I have had approximately 5 hours sleep in the past 48 hours. My daughter has been puking for 3 days, and if you are a parent, you will know that means that even when she was sleeping, I was watching her breath, feeling her forehead, and waiting for the next horrible episode of dry heaving to begin.
Generally, by the time the dry heaving was done, the baby was awake any way, so if I was hoping to sleep, those dreams were shattered.
Tom was away, so it was just me to take care of them.
When Tom called this afternoon, I told him about my sleep deprivation, about how I thought I was going to be packing up a 5-year old and a baby to go to the emergency room at 1:30 in the morning, I told him about the baby waking whenever Rebecca slept. Then he said, “So you’re a zombie?”
Actually, I told him, I wasn’t too bad. I’m not sure how, but I didn’t feel like I was going to die. I felt like I was going to be fine.
“It’s your mom powers” my husband told me... and he was right.
Who else would hold you so gently? Who else would catch your vomit in their hand? Who else would fore go sleep to watch your chest rise and fall, and feel privileged to gaze at your beautiful face while it is so peaceful with rest? Who else cares more about your comfort than their own?
Just your mom.
While I was going through all of this, I thought of my own mother, and how she would have done it with more grace, less whining and no support whether my father was home or not.
My mom powers are not as strong as hers.
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