Category: motherhood

Posted on

Mercury is the Reason I Don’t Have a PhD

A couple of nights ago, Emmy was waking up every two hours to nurse and I had had ENOUGH! I let her cry for a while. I thought she was sleeping when she started up again, so I finally went into her room. She was standing up in her crib, waiting for me. I got her back to sleep, but without nursing her. The next night, she slept from 7:00 until about quarter ’til five. I thought my sleepless night were over. Hah!

Then last night, she woke up around 10:30, and she was burning up. I could tell she had a fever. So what could I do? I nursed her back to sleep. She was up again around midnight, and I changed her diaper and gave her acetaminophen. She couldn’t go back to sleep, even after nursing some more, and drinking water from her sippy cup. Today her temperature feels normal, but of course I can’t take her temperature because ALL of our thermometers have DEAD BATTERIES!!! The old fashioned ones were hard to read, and yeah, they had mercury, BUT THEY WORKED!!! I’m not sure why she had a fever last night, and today she has been playing as usual. She’s not eating much, though.

My sister and I found some mercury on the floor after my mom broke a thermometer when we were little. We saved it in a Tic-Tac container and loved watching that tiny bit of silver liquid go back and forth. When I talk with other moms about all the safety concerns we have today, we commiserate together that it’s a wonder we survived our own childhoods.

Posted on

Making Connections

Lily has always been very close with my mom. Grandma stayed with her for four days while Ed and I were in the hospital with baby Emmy, and that cemented their bond even more. Before our trip to Iowa, my sister asked if I had prepared Lily for seeing her Grandma. That day, very casually, I asked Lily how she thought Grandma would be when we saw her again. She knew my mom had gone through her “treatments” since the last time we saw her, and was now bald “like Daddy.” What I think took her aback when she did see Grandma was how different certain medications had made Grandma’s face look, along with Grandma’s lack of hair. My mom has taken to wearing hats and no wig, just as I did. As soon as she got special hugs and kisses from Grandma, though, everything was all right. Later, Lily confided to me that Grandma’s hair was going to grow back, just like our willow tree will grow back in the spring.

We took the girls to see their Great-Grandma. She had been sick, and so I asked her if she had asked for help from the nurse that is on staff in her building. No, she said–she is afraid they will take her to the hospital. I admire her desire for independence, but am glad her friends check on her! I brought her jam from my sister, and she told me, “Oh, I don’t go down for breakfast. I like to stay here and have some toast and jam.” Grandma, you’re priceless!

On our last night, Mom, my sisters and I lie on Mom’s bed, talking. No matter how old we grow, we continue to plop down next to Mom, ready to talk, ready to listen.

The weeping willow has always been my favorite tree. One stood in our front yard in Nebraska when I was very young. Their tiny leaves and twigs scatter everywhere in the breeze, and yet when a strong wind blows, the willow is more apt to bend, not break. After a storm, it is the maple trees that lose the biggest branches. May we be like the willow when storms sweep through our lives, as good weather is bound to reappear.