Is there a mommy badge for this?

Jan 4, 2011

Imagine this scene, peacefully driving to church Sunday morning, Scarlett taking her “in the car before church” nap, me listening to Puzzle Master Will Shortz on NPR, when suddenly we are both rudely awakened by a watery cough and the sour smell of regurgitated yogurt  (Scarlett had a little bit of sickness that morning that we blamed on sour milk, no big deal right…totally wrong).   I cursed the rain as the windows remained shut and the smell slowly surrounded me making my stomach churn.  I made a u-turn and headed back to the church while reaching for my phone to call Chris and tell him that the youth will have to excuse his absence but we have a sick smelly baby and a soon to be sick mother on our hands, only to find…you guessed it…no phone.  I was going to have to clean Scarlett up, finagle her puke covered smelly clothes over her head, wrap her in a blanket and run up to the youth room letting the putrid smell of Scarlett leave a trail behind us.  I grabbed all the napkins I could find in my glove compartment, held my breath and dove in for clean up duty.  It was disgusting.  Seriously…I have NEVER had to do anything like this.  I would gladly change diapers for the rest of my life, the newborn kind, the really stinky sticky kind. 

Scarlett is finally getting her appetite back after suffering from the flu for five days.  FIVE DAYS of no food…Chris thought she was going to wither away to nothing before she was able to keep food down again. I thought I was going to go crazy reminding him "no food for 24 hours...only clear liquids...I promise she will be okay".  So here we are, Scarlett survived the loss of a few pounds, I survived reminding Chris every five minutes, that we would all come out of this alive, and Chris survived the kind of worry only a father can feel for his little baby girl.  An experience that I am sure will not be the last, for now I will add the first flu badge to my mommy sash.