Because I’ll Do Just About Anything for the Comfort of My Children

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This post comes with a warning:
If you don’t like to discuss Gastrointestinal difficulties, you should really just move along until another day.

If you have followed along at all the last few days, you know Luke and I have been on a mission trip which we just returned from Saturday night. During our absence, the kids’ stayed with their wonderful grandparents in Georgia who treated them with the Lake Winnie amusement park, bowling, and the Chattanooga Aquarium in three days time. Can anyone say brave? or Crazy perhaps? Making the trip even better, my kids have healthy appetites and love to eat good food. My MIL is a foodie who loves to cook so the match is one made in heaven. My number 2 boy (Squid) eats like a horse but unfortunately suffers from the same gastrointestinal issues as his mother. Too much food + Too Little Time = Big Bathroom Problems.

When we picked the kids up on Sunday, all was well until after church that night when we headed to the Mexican Restaurant with friends. In the car ride over, Squid was writhing and complaining with his stomach cramping which was code for, “I’ve really got to poop.” The Mexican restaurant has a clean bathroom so we told him he could just take care of business there. We thought all would ‘come out okay’ but, alas, we were wrong.

Squid could not seem to use the bathroom and then informed us he didn’t think he had pooped at all for 4 days. He started crying so Luke took him home while the rest of us finished our meal. I went to the pharmacy, got some ‘belly medicine’, and gave it to him to see if the problem could be resolved.

About 12:00 midnight, Squid woke up screaming. He got out of bed, couldn’t stand up straight, and informed me he couldn’t feel his left leg. Of course, like any other mother would do, I got dressed immediately to take him to the ER. After I ran around like a chicken packing a bag for the long hospital visit, we get to the front door to leave. Squid turned to me and said, “I feel perfectly fine now.”

Exactly how does a kid go from, “I can’t feel my legs!” to perfectly fine? Can anyone explain that to me? I decided to go ahead and drive towards the hospital just in case the problem reappeared. I sure didn’t want to be back in bed and have to get up all over again. So off we went – at midnight – to town just in case the paralysis set back in.

As we drove, I continuously asked, “Are you okay? Still feeling fine?” He kept telling me that he was indeed feeling wonderful. And then I began hearing the reason for his newfound comfort. As his little sister would say, Squid began to ‘fluffy’. A lot. I guess ya’ll remember Luke got a new truck a month ago to replace the Blue Goose? Well, I think we officially christened this one The Fluff. She is still airing out as we speak…..

How exactly does a mom find herself driving around town at 1 a.m. so her son can pass gas? (You have to know there is another word I really want to use here….) And then how does she find herself in line at Krystal of all places when the child informs her he is hungry? Can you even imagine giving the kid a gut bomb on top of what was already brewing in that belly? Fortunately, they have a few options so I got the kid some Krystal Chix and Sweet Tea which thankfully, was much cheaper than an ER co-pay.

I don’t even know why I told ya’ll this. It’s just one of those parenting moments that are so unbelievable when you are living them and yet are also the spice of life. Or the aroma of life. However you want to think of it.

Oh, and everything worked itself out today. We have no cramps and can feel our legs.

And all is right with the world…..