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Friday, April 13, 2012

Maui, Mommy & Morning Sickness

DON'T FREAK OUT... WE ARE NOT HAVING ANOTHER BABY.

Morning sickness refers to our girl.  Wednesday, I got a call from "school" at 3:00pm saying that Lucy was sick.  When this has happened in the past the "sickness" has been mostly hooey - a cranky girl who REALLY needed to nap, or a not nice, but not medically concerning diaper rash.  However, when they call, I go.

When I arrived, she was not wearing the super cute outfit from the morning and when I looked in her cubby there were not one, but two bundles of her clothes in plastic bags.  She seemed perky and happy.  I noticed that the schools 'mega stroller' (this thing holds 8 kids!) was outside and one of the teachers was wiping up "stuff" from two stations.  Apparently, Mason got sick in the morning and was sent home, but whatever he had going on in his sad tummy had already been shared with Lucy and one other classmate.

They took the kids to the park in the mega stroller without knowing that the bug had spread.  They knew pretty quickly once the kids starting giving back their lunches.  That must have been one sad and stressful walk back to the school.

As I said, Lucy looked fine.  She wasn't hot or cranky.  However, halfway between school and our house (it's less than 2 miles) she threw up in the car seat.  Poor little peanut, she was strapped in an it was a big throw up. I pulled over to run back to "help".  I didn't really have much to offer other than kind words and to help her lean forward.  I guess it's the mommy equivalent of holding her hair back while she threw up.

Once we got home I we took a quick bath, changed into pj's and then made our way downstairs onto a cozy (yet easily washable) quilt.  Lucy then threw up every 15 minutes for about 3 hours.  It was sad and we were both a stinky mess by the time dad got home.  She was super tired, so we gave her a second bath and an new clean set of pj's.  She went to sleep without any fuss.  I popped into her room about every 20 minutes to make sure she was sleeping on her side or at least not face up.  I had fears of her throwing up in her sleep and not having the awareness to spit it out.

Lucky us, she slept like a champ and woke up hungry and in a good mood.  Banned from school I had to take the day off and with a kid who didn't act sick we had a play day.  I did have to cancel my long planned, pre-vacation hair cut and color, but I suppose these are the things that we do for our kids.  Lucy woke up early and in spite of not acting sick, took a two hour nap at 7:30 am.  Later, after some food and a snuggle we packed up for a trip to Costco and then Safeway.  (My overly ambitious plan was Costco, Ulta, Target and Safeway, but that didn't work out.)  That afternoon, after a regular food lunch, Miss Lucy napped for another two hours. She was happy and her tummy was quite calm.

Back to school she went yesterday.  Mason was there but his mom restricted his diet to crackers and juice.  Holy heck mom, aren't you aware that your kid is an EATER?  He's a sweet boy, but he would eat from the time he woke up until he fell asleep if you would let him.  He has no "full" button.  (Lucy has one and it looks like "hey I'm done here, so I'm putting the rest of this onto the floor.")  So, with Lucy back on a regular diet, her breakfast of fruit and bagels were pure torture for Mason.  He stood at the high chair and practically begged for food.

Lucy did seem tired yesterday and didn't nap well at school.  She had a yummy dinner of chicken, orange peppers, strawberries and some string cheese and then took a quick bath and off to bed.   It was only 5:20 and we knew it meant that she'd be up early today (5:11am) but keeping her up just so we can sleep in until 6 is not ok.

Over night, she made NO noise.  She seemed to be sleeping like normal.  However at 5:00 am I heard her fussing (not crying) I went to get her and immediately upon opening the door could tell something was really wrong.  Sometime during the night she had thrown up her dinner and instead of crying for help, she went back to sleep and it was everywhere.  I felt so bad, because it smelled terrible, she must have been uncomfortable with it on her pj's and in her hair.

Since John & Susie are here, we opted to keep her home from school today and we are nursing a happy kid with a sensitive tummy.  She only wants to drink milk which could be an issue, but at least it's liquid. She's on a diet of toast, pears, apple sauce, and bananas.  She took a nap this morning and I'm confident we'll get another one this afternoon.     Having extra help is great because I can still nurture her and they are having fun playing with her.

We leave for Maui tomorrow morning and I am of course conflicted about leaving behind a child that is not 100% well, but she is in excellent hands.  The time they are spending together today (with me popping in and out) will make for a smooth transition.  Leaving her here is far less stressful than if we knew she was not feeling well and we were going to try to take her with us tomorrow.  The idea of a mildly sick kid on a five hour flight curls my toes, and not in a good way.

We are packed and checked in.  I am VERY excited about the trip and looking forward to the "idea" of sleeping in.  It won't happen because we are programmed to be up at 6am, but at least we'll be waking up to the sounds of the ocean and not a much loved but early riser baby.




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