Nathan, Dad, and Grandma

A couple of days after Nathan was released from the hospital following the G-Tube surgery, Bekah flew off to California for her sisters wedding, leaving me home alone with Nathan.  Fortunately, my mom was able to come and spend a few days with us while Bekah was gone.  I like to think it was for moral support, but in reality she would probably say that it was for her to have some good, quality, bonding time with her grandson.  But no matter what her reasoning, I was very glad to have the help and support.

Having Bekah gone for a few days was very eye-opening.  With her gone, it was up to me to make sure that Nathan got all of his feedings on time and that he got all his meds and anything else that was part of his daily routine, including changing the dressing around his brand new G-Tube, which needed to be done twice a day.

For those that know me, I tend toward the squeamish.  Something that I inherited from my mother.  So when Bekah was at home, she would usually change the dressing while I distracted Nathan.  The skin around the stomy was still quite tender.  So when we would change the dressing and clean around it, it was slightly painful and somewhat uncomfortable for Nathan.  So I would try to distract him and get him to focus on something fun or entertaining instead of getting his dressing changed.

But with Bekah gone, it now fell to me to change the dressing and for Grandma to distract Nathan, which she was quite good at.  In fact, she did her very best to focus all of her attention on Nathan so as not to look at the G-Tube site!  And we had to do it twice a day, so Grandma was quite the trooper, having to cope with probably more than she had bargained for when she agreed to come stay with us while Bekah was gone.

But not everything was hard work for all of us.  There was time for play as well.  Nathan got to take his first real trip to some place other than a hospital, doctor's office, or church when the 3 of us took an evening trip to the grocery store.

Mostly, though, we just stayed home and Grandma got to dote on Nathan all day.  She would sing him songs and tell him stories and tell him about all the fun things that we would all do when he was older and healthier and stronger.  I think it was a good experience for both of them.

I also got to have some good quality alone time with Nathan.  Just in case there were any issues at night, I stayed in Nathan's room and let Grandma have our room.  That way I would be right there should anything happen.

Fortunately, nothing out of the ordinary happened.  But Nathan did like to wake up earlier than I wanted him to, so on those mornings I would get him out of his crib and snuggle with him on the guest bed.  And it wouldn't take long before he would fall back asleep for another hour or two.  I really liked those early morning hours.

As much fun as we had with Mom gone, though, we were happy to have her back home again.  And she had missed us too.