Case Study- Post 7

     Today we sat down to discuss how things were going now that mom and baby were discharged from the hospital. I brought a copy of a planner to our meeting, with the hopes that mom and I would be able to talk about how she could best use the time in her day to complete school work. When mom walked in the room, she looked very tired. I felt like I needed to inquire about her exhaustion so that she knows I'm paying attention to her cues, and not just trying to push my agenda. I asked her if it was a rough night last night because she looked tired. She said that she decided it was time for her child to sleep in a toddler bed, and that the night before had been the first night, and that it was rough. I asked her what she could do differently to make this transition easier for them. She said that she is going to sit in the room with the baby until she falls asleep. I said that would be a good idea, and would reassure the baby that mom is not going to leave. At the beginning of our time together I asked her to come up with a good-bye ritual for her and her baby when she leaves her with me for the day. I reminded mom of that ritual, and suggested that maybe she could come up with a good night ritual that would make bed time easier for the both of them. She said she would think about it, and then wondered if I had any suggestions about what would be helpful. I told her I felt like having  a specific routine/ ritual that they do together every night will make the transition to a big bed easier. She said okay, and glanced at the paper I had placed on the table, and asked what I had brought. I reminded her about our conversation about working on scheduling her day, and thinking about how she was going to fit everything in. She shook her head remembering our conversation from a couple weeks ago. I asked her to write down all of the obligations that she had to take care of on a daily basis, to include, homework, work, the baby and time for herself. She looked at me and said, "I need to schedule time for myself?" I smiled at her and said, " Yes! It is important that you take time for yourself also, or you will be no good for anyone else." She nodded. On her list she wrote, homework, housework, baby, myself and then pushed the list toward me. I read the list, and asked her, "What about work?" She said, "It was not working out, and they were not understanding when baby was in the hospital so I quit." I said, " Ok, how do you feel about that?" She said, " Annoyed that I have to look for another job again." I said, " That would be annoying, have you put applications out?" She said, " I'm going to a temp agency for them to help me find work." I said, " Let me know if I can support you in your job hunt."
    Next we went on to talk about when would be the best time for her to work on homework. She feels like working on homework would be best done during the day when the baby is at school. We wrote down on the schedule, drop baby off at school at 9, start homework by 10:15-1. Next we talked about the obligations that she has housework wise. She needs to do laundry for her and the baby, and pick up the house daily. We scheduled her to do this work from 8-9pm after she puts the baby to bed. She said, "I need to look for work too." I asked, " When would be a good time for you during the day to do that?" She said, " I think from 1-3 and then I will pick the baby up from you around 3 and spend time with her after that." I asked, " What about time for yourself?" She said," Maybe after I finish cleaning I could relax and watch a movie or something." I said," Okay, well lets try out this schedule for a few days and I'll check in with you and see how it is going." She said, " Okay." 
     I felt like this was a successful meeting, but I did not feel as connected with mom as I normally do. I think maybe it was because she was tired, and wasn't up to discussing her life. I think that maybe when I meet with her next time I will mention to her about how I felt disconnected, and wonder with her about why that was.
    My next step is going to be checking in with her in a couple days to see how the schedule is working out for her, and also how the transition to a big bed is going for the baby. In the mean time, I will be looking for some articles about bedtime routines that might be helpful for her.