Tuesday, January 11, 2005

Being a mom is never easy

Last Thursday night on my way home from work, I called Rich on my cell phone at 9:00pm. We had only been chatting for a few seconds when I heard him say, "Go to the bathroom if you have to throw up!" That is never something you want to hear. To make a long story short, Lillianna threw up twice and had diarrhea once during my 30 minute drive home. Once I got home, we tucked her into my bed with a bucket by her side. She only threw up one more time before she went to sleep and then it stopped and we mostly slept through the night.

The following day,I gave her Gatorade and light foods to eat and she kept it all in. A very good sign.She pitched a fit when she realized she had to stay home from school on Friday. Cries of, "It's not fair! It's just not fair!I'm missing pizza day in school!" came from the living room. We gave her an explanation of why it was better to stay home and rest and not infect her classmates and eventually she agreed without any complaints.

She felt fine during the day and played with her toys in between sips of Gatorade. Saturday she spent some time with Kara who took her to Plaster Fun Time and out to lunch. She felt fine. Sunday she went to her friend Marisa's birthday party. Still felt fine. Monday she went to school and to Brownies. She was on top of the world. Monday night/this morning at 1:00am she woke me saying her stomach hurt and then she had a bad case of diarrhea. She woke up at 3:00am,4:00am and 6:00am with bouts of diarrhea. When she woke up at 4:00am she begged me to let her stay home from school.

"Mommy, please don't make me go to school. Sometimes I can't get into the bathroom if it's full. What if I don't make it in time?"
I assured her that she could stay home and rest and that I would call in sick for work. Nothing is more important than her health. When she woke up at 7:00am she had forgotten that conversation and had a melt down when I told her she wasn't going to school. Rich told her a story of a boy in his 7th grade class who had diarrhea and didn't make it to the bathroom, in fact he didn't even make it out of the classroom!
Lillianna stopped her hysterics and settled down. She was ok with staying home.

Later in the afternoon I took a nap while Lillianna watched tv. When I woke up at 5:00pm,I found her lying on her blanket and pillow on the living room floor sound asleep. She woke up briefly at 5:20pm, talked on the phone and then went back in the living room. I got off the phone at 6:20pm and Lillianna was on the floor asleep again. Now it is almost 10:00pm and she hasn't woken up. I have felt her face and back to see if she is hot: cool as a cucumber. I have checked her breathing a million times and she is indeed breathing! I have already called work to say I wasn't sure if I'd be in or not tomorrow. I don't know what to do. Obviously she has a bug of some sort and it is still taking it's toll on her. I want her to rest and feel better but I know I won't be her favorite person if I tell her she is staying home again.

What would you do?

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