Being Momma G: Day 73

Our plans for the week went flying out the window at 10.30am, when we received a very unexpected phone call from Tresillian.

2 weeks ago, during our all day stay at the Camellia Family Care Cottage, Margot had asked if we would like to be referred to Tresillian to help Sean learn how to sleep properly. It wasn't so much Margot asking if we'd like the referral as her telling us we needed it, for Sean was very unsettled on the day, and Margot thought a stay at Tresillian would benefit both Sean and me. Last week, I was phoned by Tresillian to "activate" the referral. The waiting list for the Tresillian residential stay program was well known to be a lengthy one, so we were told it could be weeks before we were able to be invited to undertake the program.

A phone interview with one of the nurses at Tresillian was a pre-requisite for the residential stay program, and that was scheduled for 3pm today. Tresillian called at 10.30am to say they had had a cancellation, and there was now a bed available for this week's program, and asked if we would like to take it. Our answer was a resounding "YES".

For the past few days, Sean had been very unsettled and his feeding pattern was also very "off". Sean was catnapping for 45 to 60 minutes and wanting to feed every 2 hours. This pattern of behaviour was reminiscent of the early days, so Jonathan and I both saw this as a backward step for Sean. Hence we welcomed the opportunity to take up the unexpected bed at Tresillian without hesitation.

Overnight, Sean woke at 11.30pm for a feed, followed by more feeds at 2am, 4am and at 6am. He was very unsettled after the 6am feed, so I brought him into our bed and we both cuddled to sleep until 8.30am when he had his next feed. After 30 minutes of play time with Jonathan, Sean slept for only an hour, and Tresillian called just as Jonathan had spent 20 minutes trying to resettle Sean.

I had lined up various appointments for the weekend, which now all needed to be moved or cancelled. Prior to leaving for the Tresillian Family Care Centre at Willoughby, I sat down to make a large number of phone calls and send a few emails as well.

As we were in the process of putting the St Leonards apartment on the market, I needed to meet with (or at least talk to) our real estate agent Gabi and our conveyancer Sveta (who was also our long time friend) to get the ball rolling on the contract and the sale campaign. I had hoped to sign relevant paperwork with both Gabi and Sveta today, but alas, I was left to organise everything over the phone. Thankfully, both Sveta and Gabi understood our need to drop everything for Tresillian, so everything was eventually sorted out over the phone. Both Sveta and Gabi assured me they would take care of everything.

I was to attend a strata committee meeting at St Leonards on Tuesday evening, but I would no longer be able to as I had no way of getting to and from the meeting, with Jonathan needing the car to get to and from home to see us at Willoughby. I called our lovely strata manager David with my apologies, and then notified our friend and fellow strata committee member Kerrie with the news. Sean and I were going to drop in on Kerrie prior to the meeting, so that Kerrie and her daughter Emma could have a play with Sean, and they had been so looking forward to our visit. I was a bit sad and disappointed that we would not see Kerrie and Emma this week, but there will be plenty more opportunities for future visits. Tresillian had to come first.

On Wednesday, as part of Sean's baptism, Jonathan and I had an appointment to meet with Michael Murphy, a church elder at St Francis Xavier to attend a pre-baptism course. I called St Francis Xavier to let them know we were unable to attend, and they in turn called Michael, who contacted us to rearrange a time on Saturday to see us.

My follow up appointment with our darling dentist Dr Lee was to have been on Friday afternoon, but this too had to be moved to Saturday week, the same day as the NSW State Election.

Last but not least, I had to contact my cousins David and Elaine to let them know that we would not be able to have lunch with them this week after all. I had been looking forward to meeting David and seeing Elaine and Maya again, but again, the bed at Tresillian was far too important to relinquish for a lunch with family. I was sure they'd understand.

After all the phone calls were made and all the emails were sent, we hurriedly packed a bag by throwing pretty much everything into the biggest bag we could find. Jonathan and I took turns to have a shower, and then we were off and racing towards Willoughby. We finally arrived at Tresillian at 12.20pm, and as soon as all the paperwork was filled out, we were shown to our room where I sat down to feed Sean. After another harrowing trip in the car, during which Sean became hysterically upset, Sean drank as if his life depended on it, and slept very well afterwards, albeit with a little help to settle into his cot.

While Sean slept, Jonathan and I were given a tour of the premises by one of the nurses Christine, who also gave us a run down on how everything worked at Tresillian. There were 3 units at the Willoughby Centre, each with 4 rooms. We were staying in Unit A, which appeared to cater to first time mums whose babies are less than 12 months old. We took some time to settle into our room, before going out to the lounge room / nursery to meet the other mothers in our unit. There were 3 other mums and bubs in the unit - Michelle and her baby Zach, Katrina and her baby Rhys, and Ginny and her baby Ari. Before long, it was time to head up to the Welcome Talk, where we introduced ourselves and met everyone else who were also staying the week.

We handed Sean's reflux medication to the nurses, as Tresillian was a hospital for all intents and purposes, and all medication must be issued by the nurses. Unfortunately for Sean, our bottle of Losec came by the way of Vinay, whose compound chemist friend failed to put a label on the bottle, so there was a good chance that the nurses would not be able to give Sean his daily dose of Losec during our stay. Jonathan and I agreed to take Sean off the medication, as Dr Arnold had wanted to ween Sean from the Losec by the end of March.

Jonathan left us at around 3.30pm to head home to start work, so I stayed in the lounge room to allow Sean some peace and quiet to sleep in our room. The little man kept sleeping for a while longer before waking up for his late afternoon feed.

While Sean was sleeping, the unit manager Juliette came and gave me a lengthy interview, to go through all the issues we were facing with Sean, including the fussy feeding and the sleeping / settling behaviours, and went through what we wanted to achieve by the end of the week. One of the things that we wanted to achieve was for Sean to feed no less than every 3 hours (preferably stretched to feed every 3.5 hours, if not longer), instead of snack feeding every 2 hours or less. Another thing we wanted to achieve was for Sean to sleep for longer periods of time. Hopefully, these would be achieved with the help of the nurses at Tresillian.

As we were finishing, Sean was brought to me, having been awake for almost half an hour and ready for a feed. Juliette and I finished the interview and I sat down to feed Sean. Sean had no trouble falling asleep afterwards, and as it was time for dinner, I headed up to the dining room along with Michelle and Ginny to get our meals. Sean woke while I was still having dinner, and the nurses tried valiantly to resettle him. An hour after Sean woke, the nurses gave him to me to feed; Sean never resettled for a sleep.

The little man was very fussy throughout the feed, and only fed off one side and turned his nose up at the other. In hope of getting Sean off to a good solid sleep, I gave him a bath which he enjoyed. Bath time duties were normally undertaken by Jonathan; I'd only given Sean a half a dozen baths in his short life, so I was hoping I wouldn't drop the little man in to the drink. After the bath, and after a lengthy massage with moisturiser, it was time for bed for everyone. As part of the program, mothers were given the option of a "time out" from their babies on the first night of the stay, meaning the nurses would look after the babies all night, and only wake the mothers for feeds. I gladly took up the offer and handed Sean to the nurses, so I could try and get some sleep and hoped it would make me feel better in the morning.

With Sean being settled by trained professionals, I am now in our room getting ready to sleep. Here's hoping Sean will have a good night - I'm certainly looking forward to getting some sleep.