He's in!

I haven't blogged in a while as we've had quite a few things going on in our lives.... lets call them character building experiences. Truly testing my stress levels and taking them up a thousand notches.

Let me explain... In mid November, our primary daycare provider- Tanya phoned to say that her children were sick with the flu. So I had to take one week off work because we don't have back up daycare for Nathan. My friend Janna, has on occasion taken care of Nathan, but was unable to help us out because she had to work, so I took advantage of the time off with Nathan to enjoy some mommy/son time. The following week, I got a phone call from Tanya; she's in emergency with her daughter Lilly. Her fever has spiked, and she's been admitted to paediatrics, one of her kidneys is not functioning- Lilly is two and this underlying condition came about after she had gotten H1N1. (Miraculously- Nathan managed to escape contracting the virus, I'm really not sure how because he was around them the whole time)

So with Lilly in the hospital, we were once again without care for Nathan. I went to work and Sean stayed home with Nathan and had some Daddy/son time. The following week Tanya phoned and explained that Lilly was feeling better and that they were home from the hospital- all was good and Nathan could come back to daycare on Monday.

On Monday afternoon, Sean gets a call at work asking him to please come and pick Nathan up from the hospital, Lilly has been readmitted, things are much worse....

That night Sean and I discussed our options: who was going to stay home from work because everyone we know works and we have no other person who knows the tube feeds... So we alternated- both my work and Sean's work have been extremely accommodating through all of this. My friend Janna had stated that she was off between Christmas and New Years and so she agreed to take Nathan during that week while we had to work, except that when that time came, Janna's entire family got sick with the flu again.... so back to square one ( I was seriously thinking: Someone's got it out for me! Can you believe my luck??? So I took time off with no pay and Sean used up all of his vacation days. In the meantime I was phoning daycare centres, asking for availability: Nothing, "we can add him to the list" they say. Yes he's 101st child or the attitude on the phone was less than favorable when asking about the integration of special needs. "What's he got?" was one response, or we don't have room. I cried almost every night! Why am I being tested like this??? What have I done?

I contacted a centre in town called the Cridge Centre, they were advertising for 3-5 yrs old spots. I called and made an appointment, the centre was great, they were happy to take Nathan but in the end Nathan could not be placed in this daycare because he requires his own aid, and that would throw off the adult to child ratio!!! GREAT!! Another road block... Seriously, did I tick someone off, again why is this so hard???

I emailed a Montessori style daycare, explained my desperation, explained that my son had RTS, I'm not sure why but I poured my heart out in this email. The woman who responded to my email said that she did not have room, but that she would add me to her wait list. A few days later she called me, she said that she was very moved by my email and said that she used to work for a school called Island Montessori, they have have a full-day preschool program as well as before and after school care. The Montessori school works closely with Queen Alexandra early intervention and are aware of the needs and requirements of children with special needs. Therefore all his therapy would continue and be supported at the school. The staff on site deal with all kinds of special needs. She had called the school and asked if they could accommodate Nathan. She asked if it would be okay for the school to contact us to find out more. I said, "absolutely- Thank you so much!

Well we ended up waiting almost 3 weeks for an answer...with the school closed over the holidays and our government support worker unable to reach someone and then on holidays herself, things dragged out. On Wednesday of this week (Jan 6) we received the long awaited phone call. Nathan has been accepted to Island Montessori. His first day will be Tuesday Jan 12th. Sean will go to school with him for a few hours so I should have plenty of pictures to share with you.

We are thrilled that Nathan has been accepted. He will grow and learn and I suspect we will see big changes in his growth and development.

There is light at the end of the tunnel, the day we got the news that Nathan had been accepted , I was going to ask for a leave from work because we had nothing lined up for the following week. I'm so glad I didn't have to! When Sean phoned me at work to tell me Nathan had been accepted, I felt overwhelmed and burst into tears. My supervisor came running over, everyone was concerned that something bad had happened. I could only say, "I'm ok- these are tears of joy- He's in... Nathan's in!"