TristonJ

OK let me get you in the picture… last night I slept a total of one and halve hours! The reason… you got it! I’m a mother… added to that, I’m a single mother; the significance of this is that I do night shifts without assistance!

So I got home after I left my perfectly healthy son in my mothers care (and no no no I do not blame her!!) for a few hours, and my angel is still fast asleep… so I get ready for bed, snuggle in, and was just nodding off when… I hear sobbing! I go to Triston’s bed and there is my son, crying and in pain… clutching his right ear!

To be honest I had no clue what to do… Triston is two and a half and has never! I really mean never, had an ear infection!! So what now?!? How do I take the pain away?!? Every time he turns his head he starts howling from the pain… at my wits end I give him a good dose panado, put on his Barney DVD (the one I now have nightmares about because I have seen it so often!) Get comfy with him resting on my chest and wait for him to fall asleep…

And there I waited till five thirty when he finally dropped off. But now I’m stuck!! I can’t move a muscle, then he starts whimpering in his sleep… so we slept there, on the couch with him very comfy on my chest and me VERY un-comfy trying to catch a few zeez as I need to get up in thirty minutes. While drifting in and out of this uncomfortable sleep I decided the hell with it!! I’ll be no good to any one if I try to go to work. So I nodded off decision made… got up a while later, with Triston finally sleeping peacefully, so I maneuver my self out from under him.

Go sit in front of the computer… and logged in! (The good and bad of working from an internet based system) Luckily my manager is on Skype… I explain the situation to her and get approval for a days compassionate leave (or is it family responsibility leave… ag, who cares!) In any case I got the work that needed immediate attention done and decided I really need some sleep… In a bed!! But just as I start drifting off I feel a tug on the blanket and Triston tells me with a smile a mile wide “Mamma klaar geslaap!” aaaaaaaggg!

But up I get, get dressed, get him dressed and off we go to the Doctor’s office just to find out there is nothing I can do but give him pain meds and antibiotics… and wait it out!! He’s been walking around all day telling every one and anyone that will listen “My oor is gebreek!”

And you know what, even without one once of decent sleep I would not change one second with my son! The knowledge that he would in the midst of all his pain feels save in my arms… and falls asleep on my chest, that when he falls he will always run to me with the knowledge that in my arms he will find comfort and love, makes any lost sleep more than worth it!!