You are getting sleepy...very sleepy...(I hope!)

Brooklyn's sleep study is tonight. We will make the 2+ hour drive to Dallas as soon as I get home from work today. I am kind of nervous about it. I always have some anxiety about road trips with Brooklyn. But she did great 2 weeks ago, and I'm hoping for a repeat performance.

We have to be at the pediatric sleep clinic by 7:45, and the sleep study is supposed to be from 8 p.m. until 5 a.m. One major problem there - Brooklyn usually takes a nap around 7 or 8, wakes up by 9, and then doesn't actually go back to sleep for the night until about 1 in the morning. So...no sleep = no sleep study, wouldn't you think? But I don't know what to do about it. I'm hoping she will take her evening nap on the way to Dallas, but then she will probably be awake for a few hours. She also only sleeps if she is in her carseat (that's been her "bed" because we have to keep her upright when she sleeps) or if she is being held. I don't know if they can hook her up to all the wires and stuff if she is in her carseat. If she has to lay in a baby bed, I really don't know if she will sleep at all because she isn't used to it. I really hope that she will sleep so that the test will tell us what we need to know.

Just to update you on what else is going on, yesterday Dr. A's office called and said that they had a radiologist look at the films from Brooklyn's upper GI and he was "unsure" whether the films showed a vascular ring. Dr. A's office overnighted the x-ray on a disc to Dr. G2 in Dallas. I talked to him yesterday also, and he told me that he will look at them and if he can't tell whether there is a vascular ring, he will have a pediatric radiologist view the films as well. He said that Brooklyn might also have to have a CT scan of her chest if they can't tell for sure from the upper GI.

The clinic that is going to do the video swallow study said that there was no way they could see us this Friday. So we get to drive back to Dallas next Friday morning to have that test done. I wasn't worried about that test...it sounded like no big deal...but I read a blog post last night about this type of test and it sounded pretty bad. I kind of wish I hadn't read it. I like to be prepared, but I often just end up stressing myself out more.

I brought the letter Dr. A wrote me to work yesterday and took it to go talk to the human resources lady in person. It had been 2 weeks since she had told me she would check on things with the sick leave pool and call me back. She said that the county is following local government code and doesn't have any room to make exceptions. The sick leave pool cannot be used by an employee to care for a dependent, it can only be used if the employee is sick or injured. Apparently I can't even apply for the sick leave pool because my situation is not one that is even eligible to be considered by the board. She said that she would talk to a couple of the county commissioners to ask whether they can arrange to let other employees donate sick time to me if they so desire. But she said that's all they can do. I really, really, really don't understand that. The time is needed to take care of an INFANT. She cannot care for herself! I have a doctor's letter that says she cannot be in daycare and that I need to be home with her for a few months to manage her medications, treatments, and take her to all of her appointments and tests.

I am so frustrated with the whole situation. Could someone please win the lottery and just help me out a little here? We don't need much...just maybe a year's salary would be nice...just enough to make it...