Nursing

We have been approved for 8 hours of night nursing per night.  I wish it was 13.

It takes 1.5 hours in the morning to get her ready for the day.

It takes 2 hours to get her ready at night.

That doesn't include baths.

There is not an 8 hour straight block of time that can get her ready for bed at night and get her ready in the morning.

Right now I have the nurse scheduled from 8 PM-4 AM.  This means Ellie is not getting ready for bed until 8 pm and not getting to sleep until 10 or 10:30 (if she gets a bath).

Then she has to start getting ready for school at 5:30 for the bus to come at 7 AM.

7 hours of sleep IS NOT ENOUGH for Ellie.  She needs waaaaaayyyyy more than that.  She needs about 10-12 hours of sleep.

Plus with the nurse leaving at 4 AM...I have to get up at 4 AM to take report from the nurse.  It is really wearing on me

Ideally...
If the nurse could come at 6 PM, Ellie could be asleep by 8:30 PM.  Then the nurse could start getting her ready at 5:30 AM and have her ready for the bus to come at 7 AM.  That would at least give Ellie 9 hours of sleep.  But the nurse would need to be here 13 hours straight.  (Actually if I could split the 8 hours into 4 hours at night and 4 hours in the morning...or even 3 and 3 that would be absolutely ideal).

I have racked my brain trying to think of alternatives using out allotted 8 hour straight shift...

If the nurses came from 6 PM-2 AM then she would miss Young Women's and Special Needs Mutual and Family Night and siblings performances and whatever evening activities we plan.  Ellie would get more sleep, but would miss out on family and church activities.  I would have to get up at 2 AM. (But there is not much difference to me between my current 4 AM and 2 AM).

I could have them come from 10 PM-6 AM.  Ellie would get even less sleep, but I wouldn't have to get up in the middle of the night.

So for now we are settled on 8 PM-4 AM.

Although we approved for nurses every day...there is a huge nursing shortage in Utah.  So this last month we had a nurse 5 nights out of the whole month.

Having it be so sporadic is actually harder than having it every night or having no nurse at all.

It is also an adjustment having someone at the house all night...you can't just go out to the kitchen for a drink of water in your nothings in the middle of the night...ha ha!

But we are trying to get more people hired, so if you know of an LPN or RN in Ogden...please send them our way for our 8 PM-2 AM shift.  They can take 1 shift a month...or make it a full time job.