This is mostly addressed to all the other fellow mom’s out
there, have you ever felt like THAT
mom? The one with the unruly child(ren), hair unkempt and looking like she’s
ready to be admitted to a “loony bin”?
I’m not even sure that woman really exists, but I sure felt like her the other
day! I’m also pretty sure we’ve all had those days.
For this
story to make sense, you’ll need a little background. About a year ago during
the Love Bug’s routine check-up his pediatrician noticed an abnormal heartbeat.
Every 12-15 beats, his heart beats faster than it should according to its
normal rhythm. She did an EKG and it was there too, she wanted to wait until
his next check-up to see if it was still there and then make a decision from
there. Fast forward to April, it was still there and she contacted the
pediatric cardiologist. Well, we finally had our appointment where he did an
ultrasound of the Love Bug’s heart. Much to my pleasure the anatomy of his
heart is completely normal, but the electricity in his heart is where the
problem may be. So the cardiologist decided that he wanted to schedule a follow
up later that week to perform another EKG and put a 24 hour monitor on. The
Love Bug was an angel at this appointment despite the fact that he was feeling
under the weather.
This is a picture of what the results of an EKG look like, but ARE NOT the Love Bug's. The following individual does not necessarily endorse my blog or the way this image is used on my blog. Attribution: By Michael Rosengarten BEng, MD.McGill [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. |
Well two days passes, I’m at home
with the Love Bug because he has a fever, we take him to his normal
pediatrician and discover he has a pretty severe ear infection. Two more days
pass and he’s on antibiotics and semi back to his normal self, although now
suffering for diarrhea because of the antibiotics (can I please get a break!?)
and we now have to go back for the monitor.
Well we end up running late, but
make it before the office closes. Love Bug is not happy, he has really sensitive
skin and usually breaks out when they put the EKG “stickers” on him. Needless
to say, when he sees the machine he flips his lid! He goes into full on
terrible two’s tantrum with kicking and screaming. My angel child disappeared
and I’m trying to hold him down so they can get a good result on the EKG, which
requires him to be still. Can you say NIGHTMARE? Then they had to pull the
“stickers” off him to put the monitor “stickers” on. At this point he’s
screaming bloody murder, I was sure someone from the other doctor’s office was
going to come in. Finally he starts to calm down as he gets used to the monitor
being on his body. My angel child then returns when he gets to choose a sticker
to put on his shirt.
What EKG "sticker's" look like and how they are placed. The following individual does not necessarily endorse my blog or the way this image is used on my blog. Attribution: By Rennett Stowe from USA (Heart Monitor Uploaded by russavia) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons |
As we were on the way home (it’s a
one hour drive from the doctor’s office), it was later than I was expecting,
due to my own tardiness. I realized we would have to stop for food for the Love
Bug somewhere. He currently has an obsession with McD’s, I know go ahead and
judge me as a bad parent but with the week I’d had with him, it was one of
those weak moments where I would do about anything to get him to be calm and
happy. That assumption would be the mistake that led to me becoming THAT mom. We stopped about half way,
went inside and ordered his food (see previous dieting post on why I did not
order anything). As he is still working on his coordination skills I asked him
if he wanted to drink out of the jug or if he wanted me to pour it into his
sippy cup. Being the big boy that he is, he said what I thought was, “Want to
drink out of jug Mommy”. Great, we sit down, I open his milk place it in front
of him and meltdown ensues. While he’s doing this I proceed to set up the rest
of his meal, breaking up his meat, cutting his apple slices and putting a few
fries out there. Once I finish I try to understand what I could have possibly
done wrong.
Attribution: By Lucas, catched from PDphoto.org (PDphoto.org) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons |
I soon realized it has something to
do with him milk as he pushes it across the table at me, yelling, “No Mommy! I
want jug!” Trying to figure out what he wants, I ask if he wants his cup, “NO!”
At this point I’m probably looking desperate as I try to calm my screaming
child. Then the sweetest thing happened, a gentle old man brings over a high
chair and suggests maybe that’s what he wants. So I ask the Love Bug, in a much
kinder voice, “No.” Finally, I look up from where the old man came from and see
napkins, straws, etc. I realize he probably wants a straw. Sure enough, as soon
as I plopped that into his milk he was a happy camper. Thus ends my journey to THAT mom.
The following individual does not necessarily endorse my blog or the way this image is used on my blog. Attribution:By P.J.L Laurens (Wikimedia Commons) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons |
If you are confused how jug and
straw sound similar, they don’t, however the Love Bug’s “J’s” and “S’s” sound
the same right now. I’m just grateful that there was someone else there who
realized I might be struggling a little bit and willing to help me out. That
doesn’t happen very often in this world and I think we especially as fellow
mom’s need to not pass judgment. We don’t know the personal circumstances
behind someone’s day and what life might entail for them. So when you see a
fellow mom out there (or anyone in general) who looks like they could use a
hand, don’t hesitate, it might be the saving grace they need.