I'm not sure if ANYTHING is as strong as mom guilt. You know the guilt trip that we lay on ourselves. When everyone else has long forgotten, we beat ourselves up over it....again....and again...and again!
So I know that SOME of this is just mom guilt... but on the other hand, I might just be a horrible mother.
Here's the back story. I hate coughing. It's like nails on a chalk board to me. I know that everyone has to cough but I HATE that continuous, forced, non-productive cough. For the past week and a half that's what Mallory has been doing. I was sympathetic for a day (or two)... then she started it up at night and Matthew and I were getting up with her 3 time a night to give her water, honey, cough meds, or just try to calm her down because she was FREAKING out. Needless to say my patents was wearing thin. I was tired and man was I sick of that 'fake' sounding cough.
So that's what Matthew and I figured it was. Fake. So we just kept telling her to stop coughing. Stop faking it. Stop forcing it. STOP! I started really feeling like I was losing it when she started 'fake' coughing so hard that she vomited...twice.
See! Doesn't this sounds soooooo bad. Bot honestly, she wasn't always coughing. It was random. She was acting fine, no fever, good appetite, just a stupid cough...and now coughing induced vomiting.
It was driving me bonkers! I even had a talk with her about if she couldn't settle down and stop these freak-out coughing attacks I would start taking something from her (a toy or something like that). She IMMEDIATLY stopped coughing (so I was sure that it was fake and that she was doing it all for attention). But the coughing picked up again. This time only at night/bedtime/wakeup time.
Now is when the bad mom part comes in...
Last night Matthew and I were downstairs (kids already asleep in bed) when I heard Mallory yell out for me. "Mommaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" I ran up the stairs and opened her bedroom door. There is my sweet little girl squatting in her bed, hands cupped in front of her and overflowing with vomit. Through her tears she said "Momma, I tried to stop coughing. I really did!" Poor girl!!!! I started cleaning her up while Matthew got a bath going. As I was stripping her bedding I found a pillow of hers (one that my mom made when I was pregnant with her). It was really damp and COVERED with a layer of mold!!!!!! YES!!!! MOLD!!!!! In her bed. Right next o her face. Her sweet little nose and tender lungs getting filled with mold spores with every sleepy breath. There were also about 100 small little mold colonies on her regular pillow too (under the pillow case). I promptly threw both of those away and soaked her bedding, blankets and stuffed animals in hot water and bleach.
24 hours later the coughing has all but stopped! Praise God! And she's running around like nothing ever happened. But I feel so bad! How could I have not checked her bed? How could I have let her sleep in that? How could have been mad at her for MOLD?!?!?!?! Darn me! Darn Mom guilt!
2 comments:
For a batch of fresh baked cookies I won't tell you know who about this.
Dad
Poor babies (both of you). Being a parent is so hard, so tiring. You make so many mistakes, especially your first time around, and then totally beat yourself up. I have been in similar situations before when I've come into my kids room, exasperated that they are still doing what I've asked them not to do and had them look at me so innocently and honestly tell how hard they've tried to listen and I always feel horrible at that moment.
I wonder how her pillow got wet and moldy. So glad you found it!!!!
You are SUCH a good mom. Don't let one moment of weakness cloud your view of all the wonderful things you do for your kiddos.
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