written August 11, 2008
so we’ve been in PA for what . . . two weeks now? it is definitely strange to have rushed out of our little house in Akron, zoomed across PA, stuffed all our belongings into a small storage space and then flopped into a secluded cabin. we are left trying to make sense of it all. there has been no shortage of excitement: in two short weeks, Lyric has gotten a bee sting, been shocked by the electric fence, been nibbled on by a donkey, had a splinter removed from her foot, and has taken a trip to the emergency room because of a scratch on her eye. she’s learning that it is a different set of survival skills in the country than the city. Olivia and I are trying to adapt as well. the insects and birds are a wonderful new sound to listen to, but sometimes they keep us up at night, even though we could sleep through garbage trucks and Harleys in Akron. it is startling to not see any other humans around outside, only trees, insects and birds and the occasional small mammal.
we continue to adjust to parenting two girls instead of one . . . we are gradually readjusting to getting only a few hours of sleep at a time instead of one nice big chunk. two nights ago we didn’t get to sleep until around five in the morning. even then I lay in bed wide awake, writing an imaginary article in my head entitled “The Will to Parenthood: the complete eradication of self.”
we had been getting into a fairly nice routine of putting Lyric (5) to bed around 9:30 and putting Maggie (two months old at the time) to bed between 10 or 11and having a few hours of the evening to ourselves. I was taking particular pride in this on Saturday evening as I talked to Mom on the phone. however, my optimism was to be soon overturned and trampled upon. about 10:30 we heard Maggie starting to cry and simultaneously, Lyric crying too. Since Lyric hardly ever wakes up when Maggie cries, we knew something unusual might be afoot. Olivia and I gave each other the “oh boy, aren’t we glad to be parents!” look and I took Maggie while she tended to Lyric. Lyric was complaining of something in her eye and refused to let us look at it or open it. Maggie soon settled and went back to sleep for a few minutes. she continued to wake up frequently but her role in the story is pretty irrelevant after this. Lyric continued to moan, groan and be generally insulted by the pain in her eye that dared to come upon her. we double-teamed her and tried to look in her eye, without finding much of anything. after some amount of wrestling with Lyric and discussion on our part, we attempted to get her back to sleep. she would doze off briefly and then suddenly cry out in pain, becoming more and more restless and anxious about the whole affair. after a few hours of this we realized more drastic measures would have to be taken. we held Lyric down and tried to flush out the eye with water, apparently to no effect other than to create more pain and anxiety in Lyric. (not the least of which was losing faith in her parents) we tried going to bed again and then repeated the yelling/flushing procedure yet again. and yet again, this only resulted in more anxiety in Lyric and despair in us. we discussed going to the emergency room but were hesitant based on the fact that we did not at the moment have medical insurance due to having just moved and being between jobs. in a last ditch effort we brought Lyric to bed with us. I told her a Pooh Bear story and stroked her hair. she knew we were contemplating going to the hospital, something she absolutely wanted to avoid since we had gone to the doctor’s office last week where she had received four shots. so realizing that if she went back to sleep she wouldn’t have to go to the doctor, she resolutely tried to go to sleep and not whimper in pain. she relaxed and drifted off to sleep, but at last, the pain was too much and we finally resolved to take her to the emergency room.
I strapped a sleepy and distraught Lyric in the car and we drove off in the darkness of early morning. the doctor was unable to see any foreign bodies in Lyric’s eye but was able to detect a nice big spot of scratches on Lyric’s cornea which was causing pretty severe pain. whatever had been in there was gone. they gave her some numbing drops and the pain gradually decreased. we knew the pain must have been pretty bad because Lyric didn’t open her eyes the entire next day.
till all was said and done we got everyone back in their respective beds around 5 o-clock a.m. at least we got some sleep before Maggie got up demanding to be fed around 7.
let’s just say that some nights are better than others. raising a family is hard work, but the hard work makes you a family for keeps, and a family that you are willing to work hard for.
we continue to adjust to parenting two girls instead of one . . . we are gradually readjusting to getting only a few hours of sleep at a time instead of one nice big chunk. two nights ago we didn’t get to sleep until around five in the morning. even then I lay in bed wide awake, writing an imaginary article in my head entitled “The Will to Parenthood: the complete eradication of self.”
we had been getting into a fairly nice routine of putting Lyric (5) to bed around 9:30 and putting Maggie (two months old at the time) to bed between 10 or 11and having a few hours of the evening to ourselves. I was taking particular pride in this on Saturday evening as I talked to Mom on the phone. however, my optimism was to be soon overturned and trampled upon. about 10:30 we heard Maggie starting to cry and simultaneously, Lyric crying too. Since Lyric hardly ever wakes up when Maggie cries, we knew something unusual might be afoot. Olivia and I gave each other the “oh boy, aren’t we glad to be parents!” look and I took Maggie while she tended to Lyric. Lyric was complaining of something in her eye and refused to let us look at it or open it. Maggie soon settled and went back to sleep for a few minutes. she continued to wake up frequently but her role in the story is pretty irrelevant after this. Lyric continued to moan, groan and be generally insulted by the pain in her eye that dared to come upon her. we double-teamed her and tried to look in her eye, without finding much of anything. after some amount of wrestling with Lyric and discussion on our part, we attempted to get her back to sleep. she would doze off briefly and then suddenly cry out in pain, becoming more and more restless and anxious about the whole affair. after a few hours of this we realized more drastic measures would have to be taken. we held Lyric down and tried to flush out the eye with water, apparently to no effect other than to create more pain and anxiety in Lyric. (not the least of which was losing faith in her parents) we tried going to bed again and then repeated the yelling/flushing procedure yet again. and yet again, this only resulted in more anxiety in Lyric and despair in us. we discussed going to the emergency room but were hesitant based on the fact that we did not at the moment have medical insurance due to having just moved and being between jobs. in a last ditch effort we brought Lyric to bed with us. I told her a Pooh Bear story and stroked her hair. she knew we were contemplating going to the hospital, something she absolutely wanted to avoid since we had gone to the doctor’s office last week where she had received four shots. so realizing that if she went back to sleep she wouldn’t have to go to the doctor, she resolutely tried to go to sleep and not whimper in pain. she relaxed and drifted off to sleep, but at last, the pain was too much and we finally resolved to take her to the emergency room.
I strapped a sleepy and distraught Lyric in the car and we drove off in the darkness of early morning. the doctor was unable to see any foreign bodies in Lyric’s eye but was able to detect a nice big spot of scratches on Lyric’s cornea which was causing pretty severe pain. whatever had been in there was gone. they gave her some numbing drops and the pain gradually decreased. we knew the pain must have been pretty bad because Lyric didn’t open her eyes the entire next day.
till all was said and done we got everyone back in their respective beds around 5 o-clock a.m. at least we got some sleep before Maggie got up demanding to be fed around 7.
let’s just say that some nights are better than others. raising a family is hard work, but the hard work makes you a family for keeps, and a family that you are willing to work hard for.
1 comment:
aw. seriously there is some comfort in knowing someone else feels that sudden rearrangement of priorities in self-care when babies come into our worlds. AND i had a lacerated cornea before, too! it is horrible! and the scab came off, i think maybe a year or two later and the pain was just as intense. the solution? keep your eyes closed and still for a few days! poor lyric!
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