Crappy, Crappy Week

Last Monday, February 2nd, Gavin and I took Finley to Children's Hospital at Scottish Rite for his Nissen Fundoplication surgery and G-tube placement. In preparation, my parents came down to stay with us for the week so they could care for Shaw while I stayed with Finn in the hospital and Gavin worked (hey-someone's got to pay the bills).

No food after midnight on Sunday night/Monday morning, up at 4:45 to be at the hospital by 6 and in surgery by 7. Once again, Children's Hospital did not disappoint. We were given a room within the surgery center to wait and to receive phone calls from family and updates from the surgeon. We were called hourly and then, at the completion of the surgery, led to his room in the TICU to wait for him to come out of recovery.

My little boy looked so tiny on that giant gurney. He was awake and crying...they had to keep him in recovery longer than normal to watch his breathing. I immediately climbed in to bed with him and cuddled him until he went back to sleep.

Thankfully, he slept most of Monday away. Tuesday, however, was another problem. First off, he had a cold prior to going into surgery. Whenever Finn gets a cold, Finn gets an ear infection. He started tugging at his ears first thing Tuesday morning. He was started on some pedialyte Tuesday afternoon, but immediately started gagging, so it was stopped for another 12 hours. We didn't get a pediatrician in to look at his ears until 11:45 Tuesday night--lo and behold, he had a double ear infection.

Wednesday was the most miserable day I've had in a long time. Finn cried nonstop all day. I sat there with him draped across my chest all day long. He would cry until he exhausted himself, collapse on me and fall asleep for a grand 20 minutes. I guess that was enough for him to regroup and start crying again. During this time, he was allowed 5 mL of formula per hour, increased by 5 mL every four hours. Technically, this kid didn't get to eat more than a drip for 4 days.

On Thursday, I was allowed to give him a bottle. The child who hadn't taken more than 2 ounces for any oral feeding in 5 months chugged 4.5 oz of formula in under 5 minutes. It was an amazing day.

Friday, he continued to eat wonderfully and on Saturday we were allowed to go home.

Keep in mind, during this time, I'm sleeping on a sofa in his hospital room, or squeezing into his crib to comfort him. People are coming in during all hours of the night, machines are beeping, codes are going off in the hallway. Basically, I didn't sleep for 5 days. Don't get me wrong, he's worth it and I wouldn't have dreamed of leaving him, but DAMN. It was one of the harder weeks of my life.

New Business Venture

As I am wont to do, I will be starting another new home business venture in the next couple weeks. Although, I have to say, this one truly fits me down to the skin.

When I was looking around for a new business idea a couple years ago, I came across The Traveling Vineyard, a home-based business that provides in-home wine tastings. I inquired and found out that they weren't allowed to distribute in Georgia, which was a total bummer, so I put myself on the call list in case things changed and went on to the next home business idea.

Last week, I received the e-mail that the laws had changed and that The Traveling Vineyard would be holding an informational meeting on the 13th! Yeah!! I signed up 3 minutes later and have been counting down the moments since.

I love wine. I totally dig it. I've frequently said that, if I never had to work again, I'd become a Master Sommelier. I want to put our wine cellar in our basement. I love touring wineries, I love reading about wine. I love cooking with it (meaning drinking it while I cook and putting it in the food...). I want to learn to better pair wine with food.

This is the third network marketing company I'll have joined. Southern Living at Home, Arbonne and now this. I have spent a great deal of time wondering if this will turn out the exact same way as the other two. In the past, I've always felt guilty about asking my friends to do parties for me. For this, I don't feel so guilty--I bring 5 bottles of wine and the glasses, you provide the cheese. Your friends come and it's FUN--because wine is FUN! I'm so excited I could explode.

So, please, if you'd like to host a wine tasting party, call me. You'll be getting someone who completely LOVES the topic and is enthusiastic about it. Yes, I'll make some money off of it, but that's part of the fun!