Babies, evaluations, medications, oh my!

[hexemaus2]

Well, it's been an eventful week in the Hex household!

difficult child 1 had her baby Monday. Miss Raydin Leann was born 10/20 at 12:40pm. A healthy 7lbs, 7oz, and 20 1/4 inches long. Mom and baby are happy & healthy. They got to come home yesterday afternoon to much fanfare.

I'm really proud of how difficult child 1 is handling her new Mom status. She's doing wonderfully...let's just see if that holds up after 3 or 4 weeks with little to no sleep. lol.

difficult child 2 had his court-ordered new psychiatric evaluation yesterday. I think we might have actually made some headway!! Woo-hoo! The doctor is going to recommend further neuropsychologist testing for starters. She agreed that we need a clear understanding on difficult child 2's Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) diagnosis. (As some may recall, we've had some professionals question his Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) diagnosis.) She's also going to request all the records for his last 7 psychiatric hospital admissions. She wants to sum it all up for the judge in one report, with her other recommendations. We talked at length about my opinion that we're heading the wrong direction by focusing on the MH side of his diagnosis, rather than on his developmental disabilities. She agreed & even went so far as to say she'd be curious to see if his MH diagnosis faded away if his developmental issues were more prominently addressed. Woo-hoo! Finally, someone screaming the same tune as me!!

But, we are still without a psychiatrist at the moment. As some may recall, the appointment difficult child 2 had with his old psychiatrist was canceled the day after he was discharged from the hospital & no one ever told us that until we got to the appointment & he wasn't on the schedule. She referred us to another facility that supposedly could offer difficult child 2 the services he needs.

Yeah, okay. As it turns out, that facility caters more towards adults with MH and substance abuse issues...not kids. They do offer assistance with developmental/neurological issues, but those are geared more towards their adult patients who also happen to have those kinds of issues. Grrr.

difficult child 2 will run out of medications tomorrow. With no sign of help in that regard. I'll probably take him to the ER after school tomorrow. The doctor that did his evaluation yesterday suggested going to the ER as running out of his medications does qualify as an emergency, given difficult child's history. Whatever we have to do to limp through until we can find a new psychiatrist.

Geez, it's been a crazy week!!

 

[gcvmom]

CONGRATULATIONS on the new grandbaby! What a beautiful name she has Glad to hear everyone is doing great.

I hope you can get things worked out for difficult child 2 soon. I guess we do what we have to in situations like this -- while it doesn't seem fair to have to take him to the ER, if that's what will get him what he needs, so be it. Hang in there!

 

[Andy]

Congratulations on the baby!

Good news that difficult child 2 will get more tests!

Do you think the appointment was cancelled when he was admitted to the hospital? I know when my difficult child was admitted, the psychiatric hospital took over his appts for me and cancelled the one he had scheduled while hospitalized. Maybe someone looks at all appts for the coming week and automatically cancels if the child is still a patient? Anyway, they should have informed you. I think they also set up appts for me (medication doctor and therapist) for follow up?

Why can't professionals understand that you do not refer kids to an adult specialist? I had a horrid experience with easy child when she was refered to an adult therapist - just plain stupid - kids' lives and responsibilities are different than adults - kids don't get to set the rules of the house as this therapist wanted us to allow easy child to do whatever she wanted.

Oh well, hang on for your bumpy ride with adjusting to a new sweetheart in the house and a planned trip to ER for medications.

Good luck!

 

[Wiped Out]

Congrats on the new grandchild

I'm glad to hear they want to do some neuropsychologist testing.

I hope you are able to find a new psychiatrist soon and he can get the medications he needs.

 

[Jena]

Congratulations on the new baby!!!

 

[Fran]

Hi Hex, it's been a while. Wow, you have a full plate. 2 grand babies!!!! How can this be? Aren't we too young for grandchildren.
I'm assuming that the 16yr old is living with you?

Sounds like you are getting some services. Good for you. I also, have found that the older my difficult child is the more he is straddling some sort of fence or is grouped in a way that is not effective for my difficult child. He doesn't fit with groups who suffer primarily with schizophrenia, Borderline (BPD) or bipolar. They start talking about hallucinations, mania, drugs, alcohol, jail and smoke like wild, my difficult child is freaked. He can't relate to risky behavior. The other group that adults with daughter seem to be put with is MR. He isn't there either. He doesn't qualify for some services because his IQ isn't 70 or below. It is frustrating. We are still working on finding a good fit.

It's been a while. Nice to see you.

 

[LittleDudesMom]

Hex,

Congrats to you on the new grandbaby!!!!!!!!!!!

Hope the er is able to get some medications for difficult child 2 this afternoon.

Sharon

 

[KTMom91]

Congrats on Miss Raydin!

Hope you can get difficult child 2's medication situation worked out without making you crazy.

 

[TerryJ2]

Congrats on Raydin. I'm so glad she's healthy. I'm glad your daughter is happy and I, too, hope she holds up with-o any sleep. It's hard on everyone. This is a big change in her life.
So sorry about difficult child's medications. I would never have thought to go to the ER. The things I learn here.
Looking at LDs and DDs (is that an abbrev?) is a great idea. I hope you can make it happen ... and in time for court.
Thank you for the update.
Try to get some sleep!

 

[hexemaus2]

Thanks everyone!

Fran - it has been awhile, hasn't it? It's good to "see" you again. And yes, I have to agree about being too young. I told both the girls that I'm not old enough, gray enough, nor fat enough for anyone to call me Grandma yet...not that anyone bothered to ask me first. lol.

And yes, difficult child 1 is living at home - for the time being. She turns 17 in March & we have discussed setting her up in her own apartment on a "trial" basis then. (In GA, she can leave home at 17 & I can't "make" her come home, but if she decides to come back, I can't refuse her as I'm still responsible for her.) First though, she has to get through her post-partum stuff & then get a job. We'll see how she does when she has to pay her own cell phone bill & the satellite TV service she's begging for, in addition to baby expenses. If she can stay on top of that & manage her own check book, there's a nice little apartment complex just a few miles down the road. She'd be close enough to home to come do laundry & check in with Mom, but still have her own place to start spreading her wings.

It really is amazing me how mature she can be in the important stuff like responsibilities...but yet still so much a difficult child when it comes to dealing with her brother (difficult child 2.) Go figure. We'll just have to kind of play it by ear & see how things go. It's not easy backing off & giving her space to screw up when she's really not old enough yet...but now she's a Mom, so she has to start learning how to be old enough, if that makes sense. I think, for the first time since she was little, I honestly think she's going to be okay, all things considered.

As for difficult child 2, I can hold off on the ER trip for another day or so. I forgot we sent some of his last rx with him to my best friend's house the last time he spent the night over there. I was talking to her earlier today & mentioned the medication issue. She reminded me that he still had a few pills at her house, so she dropped them off. It was enough to get him through the weekend & since I'm just absolutely exhausted today, I decided to use some of the time those few extra pills bought me to rest up a bit. (I wake up every time Raydin so much as coughs, so I'm getting even less sleep than difficult child 1!)

Guess that's just so many years of being "Mom" & having that instant response to a child's cry ingrained in me. I'm going to have a tough time learning to "ignore" it & sleep through it.