Hard Work

Motherhood can be great. Filled with kisses and hugs from little ones who think you’re the best thing in the world. A detailed picture drawn at school to show a mom how much she was missed. Receiving a card that shows all the effort with every little glued on letter that was cut out by a loving child’s hand. That feeling when your child falls asleep in your arms no matter if they are one or five years old. The proud moments of a first soccer goal and first steps.

All these great and priceless rewards do come with a catch. There is projectile vomiting at two in the morning or high fevers that make you drive through a blizzard to take a little one to the hospital. Colds or flu that run through the whole family one by one or all together at the same time, and then one more time just for fun. We of course got the “all at the same time” curse where I was catching puke, cleaning it, doing it myself and praying for it to be over. There are the bruises, bumps and scrapes that seem to hurt you.

We had just gotten over what I was hoping to be the last big thing. Spring is coming and my kids usually get a good two month break from colds. So when I saw snow melting outside I was so excited I didn’t see that all the sunshine was hiding our next storm. In the span of one month I spent more time ferrying the kids to the pediatrician’s office and hospital than anything else. It seemed every time we got ready for the day one of the kids was going in for some kind of treatment, diagnosis, testing, or check-up. I almost felt like I had to bring the doctor a coffee when I went in, we saw each other so much. When calling to make an appointment I’d say, “This is so and so’s mom.” Before I can get any further the receptionist laughs and tells me to just come in.

It started with Big Brother catching a stomach flu possibly at school and bringing it home. In three days things seemed to be back to normal just in time for Little Brother to get his one year needles. He has always been fine after shots so I found it surprising that this time he ran a fever and stayed fussy for a good day and a half. He got the needles in his arms this time so he didn’t want to play at all and being held proved almost impossible with his soreness. Oh and then there was the “he may get the runs” warning from the doctor. Oh he got them all right. Running down his legs out his socks in his shoes and on my lap. Little Brother felt better and the very next day Big Brother caught another nasty cold. All he wanted to do was lay on the floor in front of the TV. Refusing to eat in a lethargic state. Thankfully he snapped out of it in two school days. But Little Brother got it and within a night his cold turned into pneumonia. We saw the pediatrician who sent him home and by that night he was having a hard time breathing and stopped going to the bathroom because he was too weak and sick to drink or eat. We spent a tiresome night in the emergency room. The next few days were filled with X-rays, meeting with breathing specialists and the last was a check-up before I could take him home. I was homebound with Little Brother for two weeks while his pneumonia cleared up. A trip to buy diapers never sounded so good! Poor Big Brother wasn’t even sick but was stuck home with us.

Finally Little Brother got the ok from the pediatrician to leave home and resume normal life like going to the store and out to lunch. Wouldn’t you know it Big Brother got sick again. Fevers and a sore body. I was handing out body massages to soothe the kids in any little way I could that even when they didn’t want me to I was patting their back, rocking someone, or rubbing lotion on feet.

We went a full week with nothing from either boy popping up. I was almost afraid to take them anywhere wondering what could happen next…Well it happened without going any place. Big Brother got an eczema flare-up. He scratched so much one night that in the morning when I was washing his hair I noticed he was scabbing up. Of course fearing the worst I took him to the hospital thinking that it’s on his scalp he must have lice. They sent us to a dermatologist who told me that his eczema caused him to scratch, and now it was infected. I lotion him up all winter trying to avoid flare-ups but his scalp is different. Of course he would end up with an issue where I would never apply lotion. He fixed up Big Brother and sent us home. Just as Big Brother’s problem was clearing up and things were again just about back to normal, Little Brother starts teething! Waking up screaming almost every hour. He wants to be held then doesn’t so we pick him up and he cries, kicks us and tries to get down. We put him down and he throws himself back, cries louder while reaching out to us to pick him back up. It goes like this all night until about six am. Did I mention that we took away his bottle at the same time? Two full weeks of it. Big Brother was so tired in the morning that he learned to press the snooze button. And one groggy morning he unplugged the alarm clock the first beep. He usually gets up, shuts off the alarm, and the second time it goes off everyone gets up for the day. Well this day I heard one beep, I thought he hit the snooze button only he pulled it right out of the wall and went back to bed. We all slept in until eight. Which would have been fine for a Saturday not a Monday! Can’t really blame the kid, he was just about crying at three am himself saying, “Give him a bottle Mom, he’s just a baby! You’re so mean!”

Aside from the teething this week. Little Brother also managed to burn his little thumb. He touched the heating vent. Our furnace is in the hallway, where the vent gets the hottest. Little Brother got one little spot that fits under the smallest band aid but still, I felt so horrible. How could this happen? I had to fight not bursting into tears at the pediatrician’s office when I brought him. They said it would be fine in three days and how he’s lucky he didn’t get his whole palm. It didn’t make me feel any better, all I could think about was how he’s mobile and super fast now I should have been right there but I was more worried about him and the oven or stove knobs, I guess I never thought about the vents. I had to keep changing his little baby band aid and fighting to put and keep a mitten on his hand so he didn’t chew his band aid off.

On top of that Little Brother was breaking out with a skin rash on his face. So he went back to the pediatrician’s office for the second time in twenty four hours. He was fine but you know how it is…If it’s not one thing it’s got to be another. Or should I say if it’s not one kid, it’s got to be the other. I usually don’t like to write about the boys being sick or hurt because it’s sad and depressing but you can’t sugarcoat motherhood. It can be messy, at times smelly. Little Brother’s tiny burn healed in three days. His rash gracefully cleared up at the same time. By the end of the week all was well again. Of course until the next day when Big Brother started coughing again…Here we go again, I can hear Little Brother starting with the tickle in his throat now. I can only hope he’s mimicking his older brother and not really getting sick with him.

There are sweet moments that could melt your heart. Picture perfect family moments. Then there are nights that you would give your arm to get some sleep, and there are days that you are trudging your way through what can only be called child induced hard work. You keep going mommies, spring is almost here!