Mother's Day: A Short Diary

Sunday May 8th, 2011 (Mother's Day)
2am-ish:  Violet woke up crying in a way that said she was scared of something.  Both my husband and I tried to take her back to bed, but were met with more fear.  So, we brought her back to our bed.  She snuggled in with me in my awesome pregnancy pillow and we fell asleep.

7am: I woke up in the most perfect picture of motherhood.  I had my right arm around my beautiful todder, and our foreheads were touching.  My left hand was on my belly, over my unborn child who shifted with us as we all woke up together.  I wish I had a photo of this, but the image is so clear in my mind.  I said to my husband, "This is what it is to be a mom."

Wednesday May 11th, 2011
2am:  We hear crying from Violet's room, so my husband goes in to check on her.  I hear him say, "Oh no!" and take her to the bathroom.  Then he calls to me and asks that I change her sheets.  She had thrown up in her sleep.  She threw up again in the bathroom (on her daddy of course, not in the toilet or sink).  When we brought her back to her room, she just wanted me to hold her.  The massage I had gotten the day before as a Mother's Day present faded away as I sat in the position most comfortable to her and least comfortable to me.   She threw up on me, then after I had to change my shirt I put a towel over my chest and got in the rocking chair with her.  It was clear she was not interested in getting back in her bed or leaving me for a second.  I spent the rest of the night in the rocking chair with my darling on my chest sleeping, but waking every half hour or so to moan and then throw up.  Luckily, it was in that order and I was able to catch it/shield myself in time.

Noon-ish:  The doctor has told us not to give fluids until she stops vomitting and she is begging for fluids.  She refuses to be not touching me, specifically enjoying being on my chest.  As a result, I can't drink or eat anything except if I sneak away for a minute to hide in the bathroom.  She is exhausted and is getting no calories, so she sleeps in tiny cat naps on me and throws up periodically.

This is what motherhood really looks like.

Thursday May 12th, 2011
10am:  We finally go to the doctor's office because it's been over 24 hours and she can't even keep small sips of water/tea/coconut water down.  When we were getting ready, I set her on my bed so she could still see me since she refuses to let me out of her sight.  She slept in her own bed last night, but as soon as she woke up it was back to the lap.  While I have my back turned to get clothes out of my dresser, I hear, "wa wa!"  I turn around to see she is chugging out of the water bottle I keep next to my bed.  She throws up on herself on the way to the office.  The doctor suggests a popsicle, which Violet has never had before, and she loves it.  The puke on the car ride over turns out to be her last.

8pm:  She's asleep.  We have been giving her 5ccs of Pedialyte at a time through a syringe (by mouth) and she isn't throwing up at all.  She nibbles a bit at some food.

Friday May 13th, 2011
8am:  I drop my husband off at the airport for his two weeks at work thinking that we are out of the woods and she will start eating and feel fine now.  She ate a lot of oatmeal this morning, as well as some of Daddy's cereal.  She's fine, finally.

10am:  She falls asleep for a very early nap, but of course she's tired.

11am:  She wouldn't stay asleep for more than a few minutes, so I get in her toddler bed with her.  She wakes up at 11 and starts moaning.  I think she is going to puke on me, so I grab a towel.  Instead, I hear an erruption in her pants.  I change her diaper and it's horrific and totally liquid.  The virus has moved south.

8pm:  She spent the rest of the day in good spirits, but with explosive diarrhea.  After that first diaper incident, she tells me first and goes in the toilet.  She is drinking a lot of water, but she's losing a LOT of water.  It's unbelievable that someone so small can poop so much.  She's not very interested in eating.

Saturday and Sunday
A blur of trips to the bathroom.  On Sunday she still wasn't eating much, but she was drinking soy milk and at least getting some nutrients with her fluids.  I try again and again to mix acidophilous with yogurt or apple sauce and she turns it down.  Finally she began eating some yogurt, then I started making her her usual morning drink which is a container of yogurt and about a cup of soy milk mixed together in a straw cup.  It's like a smoothie but without all the fruit.

Monday May 16th, 2011
11:30pm: I put her down for a nap but she cried, so I checked on her.  She said she had to poop and I prepared sadly for more explosions.  Instead, she pooped a solid turd.  Never have I been so happy to see a turd!  She was eating and drinking well today, and I had given her soy yogurt mixed with soy milk to help the cultures in her gut replenish.