Countdown to the Big Day!

It was such a hard transition for Susanne to go back to doing all of Paxton's feedings all by herself even though she had only had help for about a week now. The fact that he was in the hospital right before she had come down to North Carolina probably gave her a false sense of reality as well. The 6:00am feeding was definitely the hardest to get up for. She had always been a night owl so staying up late at night was never a problem. The fact that she was running low on sleep, running ragged from Paxton's demanding schedule, and having to get up in the wee hours of the morning put her at a major disadvantage.

It was shocking to Susanne how it appeared that everyone always knew when she had returned back home. The phone calls would start early in the morning and not end until late in the evening. In addition to people hunting her down, she also had her own set of call-backs to do. She guessed it was back to work for Paxton. Her second job as his personal assistant was neverending. There was never a dull moment. Today alone, she was on the phone with Paxton's nutritionist, someone from the company that would be providing Paxton with home healthcare, the insurance company, their realtor, and she even took a survey on Paxton's recent hospitalization. The average for each phone call was around thirty minutes. By the end of it all, Susanne was tired of talking.

Paxton had a therapy session scheduled early this afternoon. Susanne worked on some oral and facial massage before offering Paxton any food. Susanne started with apples like she often did. By the third spoonful he started gagging and ended up spitting up. Susanne allowed him to recover before proceeding with the next food. Next, she offered Paxton sweet potatoes and then butternut squash. He was trying really hard not to touch the food with his tongue. He would let the food just sit on his gums until he had no other choice. Susanne finally moved onto pears. It was during the third spoonful that he starting gagging again. Unfortunately, once he started, he couldn't stop. It ended with a fountain of everything they had been feeding him over the last forty five minutes. They decided to stop the feedings at this point. They did not want him to have a bad memory of the session. They decided to distract him and get him to focus on other things. Hopefully, this wouldn't cause him to back track the next time they attempted to feed him by mouth. The therapist reminded Susanne that when he got worked up like this she should place her hand on his chest and slightly pull down. This stretch of his chest allowed him to release a lot of his tension and encouraged him to calm down. In turn, he could breathe better.

Later in the day, Susanne and Paxton went to visit Julie. They wanted to see how she was doing and spend some time with her before she had her baby. Susanne was especially excited because she got to see the finished nursery. It was absolutely beautiful. Now, the only thing it needed in order to be truly complete was her little baby boy. Susanne decided to bring Mike and Julie a bag of "must haves" for the big day. She included things like bottled water, trash magazines, blow pops, and tissues for Julie. For Mike, she included things like Mountain Dew and a variety of snacks to help keep him charged and ready to go. He had a very important role to uphold. She couldn't let him fall down on the job. They were thrilled with the gesture. Julie made chicken enchiladas for dinner. While she cooked, Mike got some practice being a daddy by holding Paxton. He seemed very comfortable with a baby. This was a good sign. Julie encouraged Susanne to stay and enjoy a warm meal. This was definitely a set up because she knew Susanne couldn't say no. She never turned down Mexican food. During dinner, Paxton tried out Baby Hart's bouncer. He had to break it in and give his own personal review. His final assessment was good. He approved and enjoyed it thoroughly. After dinner, they stayed for the lighting of the candles for Hannukah. Since the first year Susanne and Scott lived in Virginia, they always went over to Julie's house during Hannukah to help her celebrate. Even though they didn't observe this holiday themselves, it was neat to learn about it. For years, they would have a potato shredding contest for the homemade latkes they would make. Out of all of them, Julie was definitely the pro. It was special that Paxton got to celebrate with them this year. They even had him light one of the candles with Susanne's assistance. During the lighting of the candle, as well as mid prayer, Paxton decided to make some noise of his own. He pooped for what felt like an eternity. They couldn't help but laugh the entire time. His timing was always impeccable. Before they knew it, it was time to go. Susanne had only brought enough milk for one feeding so they had to make it back home before he was due for the next one. They had a nice visit. Now it was just a waiting game. They couldn't wait to meet the new baby.