Thursday, May 19, 2011

Sick House

Everyone is sick at my house today.

Just colds, thankfully, but still makes for a bummer of a day. Especially with the continued drizzle of rain, and sometimes full on down pour.

But today has nothing on last night.

I don't think any of us got much sleep.

Poor baby Isaac is still teething and has a cold on top of that. He fell asleep fine at about 8pm but woke three hours later, nursed, and didn't go back to sleep. I have a hard time letting him just cry when I know he is not well. So I went back to his room, gave him some Tylenol, and tried rocking and pacing with him. Eventually I put him back in his crib and he fell asleep while I patted his back and sang to him.

But he was awake again not even an hour later. And this time he wouldn't go back to sleep despite all my efforts. I finally gave in and nursed him back to sleep at 3 am.

I'm not writing this post for sympathy. In fact, quite the opposite.

It's funny to me that when the nights are long and my baby is so sad, I feel a greater sense of fulfillment in mothering. As I was singing and rocking and pacing the floors, I couldn't help but feel gratitude for the chance I have to be Isaac's mom. I guess it's partly because I feel more compassion and love when I know my poor son is not feeling well. I just want to take it all away and make things all better for him. I love him so much. And I love holding him close and trying to comfort him.

So am I exhausted? Yes.

Exhausted and grateful to be a mom.

2 comments:

MaryAnn said...

I hear you - there is something special about those times.

Mary Ann said...

I love this post. The other night, Hannah woke up crying in the middle of the night--I'm sure due to teething. I had to rock her back to sleep, and I LOVED it.