I have several distinct memories of observing parents whose kids had nurses in the waiting room of a doctor’s office. Sometimes we would get caught on the elevator with them, other times they would make their grand entrance into the waiting room- a parent or two followed by a kid in a wheelchair with a … Continue reading
Author Archives: welderbeth
On Medicaid
Well, today the Wise family said hello to a new bed and goodbye to two of The Baby’s teeth. A few months ago, we started the laborious process of getting a SleepSafe bed approved through The Baby’s insurance because his crib had become unsafe. He was able to stand up in it and when he … Continue reading
The Good Doctor
The Baby turned five this week. It’s crazy. All of those five years tend to blur together. After all, time flies when you’re drowning in medical chaos (just kidding…kind of). On the night of his birthday, our dinner conversation centered around remembering all of his firsts- the first time he sat up, the first solid … Continue reading
On Zoloft
My Grandaddy once swallowed his watch battery instead of a baby aspirin. He usually carried the medicine in the front pocket of his striped polo shirts and, apparently, that’s where he put his watch batteries too. My Grandmother, convinced that he was near certain death, called poison control, who told her that they just needed … Continue reading
The Honeysuckle Vine
The other morning, The Kid and I were on our morning walk with Baby and dog in tow. The dog had stopped to poop so The Baby and I paused on the sidewalk in one of the Top Three Most Interesting Yards on our street. For some reason, three artsy hippy families bought houses in … Continue reading
Girl, Interrupted
During this quarantine, I’ve been doing this app called 1 Second Everyday, where you basically create a video montage over a period of time made up of, you guessed it, a video clip of 1 second from each day. The Kid, who is a perpetual optimist and doesn’t want to think about or remember anything … Continue reading
Dear Baby, Seize the Day
Hi little boy, I remember the first time I held you in my arms. You were only 5 months old and you were hooked up to all these machines, lots of beeps and boops, but your eyes were bright and we stared at each other quietly. You’ve always had expressive hands, a sassy left hand, … Continue reading
The Ugly Tree
Well, today sucked. There’s just no way around it. The Baby’s seizure activity has increased at an alarming rate, even from Wednesday. He had three seizures during the Zoom session with his speech pathologist. We’d be singing a song and he would just lose control of his upper body and then look up at me … Continue reading
We are but kites
On a whim, I picked up a plastic kite for The Kid on my shopping trip to Kroger last Friday. It was my first in person trip to any store in several weeks and The Kid and I had begun to feel the quarantine crunch. If you had asked me in January whether both The … Continue reading
Life, Actually
We’ve been taking family walks every day. The Kid pretends that he hates it but thus far, we’ve discovered two wisteria plants that smell lovely, a mint plant that we’re trying to grow a clipping from, interesting artwork in our neighbors’ yards, a drama between a crow and a hawk worthy of daytime television, and … Continue reading