, I did my routine every-couple-of-hours check, and lo and behold, I couldn't see a contact in his left eye.  I triple checked before texting David because I knew that was not a text he would be excited to get.  Put it this way, these are not your run of the mill 1-800-CONTACTS kind of deal.  These are special made, get one at a time, and a pair costs as much as daycare for a week.  I retraced our steps about 12 times, including inspecting every inch of Jack and I's clothing.  I checked the car, the carseat, I even checked to make sure it wasn't stuck to Rocky. 

Now, you may remember a few posts ago, the opthamologist lost the contact way up in his eye, so praying that's where it was, I called her office.  She told me to come in so she could check, but of course today was her day in Arlington.  We left an hour early because the traffic said 66 was backed up, and of course it took us 20 minutes to get there.  Jack had fallen asleep so I stopped and picked up some lunch and got there about 20 til 1.  Their office closes for lunch (actually, the entire hospital seems to close for lunch...don't go to Virginia Hospital Center for an emergency between 12 and 1!)  so Jack and I just walked around.  By this time, I had taken out his other contact and put his glasses on him so he'd be even, so we got about a zillion oos and ahs over the glasses.

Now, I know they were doing me a favor and squeezing me in, but we waited for an hour and 10 minutes to see the doctor!  It is very hard to keep a 4 month old happy for that long.  Jack got to see his buddy (hey, it had been almost 2 weeks!) and then she wasn't his buddy anymore.  Two different sized speculums and the contact was nowhere to be found...sigh.

I returned home, defeated, but I had this slight thought in the car that I had forgotten I had put Jack in his bouncy seat for about 30 seconds while I had gone to the bathroom earlier.  As soon as I got home, I looked in the bouncy chair, and there sat the missing contact lens! 

Since this is a supersonic lens, it is actually not ruined....it just needs to soak for a day or so.  And since this is this particular lenses 3rd escape, they are ordering a different fit, at no cost - just an exchange.  So for now, we are back in the glasses. 

We are both exhausted.  Jack was asleep by 7:30 if that's any indication, and I am not far behind him!