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Bark: What My Son, Eric, Does Like a Seal

The past two nights have been eventful. Tuesday night brought Caroline into our bed with a bad dream. She didn't keep to my cardinal rule of crawling between John and I. Of course, she came to my side of the bed, shoving me into the middle, a position I detest. A king-size bed is absolutely not king-sized when one of the occupants is an 8-year-old octopus. I did fairly well stumbling through the day on Wednesday, however, even with the interrupted REM sleep I got.

Last night was a repeat, but it was Eric this time, barking like a seal. He practiced the same technique as Caroline, taking my side of the bed, my favorite pillow and the comfiest spot on the mattress, leaving me again, squished in the middle to be pummeled and prodded with no escape. Not only that, he continued to bark, wheeze and develop a croupy cough. Being the devoted mother that I am, always thinking of my childrens' best interest, I reverted to the emergency expert and instructed John to go find some medicine for Eric. Since he has more diverse experience with this sort of condition than I do, he couldn't argue. John stumbled out to the medic car at 2am and found the albuterol inhaler treatment used for asthma, croup and other breathing issues. He gave Eric a treatment which did calm the cough a bit, the the night was still full of tossing, turning, barking and waking.

The good thing is that I am a stay-at-home mom. The bad thing is that I had three appointments that I had made for during the daytime since I am a stay-at-home mom. So instead of me stopping by the dentist, hurrying off to the MOMS group and running to a Children's Council meeting, I'll be hauling Eric to the doctor to make sure nothing serious is going on.

A couple of bonuses with my altered schedule--I get to watch Dr. Phil at 9am (which never happens), I let Caroline sleep in and go to school late (which also never happens) and I'll be stuck at home pretty much all day (which really never happens) because I'm a stay-at-home mom.

Comments

Anonymous said…
I don't know whether to say good for you, you can stay home today to watch Dr. Phil and perhaps get a little nap or OH - MY - GOODNESS... I'm really sorry... I think I'll choose all of the above.

I hope Eric feels better soon.

- Debbie Stewart
2/16/2006 11:20 AM
Rochelle said…
Hopefully tonight will be a better nights sleep for you! Hopefully Eric feels better & the barking will be limited to the dog....
2/16/2006 7:49 PM
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