The Night we Returned

Well, the drive home was easier than the drive there. C can not relax enough to sleep in a car so I was nervous since the fun was done and we were just headed home. I knew we had homework to tend to upon arrival and in the end, it was a long and tiring trip thus far.

On the car ride home, C mentioned that her tummy was a bit tender. I had talked to her earlier in the trip about her choosing to eat junk rather than veggies and fruits and that she would get constipated if she wasn't careful. My mistake was allowing her to make the choices but at the time, I figured we would get back to normal once we got home.

We got home and sat C down to do a bunch of homework. When she was finally done with it, she went up to shower and then was devistated that we were asking her to go to bed at her usual time. "I didn't get any family time today." I really thought that after a full weekend with us (4 day weekend) and all that time in the car, that she would be ready for some personal space. I know I was more than ready. But nope. Not my C. She was really upset. I assured her that tomorrow we would make an effort at family time once her homework was done but that for now, she needed to go to bed. I asked her to take 2 stool softeners for me to help with her bowels and we did our usual Bible time and prayers.

It was about 20 minutes later that Dad heard C crying in bed. I was so exhausted and figured that C was upset about being home as she had expressed during Bible time. She didn't want the vacation to end (who did??). Anyway, I asked Dad to go up and he agreed. He actually had been wanting to get some of that time with her so that he could connect on some of the stuff she shares when scared and such. This was different. She was crying saying her stomach hurt. Dad tried to comfort her the best a man can (sorry, men!) and came back down. 15 minutes later she was still crying so he went back up with TUMS (tried to get a placebo effect, I think!). He asked how bad the pain was and she said a 5. After 20 more minutes, I went up this time. I asked her to rub her tummy and showed her how to do it. I asked her to try and go to the bathroom which she gave very little effort. She was rocking on her bed and crying.

I asked her if she was upset about being home and she said she was but that her stomach hurt really bad. My mommy instincts told me she just didn't want to be home and wanted to be with us, not in bed. Afterall, she stayed up until midnight AZ time the night before. I told her that we would have to go to the hospital if the pain was that bad. She HATED that idea. I told her I would give her 10 minutes to get the pain rubbed out and be ready for bed and that while she was doing that, I would call the nurse line. When I came back, if she was still in bad pain, we would go to the ER.

I did. I came back in 10 minutes and she was still in "pain". I told her to change and we were going to the hospital. Boy did that make her mad.

At the ER she was crying from not wanting to be there and then once shown to her room, did great. I knew she would. I put on Disney Channel while we were waiting for the Xray and she stretched out, stopped crying, and even laughed at the tv. GRRRRRRRR!!!! I was so tired and here we were. They got her into xray after being there no more than 20 minutes and when we got back to the room, it was lights out and tv off. She forgot about her "pain" and periodically would rub her tummy but was no longer curled up or crying. When asked about her pain, she would say it hurt the same. (Does she not see how irrational that is?)

Anyway, we were there until 2 am. FUN! They did nothing for her and sent us home, telling her to drink more and eat fruits and veggies. She always refuses to drink. This is an ongoing issue for us.

Anyway, she was quite upset when I told her she needed to crawl into bed because school started in a few hours. But off to bed and when awoken in the AM, she was balling her eyes out because she was so tired. A lunch full of fiber, apple for breakfast, and water in her backpack, off she went.