And the mother of the year award goes to... *not me*

Okay, I am having one of those "low moments as a mom." Gavin (6) has been home from school for a couple of days with a VERY low grade fever and what he says is a headache. I hate when people send their kids to school sick possibly infecting all around them, so I vowed never to be one of those moms. However, with each dose of Motrin or Tylenol, he acts as healthy as can be and plays as if nothing is wrong. I was going to send him today after a quick dose of Motrin.



Last night, Gavin comes in my room at 2 (only 1 hour after I went to bed) proclaiming he has peed in the bed. Oh bummer, we forgot to put on a pull-up. Luckily, Daddy is gone this week, so he can just crawl in bed with me after we change clothes, and we don't have to worry about changing his sheets at 2 am. I ask him how he is feeling. "Not sick," he says. I give him a quick feel of the forehead with the back of my hand and my medical assessment is complete. However, he is breathing heavily and noisily through his mouth because his nose is clogged. I reach for a Kleenex, he sees me coming and cringes. He HATES to blow his nose and really doesn't know how. I don't get it, but it is what it is. I tell him he has two choices. He can either blow his nose if he wants to stay in bed with me, or go back to his bed which is still full of pee. "Gross," he says. I agree with him and he blows his nose. Now I can sleep without hearing Darth Vader next to me. We sleep for about 3 hours and at 6:45, he wakes. He is making lots of rustling noises and tossing and turning. I tell him to stop being so fidgety and then ask him how he is feeling. "My head doesn't hurt anymore." Great, I assume we are on the mend. He declares he is hungry. I tell him he can go downstairs and get a pop-tart and some milk because he is a big boy and he knows how to himself. He tosses and turns some more. I tell him it is time for him to leave my bed because Mommy is still sleepy and he is being too antsy. Go get some breakfast, turn on the TV and I will be down in a little bit.



About 45 minutes later (yes, I know I am terrible, but I truly fell back into a heavy sleep), Grant comes in asking for Gavin. I tell him Gavin is downstairs watching cartoons and eating breakfast. He leaves to investigate but returns in minutes declaring he can't find Gavin. I pop out of bed and immediately think of Elizabeth Smart taken from her own house in the middle of the night in Utah. I check out Gavin's room first and find him in his own bed. EWWW! Gavin, are you okay? One look and I know the answer. I feel him and I think his forehead actually singed my hand. YIKES! He won't even talk and just lays there. I can't believe this is the same child that was lying next to me just an hour before. I disregard the fact that he is currently snuggling up in sheets he peed in earlier to grab the thermometer. Our ear one has a low battery and does not take an accurate reading. I grab the only other I can find. It is a Celsius reading. I know that 37 C is 98.6 F (don't ask me how, it is just something I have memorized). I take it under his arm. It STARTS reading at 36.8, so I KNOW it is going up and up. I leave get him some Motrin and pour him some juice. The thermometer stops reading at 39.1. I go to the computer to convert this to Fahrenheit on the calculator, remembering as soon as I get there that I shut it off last night. It usually takes about 5-10 minutes to boot up, so I do the conversion on paper and come up with 103.38 after I add a degree for taking it under the arm. Pretty high for a 6 year old. I call the doctor and get Gavin in for 10:45. I am thinking perhaps Strep because he is now complaining his neck hurts. I am pretty sure he means throat and he won't open much more wider than about 1/2 inch, but we will see.



It is a low moment as a mom to realize that I banished, what I know now, to be my very sick child from my bedroom, and finding refuge no where else he chose his own urine-ridden sheets. YIKES!



On a positive note, though, I realized I remembered the Celsius to Fahrenheit conversion and I can still do multiplication of double and triple digit numbers on paper the way I learned in grade school.



KEEP BELIEVING