Kendal had a nice cold a few weeks ago and then for some great reason both of my girls caught a yucky throw-up bug over the weekend. They threw up most of Sunday night and Monday. They both stayed home from school yesterday which just about killed Kelsey because she had it in her mind that she was going to get perfect attendance this year. Anyway, during these little wonderful wintertime episodes of sickness, I have seen a very PROMINENT difference between good ol Matty and I. Maybe this occurs in all husband/wife, mother/father, female/male relationships, but very much in ours.
When Matt sleeps, he is gone. Truly gone. I bet the guy could sleep through a volcanic eruption and not even know he was sleeping in hot lava. Hey, maybe that is what happened to the folks in Pompeii! They slept right though being covered in 10 feet of hot ash.
So Kendal's throw up adventure began on our drive back to Heber City in Provo Canyon on Sunday evening- yuck! It continued until her guts were completely empty which was around 10:00 pm. She wanted to sleep in "mama's bed" so I laid out some blankets so I wouldn't have to change my sheets and wash my blanket and comforter. I went to bed with her and I laid there listening to her breath. I fell asleep pretty quick but with EVERY little move of her body, every little teeny tiny cough, every actual change in breathing pattern, I woke up. Matt on the other hand, gone. He slept on the hide-a-bed in the living room because he didn't want to get vomited on I guess. So around 4:00 am I hear Kelsey's little patter of feet, a moan, and I knew what was happening. She made it to the toilet thankfully. I made it in there in time to hold her hair back, flush, and wipe her mouth, WITHOUT waking Kendal of course! Matt, gone to the world beyond.
Kelsey got up 3 times to run to the toilet and Matt had NO IDEA. He cannot hear footsteps let alone let the shining light of the bathroom or the sound of sick children rouse him. On one occasion that I was up with Kelsey, I heard Kendal also making the yucky noises. With the image of my white comforter being compromised, I hollered at Matt "Matt, I really need some help here. I think Kendal is throwing up." He jumped up, "What? What? Oh, I need to put another piece of wood in the stove?" Gone, like I said.
When I was nursing my babies and the bassinet was in our room, I used to get so upset when he would say all chipper in the morning "Boy, she slept so good last night. She didn't even wake up to eat once!" My baby would be 3 weeks old and I would give him a dirty look and he would know he was WRONG!
I seriously think I can hear my children perfectly when I am long gone asleep and be awake AND coherent in less than 1/2 second. I can hear irregular breathing, the sound of their bed frame when they roll over, EVERY cough, the pitter patter of feet to get a better toy to sleep with, the sound of covers being kicked off - which I promptly put back on, and possibly even the sound of dinner passing from the stomach to the small intestine. Matt can't even hear the screams of nightmares let alone the toilet flushing with a sick little girl hovering over it. I think I better get the man's ears checked. It would explain ALOT!
Mothers, is this a curse or a blessing?
Our busy life with an amazing veterinarian and cattleman, a gardening, quilting and history loving wife and mother, a creative perfectionist violinist, a spunky and kind epileptic princess, a sweet yet wild little man, and the most mellow and happy babe, on a joyful 1/2 acre living and loving in a beautiful mountain valley.
12 comments:
A blessing, think of what it would be like without them. When you get older you don't wake up quite as much because I only heard the baby at our house once in a while.But you still worry about them even when they are grown.(LOL)by the way John could sleep through anything. I had a glass picture frame drop and break with a loud crash and he never heard that either.I thought someone broke in and had to shake the daylights out of him to go check.
Unfotunately, I think this is every male! Patrick would say the same thing, "the baby slept good" and then see that I had crashed by 8am and know that apparently it hadn't gone as great as he thought! But being mothers we do have gifts! I would like to believe we are somewhat like superheros! With amazing hearing, eyes in the back of our heads, and the amazing ability to never gag at vomit or poop in their array of colors!
I remember the first time Hannah slept through the night...I woke up in a panic thinking she had starved to death during the night!
I look back and laugh at that but I agree, not sleeping because you are listening to your child cough or being restless is not just tiring but something we just do. It's a mixed blessing, I suppose to be that in tune with your children...
That sounds just like our house. Joe doesn't understand why I don't get a good night's sleep. I think I check on Addison at least twice each night. I hear every groan, gasp, whimper etc. Of course, it doesn't help when the guy sleeping next to me snores too! I guess it is just a mom thing.
That is so like my house.
I do have to say 90% of the time is totally opposite at our house. I sleep through pretty much everything and Dustin is the one who gets up with Camden during the night. I tell him to wake me up and I will take care of Cam but I have such a sweet husband that he very rarely does that. He also hates it that all I have to do is close my eyes and I am pretty much out in less than one minute!! I love it- he hates it!!
If i'm sick, then Lyn will get up. If the children caome to his side of the bed and stare at him, sometimes he will get up with them, but he usually just wakes me up. However when the kids throw up in the night, he gets up and cleans up the mess while I comfort the child, to which I am grateful, cause throw usually makes me throw up too.
Jared sleeps like a log. Being deaf in one ear doesn't help-cause then he sleeps on his good ear and everything is quiet in his world.
Once when we were camping, Taylor fell off the top bed and landed on Jared. I heard a huge grunt from him when she fell, but neither one of them woke up and didn't remember it the next morning.
I hear everything!!
I would have to say I am with Tacey. Curt is always waking me up and asking if I want him to get Norah. Her crib is in our room on my side of the bed (don't even hear her!). I woke up one night when he was getting back in bed and asked where he had been. He had been cleaning up Alcy and her bed. She had just thrown up all over (didn't hear a thing!) Must say it is kind of nice!
Diantha
Diantha and Tacey! OH MY HECK! REALLY, I know you are both female by your comments but right now I just assume that your husbands are the same as ours you just sleep heavier than most!
Oh and Heather I am am the bodily fluid girl, I had to chuck a ice pack at Brian to wake him up in the hospital right after major surgery and I couldn't sleep, because the Doctor was there talking and my brain was still not working right.
I do admitt that Brian has been a big help with some of Jacob's bad seizure nights! That is after the police finally get him to wake up! J/K
I am jealous of my cousins, Diantha and Tacey - 1st off that their husbands are not GONE and out of commission when they hit the sack and 2nd that they can be!
Rachel
Jeremy got so mad at me one night when he was trying to wake me up by talking quite loudly, and I wouldn't budge, until, that is, my baby coughed in her sleep and I was bolt upright in less than a second. He said, "How come you couldn't hear me?". I'm not sure, I think that mom's are just tuned into their kids. His problems can wait until morning!!
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