2.25.2009

ill-prepared

Braden is 5 1/2... in all his years on this planet he has thrown up 4 times... yes, that is right... ONLY 4 times. The last time was over a year ago, and then it was the first time he could ever remember... the other times happened when he was a baby/toddler.

This, on one hand... is a good thing... for obvious reasons.... but yet on the other hand it comes with its problems.

Last night Braden woke me up at about 1am... he said his stomach hurt.

We all know that there are a lot of reasons why tummy's hurt so I ran down the list...."do you feel like you have to poo? Do you feel like you are hungry? Do you feel like you need to burp?" and so on and so forth... and even though I am not sure he understands the question I ask... "does it feel like you are going to throw up?"

In his sleepiness he answers no to all of these... but not very convincingly. So I say we should hang out in the bathroom just for a bit to be on the safe side. He is still half a sleep so I lay him down on the rug with a pillow and a towel for a blanket... he lies there and I sit next to him.

Children throwing up is pretty much the scariest thing I can think of.... everything about it gives me a mini-panic attack... the unpredictability... the mess.... the pain... the smell.... the splatter....

In the dark last night I felt so silly being so worried and in a panic.... I sat there thinking of all the horrible ways I could get puked on, or the BRAND NEW CARPET would get puked on or the comforter would get puked on....

I am not scared at all of dogs puking.... because there is a warning for puking dogs... I can hear it in my sleep.... that horrible retching noise.... but... it does provide you with at least a few seconds to get to the kitchen floor or out the door.

Kids give no warning... they puke in their sleep, in their bed, on the floor, down fronts of parents, in the car, did I mention on the rug? With no warning.... and once it starts it keeps going.

Not that I wish my kid sick... but I realize that my anxiety comes from lack of practice/experience with the situation. I have NO bag of tricks to pull from... each time it occurs it's like starting from scratch ... which makes everything harder...

So last night I lay in bed (with my glasses on) just waiting to be woken by some horrible noise.... thankfully it was just a false alarm.... so... until next time....I wait.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I am way too prepared for this. El gets her sensitive tummy from me. When they say they're stomach hurts, send them to bed with a tupperware bowl and tell them to aim first for it, while running to the toilet. Do a drill if you have to. The bowl is key.