Category: Being a Mom

Forgive me if this is not all that coherent – I am not operating on all cylinders at the moment. But here’s the story…

In January 2012 I wrote a post about how Kate had been randomly vomiting since the December before. Months of tests and MRIs and all kinds of stuff led us to find out that she had Rotovirus, and it was taking her system a long time to rid itself of the bug. But, it was a diagnosis, and we thought we would eventually see the end of it.

Two years later, we haven’t really seen the end.

It’s weird. It doesn’t happen with any regularity, but I’d estimate that about once every 4-6 weeks Kate has a bout of vomiting and/or other digestive issues. Typically, she’s sick once and then fine (which makes me REALLY PLEASED to have to take a day off work). A few weeks ago, though, she had an episode that lasted about four days, and we found ourselves back in the GI department at Cincinnati Children’s.

Initial blood and, um, other tests showed that something was off. She has inflammation of some sort in her intestines, but those tests weren’t enough for a diagnosis, so Wednesday (my 35th birthday, coincidentally) we headed back to Children’s for an upper and lower endoscopy.

I’m not sure which was more fun – Wednesday, the day of the actual procedure, or Tuesday, the day of preparation for the procedure.

Those of you who have been through such things know what I’m talking about.

It was really not fun for any of us, but overall Kate was a champ. She handled 36 hours of a liquid diet much better than I had anticipated. (I agreed to do it with her in solidarity, but you’d better believe I hit the vending machine for some M&Ms as soon as we got into the waiting room.)

The worst part – for Andy and me anyway – was watching her be sedated. I had a long list of things to worry about going into that day, and the moment of sedation wasn’t one of them. I was caught off guard by how disturbing that sight was.

Fortunately, everything they were able to see through the scope looked good. They didn’t see evidence of Crohn’s or ulcerative colitis or any of the other chronic conditions her blood tests indicated were possibilities – huge relief. But, we don’t know what it is yet. They took some samples to biopsy, and they’re running another test for a bacterial infection; hopefully one of those things will turn into a diagnosis of some sort so we can figure out what the heck this is and get it fixed.

I know this is a minor issue in the grand scheme of things, but I still hate to see my baby sick.

Sam’s the “Special Kindergartner” at school this week. He’s been waiting on this since September – reverse-alphabetical order meant his turn was last. Being the Special K is a very important honor. He gets to be the line leader, turn off the lights, organize the lunch orders, and other exciting stuff.

This morning I got to visit his classroom, and listened to his classmates read their “I like Sam because…” papers. (My favorites included “he uses his heart,” “he sits with me at lunch” and “he is handsome.”) Then Sam told his class about a few family pictures he brought in, I read them a book (Lego Star Wars FTW), and we – most importantly – ate a snack.

This week has been complicated. Kate’s been sick, I’m leaving on a business trip this evening, and Mother’s Day was… well. It’s was Mother’s Day. There’s a blog post rolling around in my head on that one. But the complicated, complex thoughts and emotions that have been washing over me this week have also made me grateful for the simple things like spending an hour in Sam’s kindergarten class.

I’m so, so grateful to be able to take part in the simple things.

Emily and I just returned late yesterday morning from Mom 2.0 Summit in Atlanta. We had an awesome time, and we can’t wait to tell you all about it – which we will do after we recover from racing around all weekend attending (and leading!!!) sessions, meeting sponsors, and of course, going to fab parties bedecked in Lands’ End clothing. There’s nothing like an intense conference with a jam-packed schedule to wear one out.

When I arrived on my own doorstep about 11:30 Sunday morning, I was very excited to see my family. Three days is a long time to be away! As I pulled in, I saw that Jonah was waiting for me at our front door, which is glass. I waved excitedly to him and I could see his lips forming the words “Hi Mommy!” SO sweet. I couldn’t wait to squeeze him!

When I opened the door, I crouched down low and went in for a hug. Jonah gave me a big smile…and then a SCOWL, and then…took a swipe at me!! I’ve heard pets can be mean to their owners after they’ve been away, to make sure they know they didn’t like being left…apparently Jonah has the same policy. Sheesh! After a minute or two, I finally got a hug, but he remained grumpy for awhile.  Happily, Joshua and Sophie were appropriately excited to see me, or else I might’ve been plunged into a depression, sheesh!

A few hours later, we were getting ready to leave for house church so I carefully applied my makeup (even I did not apply makeup that morning since we got up at 5:30 to catch a flight and slept very little the night before.) and then sat down in our recliner for a few minutes. Jonah soon climbed up on my lap and asked to look at pictures on my phone (he has a particular favorite of my foster-niece that he likes to see), and so we did that for a couple minutes. When I said it was time to be done, he fussed a bit, so I reiterated that we were ALL done, and he…THREW HIS HEAD BACK in protest and CRUSHED my nose.

I heard a loud CRACK – let me tell you hearing your bones crack inside your head is terrifying – and I started screaming because it hurt SO bad, and threw my hands up to my nose because I was sure it was going to start gushing blood.

Bobby grabbed Jonah and set him down, the big kids came running, and I sobbed hysterically -it was pretty terrible pain. Bobby finally got me to take my hands away – it was only trickling blood, not gushing – and got me some ice. My carefully applied makeup was all over my face. Sophie said, “Her tears have makeup in them!” So glad I had just done that…

Anyways, lots of ice packs and tissues later, I finally calmed down. Poor Jonah kept saying he was sorry.

The family finally left for house church and left me at home with my ice packs. I iced it for over an hour, and kept the swelling to a minimum.

At the moment, it looks almost normal but it still hurts like a MOTHER! But I guess I’ll take it…we all know how much I LOVE my face, right? I’m just glad it’s not crooked!

And yeah, WELCOME HOME MOM! My kid broke my face.

Have you got any great stories of mom abuse? Let’s commiserate?