The Christensen Family Night Life!!!!

See this?





Every night my counter becomes a bath/medical table. Since I have had a few questions on how we take care of Josh's G-tube site, and what the care is on a daily basis... I thought I would photograph it for you and let you see for yourself. Don't worry... I didn't include any close ups of the hole in his tummy for your viewing pleasure.



Here is a closer picture of what I get all lined up before we get Josh up here. There is a bowl of soapy water for his wipe down (he has to be sponge-bathed right now), Q-tips for cleaning his site, a small med dispenser with soapy water for that, two different creams for his incision, three different sizes of Mefix tape, dressing sponges, and his nightly meds.

Here we go...... the wipe down/bath. He loves to play with the wash-rag when I let him. It depends on how much of a hurry we are in. But he does get to have some fun.

Then we give his meds. His tube can sometimes shoot stuff out of the port (opening) that the food goes in... so this way if it does go everywhere we will already be taking off his dressing.

Daddy is cleaning his tube site. He doesn't seem to mind it all that much now, but still watches with curiosity.

The lovely re-taping of the tube. We do have it down pretty fast. I am a little faster than Scott since I do it almost every time, but we both have gotten faster at it.

Some times he even helps! He is holding the tube upright while Scott finishes the taping around the tube. He has been more into pulling on it lately so we haven't let him touch it as much.

This is usually how he kicks back every night while we do this. I am telling you, this kid is an amazing little boy! He just sits there and relaxes while we do this. What 2 year old would really hold still? We are thankful every day for his patience and easy-going personality.

And finally..... this is what he waits for. Scott will pull him off the counter and swing him around a few times before laying him down to get his jammies on. He just gets a big grin on his face the second I tell him he is all done. Then he looks for Scott and waits with his arms up for daddy to swing him around. It's become a little routine we do and he loves it. Anything we can do to make this experience is good.

So there you have it..... our nightly routine. I won't lie to you and say I love it. Believe me, some nights I wish we could just get him dressed, or throw him in the tub, but that will come in time. For the most part I don't mind it all that much, but I am looking forward to his MIC button being put in so we can bathe him normally.