Early morning I found out that Owen was vomiting while sleeping. He called my husband from his room (thank goodness my husband is a light sleeper) to tell him that his bed is a mess. Filled with vomit. His dad cleaned him up and changed the bed sheet and put him back to sleep.
This morning Owen woke up looking weak. He only ate one spoon of his favorite cereal. He told me he needed to stay home but I told him he would be fine to go to school (what was I thinking?). On the way to drop off my daughter to her daycare, Owen was vomiting again. The plastic bag I gave him (just in case he vomits) didn't do much help. He messed his uniform and the car seat. After dropped Madelyn off, I drove back to our house. No joking, he is sick. When I was trying to help him get off the car, he was vomiting again and the vomit landed on my hair and blouse.
After I cleaned him up, I called my boss to inform her that I might need to work from home. I really did not want to miss another day because yesterday, I had to call out sick because of my back. My instinct told me not to work from home. My instinct told me to care for my son. I am glad I work for a company that has good policy when it comes to take care of your sick family and on top of that I am glad I have been working with bosses who are also mothers and they are very understanding.
I took another day off, and called the Dr's office. We got the first appointment. Lucky us. I needed to assure that Owen did not have any stomach infection. He had had the same symptoms before and it started to worry me. The Dr took his urine sample and rest assure, it is not infection. She said it is just virus that often attacks young kids like Owen.
At home I made chicken soup for him. He ate a little but it was something. I was glad. He fell asleep in the couch while watching his favorite show.
Today was not the first time someone had vomited on me. Long before I was married, long before I was a mother, another kid did it to me. I was in a small public transportation in Jakarta. In front of me was a mother with his son. The son looked really ill. From the way he looked and the nauseous look on his face, I knew he was going to throw up anytime soon. I sat across front him and if he did vomit, it would land on me. Then right at the time when the action happened, I acted quickly by covering the vomit with my scarf before it landed on my feet but I was late, the action had been done, he threw up a couple of time and it was all over my legs. Was I upset? I was not. I felt bad for him and for the mother who kept apologizing to me even after I told her for a hundred time that it was okay. I had nowhere to go anywhere, I was heading home. Was it gross, yes of course, but it was just a vomit, once you rinse it with soap, it went away.
Since I became a mother, if I can recall correctly, my kids had thrown up on me about 3 times. Every time it happened, I felt so bad for them. I knew exactly how it feels when you have nausea and the urge of something coming out of your throat and then your stomach and the smell, unbelievable. Having my kids vomit on me is part of the joy of being a mother. Do you think I am crazy for saying this? You're welcome. It is not. Number 1, when you think about throwing up, it is actually a good thing because their body is throwing the bad stuff outside. Number 2, whenever they were sick, I feel sick too, not physically. I feel sick to see them sick. This is one way of me realizing how much I care and love them. I consider myself lucky because their sickness is just normal sickness that young kids will experience every now and then.
Motherhood, is surely not about all the cute stuffs like; cute faces, giggles, laughter, the famous world of "mommy I love you". Mother is also about messiness, stress, worries, lack of sleep. All of the combinations between the cuteness and the ugliness of motherhood are just normal things in a life of a mother like me, and million other mothers in this world.
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| This is Owen while we're waiting at the Dr's office this morning |
