(this was a post I started a while ago, but due to my time restraints I was unable to finish it on time. Here is the final product.)
My baby Ainslie was diagnosed with RSV (Or as I call it, THE REALLY STUPID VIRUS) Thursday night after a 7 and a half hour stint in the ER. She was admitted to the hospital at 3 am and was put under observation for 24 hours.
That was a horrible experience for me. Nothing to do but sit and wait to see if she got worse or stayed the same. Lucky for me -- she stayed the same and got to ride the rest of it out at home.
As blessed as I was -- getting to take my baby home after a 24 hour period, it made me wonder how people who have children with long-term or terminal illness do it. It's frightening to have your child put in a hospital bed, watching monitors, seeing her struggle through congestion that her little lungs aren't capable of handling. What about those with a more serious, long lasting disease?
I pray I never have to experience that.
In a discussion about "adulthood," I once told Brian that I first truly felt "adult" when I backed my car out of our garage of our home in The Woodlands and clicked the "clicky" to close it as I zoomed on my way to work.
What a false sense of "adulthood" that was. I will say that after being a Mommy for nearly three years, nothing made me feel more like an adult than sitting alone at 2 am in an ER room with my sick 3 week old. It was just she and I, and she was depending on me to stay awake and keep her comfortable as possible. It is in those times when your fears are not for yourself, but for your child. In those unselfish moments, I realize that is when I became an adult.
Not with my first paycheck, or car or graduating from college. But, in giving birth, changing diapers, cleaning up throw up and nursing at all odd hours of the night.
Sounds frightening doesn't it? But, I love being a Mommy.
My baby Ainslie was diagnosed with RSV (Or as I call it, THE REALLY STUPID VIRUS) Thursday night after a 7 and a half hour stint in the ER. She was admitted to the hospital at 3 am and was put under observation for 24 hours.
That was a horrible experience for me. Nothing to do but sit and wait to see if she got worse or stayed the same. Lucky for me -- she stayed the same and got to ride the rest of it out at home.
As blessed as I was -- getting to take my baby home after a 24 hour period, it made me wonder how people who have children with long-term or terminal illness do it. It's frightening to have your child put in a hospital bed, watching monitors, seeing her struggle through congestion that her little lungs aren't capable of handling. What about those with a more serious, long lasting disease?
I pray I never have to experience that.
In a discussion about "adulthood," I once told Brian that I first truly felt "adult" when I backed my car out of our garage of our home in The Woodlands and clicked the "clicky" to close it as I zoomed on my way to work.
What a false sense of "adulthood" that was. I will say that after being a Mommy for nearly three years, nothing made me feel more like an adult than sitting alone at 2 am in an ER room with my sick 3 week old. It was just she and I, and she was depending on me to stay awake and keep her comfortable as possible. It is in those times when your fears are not for yourself, but for your child. In those unselfish moments, I realize that is when I became an adult.
Not with my first paycheck, or car or graduating from college. But, in giving birth, changing diapers, cleaning up throw up and nursing at all odd hours of the night.
Sounds frightening doesn't it? But, I love being a Mommy.
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