I've been up since 3am with my poor sick little guy. He woke up twice throwing up, the second time with a 103 degree fever. After a bath, some ibuprofen, and a popsicle, we spent the rest of the night in the recliner watching movies. I dozed off, but my li'l dude stayed awake the whole time! Needless to say he's napping right now!
I took him to the doctor, certain he had pneumonia. Thank God the verdict was negative. But he does have a sinus infection and an ear infection. He's such a trooper. As we pulled into the driveway at home, he asked if he could play in the snow! If I were him I'd be milking this illness for all it's worth!
Jack being sick is a great source of stress for me. Every single cough, fever, and runny nose makes my shoulders tense up. (Which is odd, because I always used to be so laid back!) I'm not the type of person to get on the phone with the doctor at every whim, but I just hate hearing him suffer (although clearly he's not suffering too much if he's still asking to make snow angels, God bless him!).
So it's times like this that make me remember how much respect I have for parents of special needs and terminally ill children. Tragically, nearly 90% of children who are diagnosed with Down Syndrome in the womb are aborted. Yet families of Down's children always say they can't imagine their lives without that child. There are so many people out there even waiting and praying to adopt Down's and special needs children. I call those people saints.
As stressed as I get when my child is sick with something as benign as a hacking cough, I don't think of myself as being emotionally capable of having a special needs child. HOWEVER, I would consider myself blessed if God ever entrusted one of His special children to my care. He knows better than I do what I can and cannot handle. And I would be honored if he considered my husband and me good enough parents to care for one of these little angels.
God bless all of you special needs parents out there. You can be certain there's a spot in Heaven with your name on it!
Reflections of a STAY-AT-HOME Catholic, sports fanatic, pro-life activist, intermittently-avid fitness buff, political junkie, MOM...and then some. None of which I stay home for.
I'm so sorry to hear your little one is sick. But he sounds like such a trooper!
ReplyDeleteI'm the same way when my son is sick. I'm a nervous wreck! Especially about uncontrollable fluids (ie. puke) which is also weird for me because I could give a rip about my precious carpet or couch! Yet I get very nervous about the fluids flying. Weird.
God bless parents to children of special needs is right. Amen! Those children are such a gift to ALL of us. I think, what would we do without them? But sadly I think we're getting closer to finding out.
There is nothing scarier than having a sick child. I get so freaked out! But I feel as you do... If God should give me a special needs child, I would be honored. When I was pregnant at 42, I wondered about possibilities of abnormalities (since everyone scares women about that), but I am sure that would have made me more protective of him!!!
ReplyDeleteI just had a son with a cleft palate 4 weeks ago. I have been reading about some lawsuits where doctors and mothers are fighting to be able to abort cleft palate babies up to 40 weeks. Makes me SICK. I have a blog post brewing in my head about this.
ReplyDeleteBeth, please write about this. Would love to know more.
ReplyDelete