You’ve been there…stumbling into bed a little later than you’d like, but it happens.
After you settle in, your self tucking-in comforter has nestled you, your brain has quieted it’s thinking side, your eyelids are heavy with sleep, and you begin to drift into that slumber… when
You
Hear
It
Your heart drops six stories, faster than any broken elevator would. Your legs swing out of bed, prepared to run. Your heart is slow to catch up, but it POUNDS SOOOOO loud you can FEEL each beat in your eardrums.
After a few seconds you begin to doubt what you heard. Maybe it was all in your head? A few more seconds pass, the doubt gets stronger and sleep begins to rear it’s voice. Slowly your alert senses return to normal but just before you settle back into that slumber you hear it again,
MmmmOOOOOOOMMMMMMM….
Fuck.
This can only mean one thing.
**************
Being a self-identified chicken shit, I’d much rather face Jason terrors than the Barfies. It’s so much easier to calm down nightmares and night terrors than deal with those damn stomach bugs. How is it they trust you when you tell them there are no monsters under the bed but the trust disappears when it comes to the stomach bugs?
I can tell my oldest that he’ll be fine in a couple days but the kid will NOT believe me. He’ll unleash this death scream that would make Corey Taylor jealous. I can only hope for the sake of his future wife, that as he ages his pain tolerance will get better. He always takes the “man cold” to the NEXT level.
When my cubs are sick, I let them sleep in my den. This usually means my hubs sleeps in the kids room with the other healthy one. It helps keep my hubs and other little man healthy AND I am RIGHT there in case the sick cub needs anything.
When the big cub is sick the only way he can sleep is in a warm soapy tub. Whether it’s midnight, 3AM or 8AM I’m in the bathroom watching him sleep, trying to do crossword puzzles to stay awake. I refresh water, add more bubbles and make towel pillows.
This round of his sickness made me realize two things. 1. We really need a bigger bathroom with a comfy chair because the porcelain throne is not a good place to sit for hours. 2. After days of limited sleep, Britney Spear’s head shaving incident doesn’t seem so crazy. I mean, it’s one less thing they can barf on.
After it seemed there wasn’t any end in sight the big one got better. For three glorious days we were all happy and healthy. We celebrated by going to the YMCA for a workout and swimming. The boys and are are water lovers so we spent the time in the pool, they passed some swim tests and we did some laps. I sat in the hot tub and in the sauna. We got home and cuddled while we watched some TV before going to bed.
When I woke up Sunday, it seemed the sinus cold I had recovered from decided to morph into it’s ugly step-sister. I went to work nasally, sneezy and barely able to breathe. I felt fine. I thought I was actually getting better as my shift went on. My co-workers didn’t think so. At the end of my shift I did want to go home and rest. Then I took my temp and it was over 100.
There is a major flaw in humans. I think that mothers should be immune to anything the kids carry. If I’m going to be around these germ carriers I should at least be able to care for them without catching whatever they are hosting.
I’m still recovering.
Monday night, my little cub, the one that loves me more than anyone has ever loved me in my LIFE, tried to take care of me by kicking his dad out of bed and taking his spot. We binge watched some TV together and drifted off to sleep. Before I knew what was happening, enough to stop it, he kissed me goodnight.
As I get better, he’s reaching the peak of not feeling well.
Mother Nature must have realized we all need to slow down. These frigid temperatures have made it impossible to do anything but hibernate. Which we will gladly do.
Last night, my little cub cuddled REALLY close as he told me about Micheal Meyer’s. I don’t know where he gets his scary movie infatuation from but I can’t say I was happy to have my husband in a different room, while my boy was telling me scary stories and our house was making crazy sounds from the cold weather. The sounds and the sickness made my little cub want to sleep with the lights on. I didn’t put the lights on but some of those house creaks were eerie.
I hope this hibernation period finds you healthy and able to slow down enough to listen in and rest.
Much Love, Namaste,
Jes xoxo