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Last night was bad. TJ was kept me up for two and a half hours, starting around 2:00 am. As a chronic insomniac, this was only about 10 minutes or so, I would estimate, after I was able to finally fall asleep. I didn’t get a chance to go to sleep until after 4:30 – when it took me a while to actually fall asleep – and he was up as usual at 7:30. I’m not built to function on two hours of sleep.
But I had to function. TJ was not feeling well. He had thrown up – all liquid – around 2:30 in the morning. He didn’t eat anything when he woke up in the morning. He only drank apple juice. But he sat on my lap for over two straight hours, asking for kisses, and tears occasionally trickling down his cheeks. It was so sad and pitiful.
He wanted to get out of the house, though. I thought that maybe he just had a nasty cold. He has made himself so upset he’s thrown up in the past.
So we went to have a playdate at McDonald’s, the way we do every Tuesday. Tom was able to get out of work for a lunch break, so TJ had Mommy on one side, Daddy on the other, plus two Grandmas, a Great-Grandma, and his friend Abby there. He didn’t want to eat anything, just to drink his apple juice. And he threw up a little bit.
Tom and I changed him in the restroom. Thankfully, Tom had an extra outfit in his car, because I only had a pair of pants in the diaper bag. I called the pediatrician’s office from my cell phone. I left a message on the nurse triage line, but it was only ten minutes before they closed the office for lunch.
TJ seemed fine after that, and he wanted to go play. But a little bit later, he was sitting on Grandma Kitty’s lap, and he threw up all over. The kid with the mop took his time getting back there to clean it up, which made it hard to pack everything up to leave.
Poor kid threw up again in the car on the way home. I had to take his drink away, because he was trying to drink too fast. He fell asleep before we got home, but he woke up when I carried him inside. I had to take off all of his clothes, because he was soaked. We only had his dirty shirt to wipe him up with in the car.
He was excited about going upstairs to take a bath. Grandma Kitty sat in the bathroom with him while I threw the laundry in the washing machine. He wanted to rock with Grandma instead of me, and he fell back to sleep after about 20 minutes.
I tried to get some work done. Kitty stayed to watch All My Children with me, and to make sure TJ was alright. The problem was that, with TJ asleep in his crib, I no longer had to keep on keeping on. The adrenaline rush that kept me upright to take care of him was gone. I was crashing fast.
Kitty agreed to stay and listen for TJ so I could lie down and take a nap. She fielded the call back from the peditrician sometime after 2:00. No solid food at all today; only Pedialyte, Gatorade, or flat ginger ale to drink. Watch for wet diapers and check the inside of his mouth to make sure he doesn’t get dehydrated.
TJ woke up around 3:00. I hadn’t fallen asleep yet, but I did eventually. Tom woke me up around 4:30 when he got home from work.
TJ spent the entire evening sitting either on Tom’s lap or my lap. He asked for apple juice, milk, fries, cupcakes, and Goldfish… but he didn’t want anything he was allowed to have. We were able to convince him to take occasional sips of flat soda and water. He didn’t want anything to do with the Pedialyte. He was able to keep small sips down, so Tom increased the amount as we were instructed to do. But one cup held a little too much, because TJ was able to drink too quickly. He started fussing the way he did before he threw up in the afternoon. Tom picked him up to comfort him while I found a blanket to minimize the mess. TJ threw up mostly on Tom and the blanket.
Happy to take another bath, TJ was glad to splash around and read in the rocking chair afterwards. He went to bed at his normal bedtime with little trouble.
Here’s to hoping he sleeps better tonight. And feels better tomorrow. I don’t think I have enough adrenaline to survive with another night of only two hours of sleep.
That’s me: Christina Gleason. I’m a writer, editor, and disability advocate. I'm a multiply disabled autistic lady doing my best in this world built for abled people. I’m a geek for grammar, fantasy, and casual gaming. I hate vegetables. I cannot reliably speak, so I’ll happily conduct business over email or messaging instead.
