If You Party Like a Rock Star...

Everyone in this house has had varying degrees of sickdom for the past week. It all started with my oldest-just a headache and upset stomach for a couple of days, which led into a stuffed nose and cough. She is old enough that she can pretty much take care of herself--she just goes and hides under her covers.

Our youngest has the stuffed up nose and cough and talks like this:
"Mob, cun I hub a wuffle?"
She has been doing pretty well with this also. Since she is sick though, I have given her special attention and she has been once again climbing in our bed early each morning. She hates to take medicine to the point where if I try and give it to her she will throw up! I have tried everything. I read in a magazine that Dr. Pepper covers the taste of most medicines so I went out and bought some yesterday only to find that she does not like Dr. Pepper--I guess she isn't a Pepper too.

I thought my son had escaped all illnesses... until last night. When it rains it pours around here. He went to a "kids night" at his karate school that lasted from 6-10. Now usually we would not allow him to go to something like this because I don't think a kid needs to be up until 10pm running around like a crazy person. He begged us though and we caved. When he walked in the door with his dad at 10:10, I knew he was not feeling well but he was putting on a brave face. He ate pizza, juice boxes, candy and ran around and played hyper games for 4 hours--any healthy person would be sick.

At about 4 a.m. I feel someone hovering over me. I opened my eyes to find my son clutching his stomach saying "I am going to throw up." Well, my big ol' pregnant body has not gotten out of a bed so fast-I said "GET TO THE TOILET!" My son has a history of NEVER making it to the toilet. It is like he denies the fact that he is about to throw up and waits it out... and we all know that does not work. We made it in time and I tucked him back in bed and said a prayer to St. Blaise. It went something like this: "Saint Blaise, I know you are the patron Saint of sore throats, but I consider that in the category of colds as well. If you could please babysit my son tonight so I can get some rest that would be dandy... oh, and Praise God. Amen."

We were back up at 5:45 so I prayed again... "Saint Blaise, I know this may be cold and flu season and you are busy, but did you not hear me? I need to you PLEASE look after my son tonight. We had to spring ahead with the clocks so we are already losing an hour, and you know my little one will wake me up 2 more times tonight and we have Mass in the morning. Are you trying to make me miss Mass Saint Blaise? That isn't very Saintly of you. Please watch over my son and help him sleep--and Praise God. Amen."

As I laid in bed I started thinking... Why does throw up fall under the mom's job description? I tend to my kids when they are sick the way my mom did to me. I stand with them and pat their back and reassure them that it is almost over and they will be OK. I remember how soft my mom's hands were and how comforting they were so I try and do the same for my kids. If I threw up and my mom was not home, well my dad would just stand at the bathroom door and watch. No comforting words, no back rubs, no nothing, just a "wipe your mouth" when I finished. This is how my husband handles throw up as well, at a 10 foot distance.

I speak from my own experience with throwing up and my husband. I only throw up for 2 reasons... pregnancy (which he contributed to) and alcohol (which he probably bought for me). Whatever the circumstance, he is just a door watcher, not a back-rubbing "let it all out" kind of supporter.

At first I thought my son had partied like a Rock Star and now he was tossing cookies like a Rock Star... but he is still at it at 9:30 this morning so he obviously just got the worst of the illnesses in the house. Poor guy.

"Saint Blaise, if you could PLEASE keep whatever illness that my son has far from me I would appreciate it. I don't know if I could handle varicose veins, sore hips, stretch marks, hemorrhoids, pregnant farts AND throwing up. A girl is only so strong... oh, and above all, Praise God. Amen."