The things they do, just to sleep with me

Emma wanted to sleep with me on Saturday night. I said no, I had laundry on the other side of the bed and was too tired to fold it, move it, and to set everything up "just so" for her sleeping pleasure. At 2am, she came downstairs, walked into my bathroom, threw up and asked, "Can I sleep with you now?"

I threw the laundry on the floor which the dog immediately took as an invitation to make a bed out of. I put Emma in bed with me and she was burning up. Took her temp- 104.3. I knew I was in for a long night.

We have one of those Tempurpedic mattresses, king size. You know the kind where you can jump on the bed and the glass of red wine won't spill and you absolutely will not feel your partner rolling over or getting out of bed. Well that doesn't apply to a sick child. Every time her breath changed or she starting shivering or sweating, every little moan, every time she blinked, I felt it, I knew.

It was rough. Emma had probably thrown up a total of 7 times between 2 and 5am. By some miracle, she hit the toilet every time. And me right there with her, holding her hair, rubbing her back, and trying my hardest not to yack all over the back of her neck.

While no one likes vomit, for me it is just the worst thing ever. I mean if you even talk about it, I will start to gag. I'm gagging right now, reliving the experiences of yesterday. During one of our childbirth classes with our midwife, the discussion was what was your greatest fear about childbirth? Some of the other moms-to-be said things like "I'm afraid the cord will be wrapped around the baby's neck" or "I'm afraid my baby will be deformed" or "I'm afraid I'll tear". When it was my turn, I very honestly answered," I'm afraid I'll throw up." (Which by the way I did with 3 out of 4, so I figured if my worst fear came true, then the rest of the birth would be smooth sailing.)

I hadn't seen Emma this sick in a long time. Right before she turned 2 she had rotovirus and had to be admitted to the hospital. Those thoughts were racing through my mind because I was certain I was not rehydrating her fast enough, not that it mattered since nothing stayed down anyway. I was panicking about having to take her to the emergency room in the middle of the night, therefore probably having to wake the other three as well since Steven was gone. I was scared and curled into a tiny little ball on the far side of the bed in case she had to throw up, I was just praying it would not be on me.

We somehow made it through the night and about 8am she and I both settled in to get some sleep. Her fever hadn't come down at all, but the poor thing, and I were exhausted. At that moment, there was a loud piercing sound throughout the house. I had asked Abby to let the dog out, but had forgotten to disarm the alarm. I didn't get to the box in time, the dispatch apparently didn't believe me when I told her we were fine, and a sheriff rang my doorbell shortly thereafter.

"We got a call about a possible break-in ma'am, is everything alright?"

"Oh, yes, everything's fine, just a long night with a sick kid."

I think he took one look at me, in my pajamas, with my hair everywhere, the biggest blackest circles under my eyes, the way I had to lean against the door just to stand up and decided while he knew everything was definitely not alright, he was not going down that road with me.

"Well you have a good day ma'am."

Yeah, thanks, I'll try... Dealing with a sick child and her three, healthy, bored and now awake sisters should be great fun.

She had a few more episodes throughout the day, a few baths, a few attempts at eating and drinking. I managed to keep her successfully sequestered from her sisters, hopefully they didn't catch this bug. She slept again with me last night and her fever didn't break until this morning at 3, so she stayed home from school. She appears to be fit as a fiddle, and I am thanking God. She and her sisters are fighting as usual and driving me nuts. She has successfully eaten just about everything in the pantry to make up for her day of starvation.

I just think nothing breaks a momma's heart like seeing her baby sick. No matter how old that baby is. I'm so happy she's okay, I'm so happy we avoided the ER and I'm so, so tired! I'm planning on an early bedtime for all and a good night's sleep in my bed, all by myself.


Well that was my plan, Kathryn has informed me her stomach hurts now.