Clumsy Children = Childproofing....Again

In a matter of ten days, Jacob has wound up with a goose egg on his forehead the size of a golfball, and Courtney has has two major falls.  Now she's got bruises all over her arms and face.  It looks like she's being abused at home. Her bruises are so bad that I had to e-mail her teacher and let her know what was wrong and ask her to keep an eye out for more clumsiness at school to figure out if she's just clumsy or if I need to have a doctor check her out (inner-ear infection,maybe?).  Gah!

I've come to the point where I'm considering baby-proofing my home for my 6-year-old and my 4-year old!  OK, there's no way to Jacob-proof a home.  But I'm hoping to minimize the damage before Child Services gets called in. 

That's how the babyproofing foam edges came into play.

The picture to the left is how it came (with double sided tape) and the picture on the right is the edging on our table (I'm considering adding it to the wrought iron railing, but black on black doesn't make a good picture, does it!)

I was pretty impressed with this stuff because of how impact resistant it was and how easy it was to install.  Since it was a soft foam, I knew if Jacob hit it full-speed, he wouldn't end up with another giant goose egg.  Plus the tape, meant I wouldn't have to keep re-installing it every time Jake decided to pull it off and use it as a weapon against Courtney (or any other member of the family!)   - OK, at least it slowed him down a bit!

Granted, there aren't enough foam edging in the world to compensate for Courtney falling down the stairs again, but if I can prevent even one more bruise from happening, it will be worth it!

Hopefully these drastic measures won't be necessary for long, and both my children will regain their equilibrium soon!

Sleep Apnea Sleep Study for Jake

At Jacob's last  check up with the pediatrician, she put in a request that he get a sleep study done because children with Down syndrome have a higher tendency to have issues with sleep apnea.

It took months for us to connect with the doctor, have our preliminary visit, then actually have the sleep study done.

I'd had no idea what to expect from the study, aside from the fact that Jake would be there all night long and they'd be monitoring his sleep patterns somehow.

We showed up at the hospital at 7 p.m. on a Tuesday night and met with the technician. She showed us to a room that looked very much like a hotel room complete with a queen sized bed, a couple night stands, and a chair in the corner.  There was a bathroom connected to the room, and a second room where I could sleep if I chose.  She pointed out the cameras that would be used to watch Jacob while he sleeps, then showed me all of the cables that would be attached to various parts of his body.

Jake was NOT impressed.  From the second she started trying to attach the cables to his body, he began fighting.  He'd kick, and scream, and yell, and push, and wiggle--anything he could do to keep them off his body.

We struggled for FOUR hours to get them on him, then to get him to lay down in bed, and to keep him from yanking the cables out of his hair and off his face.

FOUR HOURS.  I finally had to physically restrain him with both my arms and legs until he couldn't move, then wait for him to cry himself to sleep.  By the time he fell asleep at around 1:00 a.m. both he and I were a sweaty mess.

By morning, the technician verified that yes, he did have sleep apnea, and maybe I should get a sleep study done too.  Um, you'd sleep like a brick and snore too if you'd just fought Jacob for four hours.  That kid has stamina.  I'm just sayin...

I heard nothing for another six weeks, then finally hear from the pediatrician asking if we'd ever had the study.  I confirmed that we had and that we were waiting on results and were told it may take a few months to hear anything.  She was not impressed, so she made phone calls, and a referral to the ENT.

At his appointment this week, we were told that Jacob had obstructive sleep apnea and another form of apnea that affects his brain waves when he sleeps.  He will be getting his tonsils out shortly to help with the apnea since there is no way Jake will sleep with a CPAP machine.

The ENT said that once the tonsils were taken out, they normally do another sleep study.  I quickly informed him that there was NO WAY I was going to subject Jake to that study again. Not for a very long time.  He agreed when I told him the story and said that instead he'd do a follow-up with him after the surgery to make sure his airways are doing well.

Here's to hoping that will be enough, and we don't find ourselves in another all-night war of the wills!

To Charge or Not to Charge....My Cell Phone, That is

I'd noticed lately that my Iphone and Jake's Ipad weren't keeping their charge nearly as well as they used to.  And my husband had mentioned that his phone was having issues with charging as well.  So when I had an opportunity to get a portable charger, I jumped.

I'd been standing in line at Walmart over Christmas when I'd overheard two ladies next to a portable charging display unit about how fantastic the chargers were.  It was the first time I'd even heard of the things.  Every day I feel a little more antiquated.  I feel like I'm totally out of the technology loop now. 

Anyway, I'd been mulling their conversation over for months, wondering if the chargers were all the hype.  With all of our batteries having issues, and me being 6 months from being able to get a new phone, I figured the portable charger might be an alternative to me having to plug my phone in 3 times per day, or Jacob's Ipad dying in the middle of his therapies at school. 

I got a pink Lifeguard mini portable charger in the mail a few weeks ago.  I kid you not, I didn't get the thing out of the box before Nathan, my 15-year-old, snatched it from my hands, pulled it from the box, and refused to give it back.  It was the last I'd seen of it.  

Finally, today I asked him about the pink charger.  I mean, c'mon.  It's HOT PINK!  He can't possibly be using it, right?  At least not in public. I was wrong. 

Nate told me he takes it to school and, in fact, loaned it to a kid because his phone had died during class.  He said the phone was charged to 100% by the end of class and that he has been able to get 2 1/2 - 3 full charges out of Lifeguard before needing to re-charge.  

I asked him if he was going to give it back to me, and he just laughed.  I guess if me and the little one's are going to use a portable charger, we're going to have to buy one for ourselves. 

The moral of my little story?:  The Lifeguard portable charger is a GOOD product...IF you can get your teenage son to share!!