New Bed

Today, Kira's new bed will be delivered. I am very excited about this! I have scoliosis, and get back aches often. It will be such a relief to be able to raise her bed high enough that means no more bending over! The head of the bed inclines, which is awesome for her lungs, and her dogs get a lift as well! Since this is Mine and Kira's blog, and I like to keep it on the honest side, I am going to admit something. As stoked as I am, I am a bit bummed that she is not getting the Sleep Safe Bed. I feel like I am 12 when I say that " Everyone else has the Sleep Safe Bed!" But they really do. Sleep Safe is a pediatric hospital bed for home use. This is the bed that she was going to get, they even had me look through the brochure and pick out the color of wood. It is an awesome bed! But the economy the way it is, and funding being cut everywhere, I do understand wanting us to have the cheaper bed. I realize this is sounding so ungrateful and greedy, I get that. I was just so wanting that bed, and I have yet to find another parent who has a regular hospital bed as their child's permanent bed, at home. I do feel incredibly Blessed to even be able to get the equiptment that we have for her, SO Blessed. It's no money out of my pocket, so I will shut up now. I will post pics of Baby Girl in her new bed this evening!

**** Update****
Apria just left, and I am in tears. This bed is horrible! It has to be the oldest style on the market. It is dented, scaped up and metal. It has a crank handle to raise the bed, and a couple metal bars by the head as the "side rail". I cannot believe they thought this bed was even close to being acceptable for a disabled child. It has zero protection for her, not user friendly and looks just hideous! Sorry folks, no fun, exciting pictures coming! I will obviously take care of this.

Respite Nursing

Ever since Sis was an infant, I have been told of my option to have a respite Nurse come into my home to help take care of her. I have always declined, because, " I can take care of her myself, she is MY baby, and I don't need any help." While this is still true, I have also been able to drop a bit of that ridiculous pride, and realize that now would be a great time to start accepting some help. Jim is about to start working out of town, making me somewhat of a single Momma to 5 children. She is getting older, which means heavier, which makes her body much more awkward and difficult to move around and take out. I see many pluses to having a Nurse in my home, helping with Kira. She deserves the extra hands to do range of motion, read to her, get her out of bed and rolling around in her chair, etc. It will help me be able to take the boys to and from school without having to load her up in the truck daily. I know it will be a difficult adjustment to having a stranger in my home, many hours a day, taking care of my child. I will feel very.... what's the word I'm going for...I don't know, let's just say uncomfortable. But I hope that it is a speedy adjustment and the Nurse and my family have a great rapport. I have to admit to still feeling guilty that I "have" to go ahead and accept this help now. I feel like I should be able to do everything she needs, medically, comfort wise, and stimulatory wise. Truth be told, she deserves so much more than what I provide her. I ask that none of you rebut this, because I have laxed way too much over the years with her care.  I do not do everything that I should with her, I cannot even tell you the last time I gave her a full body massage or did a session of range of motion. It's sadly too easy to let her remain still and quiet in one room of the house, only going in to feed her, change her, change her position, or turn her music on. It's not fair to her, and it's neglectful. So I am doing this for her, she deserves nothing but the best care!