in sickness

On Sunday morning, Britton woke up sick for the first time. Yes, she has had ear infections, but she never acted sick when she had them. This time, though, she was running a fever and throwing up. A quick conference with Jessica and an internet search later, we decided to let it ride, so long as her fever didn't skyrocket and she didn't get dehydrated. Poor thing was so sleepy all day, and just lethargic. She cuddled with me, rocked with me, and basically let me love on her as if it were medicine. We knew she couldn't go to daycare the next day, as being home and getting our undivided attention would help her get better. So last night we planned on me staying home with her in the morning, and the hub taking over for the afternoon, that way we only had to take a half-day each.

Well, the best laid plans....

The hub left for work in the horrendous rain we had, with the plan in place. But no sooner had I put Britton down for a nap than he was back home. The roads to work were flooded. We turned on the news to see that flash floods were sweeping through Oklahoma City. Luckily we didn't have flooding problems, other than a river through our backyard. And Britton woke up from her nap with her fever broken, and was able to keep food down.

And then it gets to bedtime. I don't know if it was the excitement of feeling better, or hanging out with us all day, or the combination of both, but Britton refused to go to sleep. This is rarity, as she normally goes to sleep at 6:30 p.m. every night with not so much as a whimper. In fact, most nights as I lay her down she gives me a sweet sleepy smile as she snuggles up to her Winnie. But tonight she refused to sleep and for the first time since I can remember, we let her get back up. Britton proceeded to play and smile and have fun until 8:00 p.m. I heated up another bottle and took her back to her room to put her down. And upon putting her in the crib, she screamed. And screamed. And reviewing the monitor minutes later, had thrown her blankie and Winnie out of the crib, and was standing up crying. I couldn't stand it. I know her sleep was disturbed from being sick and having her schedule disrupted, but I wasn't prepared to fight this battle tonight.

And I went right back, in my mind, to Britton at six weeks old, screaming for hours all night, and I got scared. The stress of her being sick, and the weather issues, and a messed-up schedule put me in a bad place. I rocked Britton and placed her in her crib. And she started screaming - overtired, and out of sorts. But, in five minutes, she was asleep. And I took a relaxing shower and finally just let it go.

So hopefully tomorrow Britton will wake up all better, and the flood waters will subside, and everything will be as it was.