My Valentine's Day

My Valentine's Day started off just like any other random day: a kid-related wake up call at 2:30 AM.  My husband, who is on a terrible (but lucrative) overtime assignment for the next two weeks), was up at 2:30 and heard my daughter (Twincess #2) wheezing and hacking in her sleep.  He brought her to me, gave me a quick kiss, wished me a happy Valentine's Day, and told me #2 needed a breathing treatment.  Greeaaaaat.  So I'm up for an hour with a girl who I keep having to pulling off the ceiling because she's so amp'ed on albuterol!  When we do fall asleep, snuggling together in my bed, my sleep is interrupted with her spotty breathing. 

At 7, we all get up to face the day.  Another breathing treatment for #2, breakfast, then off to school for the Twincesses, complete with Valentine's cards and pink rice krispie treats for the class, and then off to "Toddler Boot Camp" with the Twinados (whom I think I will renamed the Twinkies now that they don't leave a path of total destruction in their wake).  At noon, I pick up the Twincesses to find a pink note from the teachers: "Don't bring your sick kids to school!"  Gotta love their memory ... when I dropped of #2 I told them she had an asthma attack.  No big deal, but yeah, the girl can't breathe and she's going to cough!  If they didn't want her there, at that time was when you should say, why don't you take her home.... right?

Lunch, then another breathing treatment for #2, and then I called the doctor's office for an appointment.  I told the operator she was having a pretty bad asthma attack and the home nebulizer treatments weren't working too well.  The first appointment I could get was for 7:30 at night.  Really?  I got a text from the hubby, "horrible day at work, I feel terrible, love you!"  Poor hubby - just a few more hours until he can come home.  It's 1:30 and it's nap time for all (including me). 

Hubby comes home at 4pm, exhausted from his day and just passes out cold.  I felt terrible waking him up at 6:30 so I could take my pink Twincess to the doctor's appointment.  We left at 6:35 to drive out a half hour to the urgent care center they sent us to (because the center 0.3 miles from my new home was closed at 5pm), where my daughter struggled to breathe until 8:45 when we were finally seen by the doctor.  We got home at 10:45 and I finally managed to calm down #2, who was so whacked out on breathing meds that her poor little heart looked like it was trying to escape her body!

I climbed into bed at 11:30 and accidentally woke my husband who gave me a sleepy, almost obligatory kiss, and rolled over again, in anticipation of his 2:30am alarm.

It truly is love that will allow for a Valentine's Day like this.  There was no hurt feelings for lack of exchange of cards, for seeing each other in person for all of 9 minutes for the entire day, no wonderful dinner (well, the kids and I had a great steak dinner during hubby's nap... since he doesn't eat beef!), no flowers, no candy or chocolate.  Without true love, this could have been a day of bitterness and resentment.  Instead I am grateful I was able to spend time with all of my kids during the day, and even more grateful for my husband and the great provider that he is.  And, I did get to go out on a date... but it was to the hospital rather than a movie, and I had a kid with me instead of a spouse.



As for February 15?  Well, apparently Groundhog's Day moved because it's been a repeat so far!