Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Worst Mother EVER!

Sometimes when I hear Hailey's call for "Mommy" in the middle of the night, I wonder to myself "who is this mythical Mommy character that she wants?" Surely, she is not referring to me. She could not possibly expect me to get out of my warm bed to attend to her lost glow worm, dropped blanket, unquenchable thirst, etc. I heard the call again this morning around 5:00am. Keep in mind that I've had a chest cold for a few days now so I'm not sleeping or feeling well. Regardless, I went in to find Hailey searching for her glow worm, which I quickly found and returned.

My general rule is that I will go into her room one time to be sure that there isn't an emergency, but after that she's on her own. For some reason, I broke the rule this time. We proceeded to play the call Mommy game for about an hour. She was complaining that her stomach hurt, which if fairly typical when she's hungry or has to poop. After eliminating those two causes, I finally made Daddy go in. At that point, Daddy brought Hailey into our room to "sleep." What ensued were 2 hours of screaming almost hysterically about her stomach, ears, and neck hurting. While I considered the possibility that she was really sick, I thought that the more likely scenario was that she could not sleep and wanted some attention. She got attention, Tylenol, milk, a bagel, and three episodes of her favorite show.

By the time real morning came (8:00am), she seemed fine again. She didn't feel particularly warm as if she had a fever. She was smiley and talkative. I thought the earlier 2 hours were a fluke so I let her go to school. About 3 hours later, I got a call from school. Hailey has a fever and needs to go home. Argh! So now Hailey and I are home sick, AND I feel like a horrible mother for ignoring my child's symptoms. I AM that mother who people curse for sending their child to school sick. What a horrible, crappy, cold, yucky day. Thank goodness Sophia is fine, so far.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Show yourself some grace friend. It could have just as easily gone the other way. And not that its any consolation, but I would have done the exact same thing under those circumstances. I hope you both feel better soon!

Luke said...

annoying cat + crazy dog + sick girl + helpless newborn + sick mommy + absent husband != fun

Meggan Hood said...

Seriously? I'm just impressed that you're even able enough to get yourself out of bed. And now you've got to juggle a newborn, a sick little girl, your own version of a cold, AND sleep deprivation? You're my hero.

peter said...

Ummmm, Luke, not to be too obvious, but you forgot to add "minus any locally based and helpful grandparents" - now, that's real fun.