A Bad Day

This is what a bad day looks like.

How do I make it through the day alone with my son?

Keep reading to find out.

Will gets up early and gets ready for the day. When William gets up around 9am, Will gets breakfast for him and for me. I am unable to sleep any longer, but also unable to get out of bed yet, and so Will brings breakfast in to me. He also brings me my morning Gatorade and coffee.

At 9:30 Will really needs to go to school, so he puts on a Thomas the Tank Engine video to occupy William and buy me some more time in bed. Around 10:15 I finally fall back to sleep. Just a few minutes later, William comes in and wakes me up. I am tired and exhausted, so I let him watch his Cars movie. That will give me another two hours to sleep.

William watches his Cars movie and plays quietly while I sleep. I am a very light sleeper, and I am in and out of sleep this morning, so I still have a vague idea of what is going on in the apartment. William knows that I need to sleep, and so he gladly stays quiet and well behaved for me. I am so blessed to have such an easy going child!

I wake up sometime after noon, but have to stay in bed because my body is so weak. William comes in to visit me occasionally. He talks quietly to me and checks to make sure I am okay. Then he goes back to playing.

At 1:30 William comes in to the bedroom bringing two bananas. One is for him, and one is for me. I didn’t even ask him to bring me anything. He just thought of me and brought me some food! It was very sweet of him, but I was too tired and weak to even bother with it. Two minutes later William walks back in to the bedroom and sees my banana still lying on the bed. “You need to eat your banana, Mommy. It will make you feel better.”

He is very adamant that I eat the banana, and so I comply. Again two minutes go by, and William comes back to check on me. He is glad to see that I ate my banana, and he takes the peel to throw away. He tells me, “Now you will feel better, and now the baby has some food, too.” He wasn’t just looking out for me; he was taking care of his little brother or sister, too! What a responsible three year old!

All afternoon William plays quietly in the apartment. He comes in to visit, snuggle, and talk with me occasionally. Other than bathroom breaks and one trip to the living room (15 steps away from the bed!) to put on Cars, I stay in bed until 4:00pm.

At 4 o’clock I am finally feeling hungry and well enough to venture to the kitchen. I go to get a snack, and then go back to bed. On a day like today, the recliner is too much. I need to be flat in bed.

Will comes home at 5:00, and what a relief it is to have him home for the evening! Help has arrived.

I continue to stay in bed until 6:15 when I decided to be brave and take a shower. I don’t sleep well at night if I don’t have clean hair (I’m weird that way), and I desperately want clean hair. Halfway through my shower, though, I am regretting the decision. I am weak, light-headed, and having difficulty breathing. I manage to make it through without fainting, and I head back to bed to recover.

I soon move my recovery time to the recliner in the living room so that I can watch Wheel of Fortune, my nightly show. :) I eat supper while in my recliner watching the show. Once Wheel of Fortune is over, I go back to bed. We have family devotions at 7:30 in our bedroom so that I can stay in bed.

William goes to bed after devotions, and I also stay in bed for the night. I am unable to go to sleep right away, so I watch a movie. I am too tired and brain fogged to read, but an easy movie is just perfect.

Come midnight I start to feel a little better. I am a little more awake and alert, and my energy level has improved some. At midnight, though, I need to be going to sleep. I take my sleeping pill and night time meds, and eventually drift off to sleep, hoping that tomorrow will be a better day.

This was definitely a hard day. A day in which I can think of little else than just making it through. At the end of the day, I am so thankful for the break that night time brings. I am thankful to be able to stay in bed and go to sleep. I am thankful for the dark and for the quiet. I look forward to a new day. Most of all, I look forward to heaven. These "bad days" now will just make me appreciate my resurrection body on the new earth all the more!

This is what my bedside looks like on a bad day. There are dishes, water, food, medicine, a fan, and anything else I might need within reach off the bed. It's a mess, but it is a helpful mess.

This is what our house looks like at the end of a bad day!

There are toys everywhere.

William's room at the end of a bad day.

It is a mess.

Even at the end of a "bad day" William is still smiling.
It is good to know that even though he has a disabled mom, my child is healthy, happy, and content.

William still enjoys being with me, even when I am stuck in bed.

He's a good litltle buddy for me, and a good little helper, too.