praise the lord and do not disturb

Do you ever have times in your life in which you wish you could put up a "Do Not Disturb" sign? I feel as though I have reached an imperative point in my need for sanity, in which a sign such as this is necessary. Granted, I know that while in the hospital, all the nurses and assistants have to do their job, and it's all in the name of taking care of Ethan. However, there is a grouch simmering right below the surface of this "smiling" face that wants to shout - DO NOT DISTURB!

It's 8:30 at night, Ethan is extremely restless because of the new rash that has developed on his arms and legs. I finally (and I do mean finally) get him to calm down and fall asleep... I lay him in his hospital crib. Not 30 seconds later, someone has opened the door to our room (which has a sign that indicates that Ethan is sleeping) and proceeds to change the large noisy trash bag out of the large noisy trash can.... Ethan wakes up. My cycle of getting him calmed again, starts over. Insert here an extra 1 1/2 of work for mommy. And the worse part... the trash can wasn't even that full.

Do not disturb.

It's midnight, Ethan has been asleep for about 2 hours. It's now time for vital signs (blood pressure and temperature check). The side rails of the crib go up and down - however without a certain finesse, they are quite noisy. One side rail goes down... then up... then down. Then the other side.... up... then down.... then up.... then down. And while Ethan can sometimes sleep through his vital signs, the continuous raising and lowering of said side rails (why all of this was necessary, I don't know) has now startled him. He's awake. For an hour.

Do not disturb.

It's 5:45 in the morning. Again with the side rails. What is going on?! In the 6 weeks we've been here, this has never been an annoyance before.... at least not to this degree. He wakes up. Again, for an hour.

Do not disturb.

As I lay him back in bed, somewhere around 7 this morning, the inner grouch in full grouch-mood... I find, next to where I lay Ethan's sleeping body, a small cap off of one of the syringes of saline that is used to draw his blood (from his central line). This is the 4th time this has happened in the 6 weeks we've been here. There is even a large sign on his bed that advises the nursing staff to be extremely careful about what they "leave" in Ethan's bed... because EVERYTHING GOES IN HIS MOUTH. Needless to say, anger ensued. The grouch wanted to run out into the hall throwing the tantrum of the century about how unacceptable it is for pediatric nurses to be so careless as to leave cheerio-sized plastic caps in my baby's bed (for the fourth time in as many weeks!), that he'd surely find, then put in his mouth, then choke!

DO NOT DISTURB!

After much debate within myself, I decided to wait until the shift change later in the morning, to discuss what happened. That's when the nursing manager and other higher-ups that I'd need to talk to would be clocking in. So I tucked that plastic cap under my pillow and went back to sleep until 9:00. And I'm overall better for the extra dose of sleep, and was able to be a bit more diplomatic (though only slightly, I'm still a mom ya know!) in my discussion about the choking hazard.

Ah, yes... the concept of Do Not Disturb... my son.... my sleep.... my life! Sounds extremely appealing to me today.

But there is a silver-lining to my bad mood today. AND IT'S BIG!

Ethan's counts have started coming in! We found out yesterday that his counts (ANC) were at 130 and today they are at 120 (it's understood that they will fluctuate slightly from day to day). Tears of joy covered my face when the nurse came to share the news yesterday. It is starting to happen.... we are so excited. We can go home once the numbers hit 500 for more than 3 days in a row and he remains fever-free. Thank You, thank You, than You Lord!!

And thank you for praying for this specific area!