The Sleepless Mama

…zzzzzzz!

Oh, hi there friends!  You would think that having an hour to myself on an airplane I would actually catch up on some sleep, but instead I’m here!  8 days ago my son got sick with what I thought was food poisoning.  He vomited shortly after dinner and went right to sleep.  The next morning he felt sluggish, but fine, so I sent him off to school.  One hour later they called to tell me he had a fever of 99.9 and didn’t feel good.

Fast forward to today, he’s still at home and still has a fever!

Aside from the fever and a slight cough there haven’t been any other symptoms to this mysterious illness.  He’s been to the doctor twice and both times left with the diagnosis that every parent loves to hear…”He has a Virus.”   It wasn’t until the second visit that they actually did any tests to rule out mono, strep, pneumonia, and flu.  They also did a CBC to test his white blood cell count, which also came back normal.  “Come back at the end of the week if he still has a fever.”

Well, we still have a fever!  It fluctuates between normal and goes up to 103.7.  The average has been around 101-102.  He still has a cough which hurts his throat and we’ve added our nightly bloody nose (3 nights in a row).  The bloody nose usually comes following a coughing fit and goes away about as quickly.

I know he feels miserable and there isn’t anything I can do besides make him as comfortable as possible.  He’s usually feeling well during the day, but man those nights are rough on both of us.  I’m use to getting work accomplished after the kids are in bed but this past week hasn’t been as productive.  Around 9 or 10pm he starts moaning and coughing and wanting mama to cuddle, so I do.  We’ve both taken up residence on the sofa where we also fall asleep.  I’ve slept the last 3 nights on the sofa so I can hear him when he wakes up.  He’s usually up around midnight, 2am, and maybe around 3 or 4am coughing and moaning.  A quick trip to the bathroom and of course the bloody nose.

I have no idea how us mama’s do it!  How do we function during the day and play nurse all night and not get sick ourselves?  I swear, I don’t ever remember my mom getting sick when I was little and I got sick ALL.THE.TIME!!  I think God gave us “mom-munity” to all these nasty viruses our kids pick up so we can take care of them.

I have a trip scheduled for today, heading to Atlanta for Mom 2.0 (blogging conference).  That mommy guilt played hard on me today as I packed up and left my little sickie at home.  I know that my hubs is capable of taking care of the kids (he actually does a much better job than me on most days), but there is something about having your mom when you’re sick!  As I left this afternoon we both shed a tiny little tear because I know he didn’t want me to go.

As for me, I need the break myself to catch up on my sleep.  That’s actually really funny to read because “sleep” is the last thing you get at a blog conference.  My days and nights will be packed full of sessions and events, but I’m going to enjoy some quiet time too.  I was joking all week saying that I may just fly to Atlanta so I can sleep for 3 days!

…and here I am, in the air, on my computer, and NOT sleeping!!  If you see me at Mom 2.0 this weekend and I act like I have no clue who you are, just forgive me!  I haven’t slept in 4 days!