What a Difference a Day Makes!

5:27 AM
CJ had a relatively good night. I got here about 9:15-20 after a very full day at RNR (More about that later.), and headed up to the room. I dropped off my "luggage" outside the room because I wanted to walk in with my arms free. When I opened the door, Charlotte was sitting in the chair on Mommy's lap watching, guess what? DORA! What a surprize.
It's rather odd seeing my baby with next to no hair. She's certainly still amazingly beautiful but the look is definately different. I think it's the strands left over that are weird. Once it's all out, it shouldn't be much of an adjustment. I've been ready for it for a while.
After Rachel went home, after promising me she would only take a shower and go to bed (which I think she did), Charlotte and I settled in for the night. I had to rub her back and belly often but she fell asleep much faster than I expected. It didn't hurt that I was actually in the bed with her. A couple of times, I woke up in a slight panic wondering if I had rolled over on her or something (ya know, typical parent stuff) but there she was, snoring away.
She woke up around 3:30am complaining about her back and I rubbed it a bit. She also needed a diaper change so I did that too. Interesting thing is, it got her in what I think is a far more comfortable sleeping position for her: perpendicular to the bed in the crease made when the ends are raised a little. After the diaper change, she sort of settled in to that crease and has been out ever since. Not Daddy, of course! :-) I worked on Rompy's Band. (Tamborines are finally done, Everyone!)
Still no appetite yet. She's eaten a little here and there for Rachel but nothing for me yet.
I think my exhaustion caught up to me today during my mixed ages class. I forgot to sing the welcome/hello song. Instead I went straight to the story bag. Fortunately I did it after that and I think the class forgave me.
Babies class was far worse. I dropped song lyrics left and right, had to grasp for order of things, and generally made a mess of things. Fortunately, it's babies class which is one of my favorite classes to teach so I at least kept the energy up and we all still had a very good time (I think. Not sure. What day is it?)
I had a good lunch and relaxed a little between Babies and the playdate party so I actually felt pretty good the rest of the night.
I have to admit, I think this week has been the hardest one for me (probably for Rachel, too). The unexpected hospital trip kind of blindsided us and I've been frustrated at little (and not so little) imperfections I've been noticing here. One of which is the shower that leaks constantly and sprays everywhere until you get it just right and when the physical plant guy comes by (as he did when Rachel called) he can only say that that's the best it can get and it's fine. No it isn't. The waste of water, energy and money really is pointless and I'll bet the bean counters at the MCV accounting office wouldn't be happy about it.
The absolute biggest thing is the F--- up by someone concerning CJ's medication. I can't imagine why, with the triple redundancy I see happening everywhere, that that sort of thing can happen here. We're all just lucky Charlotte didn't get hurt because of it.
On a very good note, after the conference call yesterday, it looks like the "fun-raising" effort has a serious A-Team in place and there will probably be more than 5 head shavees for April 10th. There's now a golf tournament in the works (I guess). Hope I get to play in it.
Does anyone have experience raffleing off big things like cars or motorcycles? How would one set up something like that?
In other news:
We have multiple pregnant moms at Romp n' Roll who are due in the very near future so we want to send out the best wishes to all of them as they welcome new members to their families and Happy Birthday to Bradley Chang!
Need to steal a few winks before CJ wakes up.

1:02 PM Update
What a difference a day (and a blood transfusion) makes! Charlotte slept very well the rest of the morning and only woke up because of a screaming baby down the hall and slightly obnoxious perople talking loudly in the hallway.
She's been in a very good mood all morning and although she still complains about her back and belly, it's been less. No BM this morning but it's been very loose the last few times so it's not too concerning.
The hair keeps coming out and we have a good little bag full for the birds.
She's eating! Just a little but it's something. This morning she had some Cheerios and Cookie Dough Bites. (Yummmmmm. So did Daddy!) Heather from Child Life came by and kidnapped us to a party being held by some dental college students. They had pizza and Cheetos as well as construction paper and such to make pictures. I did a shamrock and a psychedelic landscape as directed by CJ. She ate about a half a piece of pizza and a Cheeto so compared to the last few days, she's gorging herself!
On top of all that, we got another new Dora that we haven't seen yet.
The Drs. came by and said her numbers keep getting better and better so she'll most likely be going home tomorrow. Then of course we'll turn right around and come back in for the next round of chemo.
I want to reiterate how awsome Heather and her team at Child Life are. They opereate almostly entirely on donations. Here's their website:
http://www.vcuchildrens.org/?id=777&sid=4
Anamazing thing is happening. CJ is asking for "that bread I has having before." Which means pizza crust. There's no pizza left from the party so I've sent the nurses on a mad quest to find something resembling pizza crust. If they can't come up with something, I'll be ordering some pizza here soon. I'd call and ask CiCi's for a pizza but they're a bit far away and they don't normally deliver. They're just being nice to us when they do.
Gotta go find a pizza joint downtown.