Dividing and Conquering With Two Kids

Last night after Vacation Bible School Jackson said that he had a tummy ache and wasn't feeling good. We tried to get him to use the bathroom, but nothing was happening. He then said that he felt like he was going to throw up, so I sat in the bathroom with him, rubbing his back and trying to make him feel better. After a few minutes he said that he was ready to go to bed.

Fast forward to 1:00 in the morning, and I'm awakened by the sound of Jackson coming into our room, sobbing. I glance over at him and he is covered in throw up. I get him into the bathroom and sent Jeremy into his room to assess the damage. He had been sleeping on top of his covers, and from the looks of it, he threw up in his sleep and pretty much covered most of the top part of his bed.

I quickly got a throw up bucket ready, put Jackson in the tub and gave him a bath in the middle of the night. It was around this time that I realized how different my life has become in a week and a half. Now I have two kids to worry about, and I didn't have any idea how torn I would feel when trying to decide which child to take care of. On one hand I have my 4 year old that is literally covered in throw up, crying in the bathtub about not feeling good, but on the other hand I'm also thinking about my 10 day old that is due to nurse in less than an hour. I can take care of one child, Jackson, at the time, but am I unwillingly going to expose Anderson to a vicious tummy bug if I do that? What's a mom to do?

We ended up getting Jackson set up in the living room on the couch, covered with sheets and towels in case of an accident. I made a pallet to sleep on in the floor for me, and I had a throw up bucket nestled right next to Jackson. Whenever he gets sick like this I sleep so lightly, and any sound he makes I'm right there, wide awake, with the bucket under his mouth. He did end up getting sick several more times, all of which were contained.

Jeremy meanwhile was on Anderson duty. We got a bottle ready from what I had pumped earlier so he was good to go. Anderson got up around the time Jackson fell back asleep, and then we all called it a night except for when Jackson got sick again. We slept late in the morning and we were all ready for a nap by 9:00 in the morning.

I think, all in all, we did pretty good on our first "parents of two kids" disaster. It was really hard being torn between the needs of both boys, but I'm glad that we managed as well as we did. This parenting stuff is hard, but it's so worth it!