The Midnight Circus

If you’re reading this post you must read the post prior to this first.

Sometime after midnight Isaac started crying. Chuck and I have a new deal now that I’m not nursing the baby during the middle of the night. He takes care of the baby when she wakes up and I get the rest of the kids. So I drag myself upstairs to see what all the commotion is about figuring he’d just lost his binkie. Much to my surprise, he had his binkie but was crying saying “it hurts, it hurts”. I tried to get him to tell me what hurt, but he was only getting more upset by the minute, thrashing and kicking around. I could see I wasn’t going to get anywhere with him so I went and got Chuck to try and help him while I climbed back into bed. Several minutes later, Chuck came back into our room carrying Isaac and saying the poor kid was really in a lot of pain.

Now my sleep deprived brain started going crazy, after all he did jump from the slide bed and belly flop onto the floor about 12 hours earlier. Sure he appeared to be okay after some intense crying, but some injuries take awhile to show up – like for instance a vital organ being injured and slowly internal blood pooling to the point it’s now causing extreme abdominal pain. Yes, this had to be the reason and I told Chuck just what I was sure had taken place.

Now I couldn’t see Chuck’s face very clearly, after all it was dark, but as soon as I uttered what I was sure was the problem it was as if I could see Chuck giving me the “you’re not serious are you” look. Chuck then replied, “Actually I think it’s just gas. He’s pretty stinky.”

I wasn’t so easily convinced he hadn’t sustained a life threatening injury but after Chuck laid him in bed next to me I could smell Chuck was right. Oh great I thought, now I’ve got to try and sleep next to the thrashing stinky kid! Luckily he only stayed put for a few minutes and then decided he wanted to sleep on the couch. What luck, the night would not be a total loss!

So I drifted off to sleep only to be awoken again after what only seemed like a few minutes – who knows how long it really was because lots of time I try not to look at the clock during the middle of the night because it causes me grief. This time it was Samuel standing next to the bed complaining that his knees hurt. Again I thought, really - yeah continually jumping off the slide bed may do that to you! Out of bed again, this time to administer a little Tylenol it works wonders every time.

Drifting off again only to hear the baby crying sometime later. Oh good I thought this is Chuck’s problem now! But I didn’t get off so lucky because Chuck couldn’t get her to settle back down and the sheets were off the bed in the guest bedroom so he brought her in to lie between us. I do not sleep well when the kids are in bed with us, in fact we try to avoid it unless it’s an extreme case like you really just need a little rest for your eyes.

Now I would like to say this is an extreme night, but for some reason the past several months it’s been more of the norm. So sleep would be nice, but resting eyes will do! Just extremely grateful I didn't haul the kid to the ER thinking his spleen was ruptured only to be told, No it's just a little gas pain!