Our first step towards a new tool

Working Randy’s shift and caring for both kids in the morning is insane. I wake up early, get the dogs ready, convince Cam to get dressed and eat and then I rush to wake the baby (which kills me to do by the way), dress her, feed her, pack her into the car seat… make sure I have all the baby supplies for school, convince Cam to get into the van and get buckled up, drive to school, unload the kids and get to work before 8am is exhausting. When the alarm went off this morning, I almost fell back asleep.

That’s because Cam was waking up ever hour or so… And then Jordan cried in her sleep and I rushed in… To find her sleeping again. My mommy ears were on overdrive by that point.

So once I had my day time reporters ready to go, I helped with various newsroom issues and got ready for the big part of the day: Getting Jordan to the prosthetist and get her fitted for her prosthetic.

When I got to school to feed her and take her to the office, she had just fallen asleep in her teacher’s arms. Yikes. So I picked her up and she kept sleeping in my arms. That’s tough to put a stop to… But she eventually started moving around enough to get a little meal in… But she cried most of her way to the office. She really needed to be in bed. Poor baby. But we got there and she was in good spirits. She smiled and cooed at Gary, the prosthetist. So he did some measurements and started wrapping up her arm. First he put a nylon sock on her arm to help make it a little easier to remove the plaster. Then he soaked the plaster and started wrapping. Jordan didn’t mind at first, but as that plaster got heavier (and apparently it heats up inside when the plaster starts drying), she started really getting upset. By the end, we had a pretty good plaster mold and a very plaster-covered baby (notice the top picture).

The next step? Gary will try to create a test socket — the part of the prosthetic that will fit Jordan’s arm. He’ll test it a couple of times to make sure it fits before he actually builds the real arm. We’re going to do this on a pretty fast track so we can keep up with Jordan’s growth and make sure she can fit into this tool. We’re thinking it’s going to be a three week process. Tomorrow, we return to OT after a week off and Daddy comes home tomorrow night. (Mommy is really looking forward to that!)