Needed

It's good to feel needed, but this is going to extremes.

Friday I went to work, optimistic that I would get to work a full week for the first time since Christmas. But, about 9, Maggie's school called. She had thrown up, so off I went, back to CC, as quickly as I could. I spent the day with Maggie, who was a VERY easy patient, mostly taking care of herself or sleeping on the bathroom floor (in a comforter, that is). Thanks to her self-reliance, I cleaned the house, washed laundry, and got another chapter of nutrition done. It felt great!

Since Jay was chaperoning a school dance Friday night, I was solo-parenting it and needed a way to get the girls from daycare but leave Maggie at home. Anthony to the rescue. Little Bro came out and watched ESPN while Maggie slept and I ran to town to load up on bathroom cleaner and get the girls from daycare.

But, before I even got in the door at daycare, I heard Katie announce, "Lainie's going to get sick." We sat the poor girl on the front porch, THEN put her coat and shoes on. She perked up but then, as soon as I let my guard down at home, she dosed the couch, floor, and rug. I lifted her to the bathtub, washed hands, isolated Natalie and Katie in the playroom, put a batch of pukey blankets and clothes in the washer, Chlorox-wiped the couch, floor, rug, and Lysol disinfectant sprayed them all. Then I finished cleaning Lainie up and moved her to the basement next to her other pukin' sista. (Sounds like a rock band, doesn't it?)

So at this point, I had two non-sick girls in the playroom, one girl vomiting downstairs, one recovering in the basement, and a whole lot of disinfecting to do. Bathroom - cleaned. Supper - made. Lainie - clothes change again. Natalie and Katie - fed. Lainie - clothes changed again. Maggie - water, movie. Lainie - clothes changed again. Katie - thanked for the thousandth time for watching Natalie. Lainie - clothes changed again. Fireplace - fire roaring. Natalie in be. Lainie - clothes changed again. Laundry changed. Katie in bed. Maggie in bed. Another batch in. Lainie - clothes changed again. see a pattern? Now, add a hand washing in between each step.

For about an hour and half, I ran up and down the stairs as Natalie fussed and wouldn't/couldn't get back to sleep, and then just as I would get her settled, Lainie would cry out. I'd run back down two flights, help her throw up, do a clean up, scrub up, change my shirt, and run back up to Natalie. I was counting the seconds until Jay got home.

Jay got home at midnight, and he took over anything needed upstairs with Natalie and Maggie. I settled in the basement with Lainie, who finally settled down around 2 a.m. Saturday morning. But, well, you can't take medicine if you're puking every 10 minutes, so she had skipped her zonegran dose, as per the pediatrician-on-call's recommendation. She did get it Saturday morning first thing, but between that, being dehydrated, and just plain exhausted, she barely responded all day Saturday.

Oh, and Katie's big spelling bee was Saturday morning at 9. She won her class bee and got to go to the district competition. I was hoping we could flip a coin to see which parent 'got' to go, but Mommy was demanded, er, requested. So, on 4 hours of sleep, I went to cheer her one while Jay manned the fort. She wanted to spell at least one round, and she did get the practice round correct. But, she missed with "rountine." She had a proud chin walking off the stage, but crumbled as soon as she sat down next to me. "But mommy, I KNOW how to spell routine! All these people think I don't." I consoled her for a bit, and then went with the tougher approach of, "you've already made me proud, just qualifying to be here. Now make me proud by being a gracious participant. Cheer on your friends. Sit up, and suck it up." It took her a few more minutes, but by the end she was congratulating her grade-mate who took second.

About the time the spelling bee wrapped up, my parents arrived for a visit. That was the peaceful part of the day. They were picking up my little brother to take him back south for a doctor's appointment. It was so nice having the time to visit with them, and Dad and Jay started work on another high tunnel. They left around 4, and I had my eyes set on an early bedtime, right after supper.

The girls and I had made pizza dough into heart-shaped pizza, and Katie and Maggie's pizzas were in the oven. Just as I was getting ready to add toppings to one for Jay and I, he came in and announce, "I need to go to the hospital." HUH!? This is the boy who is never sick, who has only been on antibiotic twice in his life, who has never had stitches or broken anthing. So, cut me some slack for disbelievingly asking, "huh?" Apparently, he had fell off a ladder and landed, foot first, on the triangle pointy piece at the bottom of a t-post. The triangle point when through his shoe and through his foot. All I knew was he said, "I cut my foot, my shoe is filling up with blood." followed by a "don't worry. I'll drive myself." I THINK NOT!

Wonderful, fabulous, amazing W-the-queen-of-daycares answered her cellphone, said they were just two miles away and would be there in a minutes to watch the girls. I put K, M, and N in the living room, L was still crashed in the basement office/puking-isolation-room, got a bottle for N, last minute instructions to turn off the oven if W doesn't get there before the timer goes off, got a bag for Jay to put his bloody foot on, plus a new sock and different shoe for the ride home, and we took off. (Don't worry, I called W again and she reassured me they were about 2 minutes away.)

After two hours in the ER, we were headed home. Jay didn't need stitches, because it was a deep cut but not a wide one, but he did get a shot and a prescription for antibiotics. It was still bleeding a little bit when we got home, and my big tough guy is in pain. Added to that, his stomach hurts tonight and he thinks he's coming down with the flu again.

So, here I am, awake, getting ready to sleep in the basement, listening on the monitor in case Natalie wakes up, hoping Maggie is done with her bug, wondering if Katie's feeling any better about her spelling bee performance, grateful Lainie is sleeping peacefully after a dose of motrin and actually eating supper, hoping Jay doesn't have to run hobble to the bathroom any time soon, wondering how I'm going to finish my A&P homework for Monday night, and thinking that once upon a time, I didn't feel needed.

Life is just full of irony, isn't it?

p.s. not sure why I wrote a play-by-play on such a crappy day, except to say, eh...it could be worse. Anymore, this just feels like a normal hectic weekend in our life.