There's that moment when you are a mom. A moment of desperation. Where you actually consider pulling over on the side of the road to give your toddler a glycerin suppository.
Yep.
How do you get to this moment? Slowly.
Before you realize it, your toddler is trying her best to straighten her entire body that is strapped down in a car seat. Her cheeks are red, she is grunting, and little tears are streaming down her face. Pitiful. Heart wrenching mommy moment. Then the screams begin again.
AB has had a little issue lately. She weaned a few weeks ago. Did you know coming off breast milk can contribute to constipation? Never had this problem with EC, so I was clueless.
AB doesn't like cow's milk, almond milk, soy milk, goats milk. Nope. Just momma milk. She likes juice sometimes and water almost never. So you can see how our problem just started building little by little.
AB is equally as picky about food. Some days she will eat yogurt, other days not so much. Some days she will eat fruit, other days not so much. We have a lot of waste around here if big sister doesn't eat it her leftovers.
This weekend was the longest AB has gone in between "messy diapers", that's what we will call it for the sake of everyone's gag reflex. After the grunting, groaning, and straining had become much more frequent this morning, I called the pediatrician AGAIN. We were on day four of this struggle, which wouldn't normally be a big deal, but you could tell she was uncomfortable and not eating well. I'll spare you the other gag worthy, painful details.
At Publix, I checked the pharmacy over and over. No luck finding the children's suppositories. We asked at the pharmacy. Meanwhile, AB found a shelf to lean her forehead on as she grunted, groaned, strained, and wept while trying to go potty. The pharmacist sent me to the baby isle at the other end of the store.
On isle three there was still no luck and only more screaming, but at least AB let me pick her up and hug her.
Going potty is a very hands off, private kind of thing for toddlers - just fyi. They like to find their own little corner of the world. Do not look at them, do not dare talk to them as you might throw off their concentration. They will cry/scream "mommy" when they are ready for your comfort.
Off we went to customer service. My patience was gone, so I reached out for help. They called an associate. We waited. This "quick" Publix trip felt like it was dragging on FOREVER. Back to isle 3. Then back to the pharmacy. Then up to the pharmacist's counter for them to finally "find" it behind the counter.
I'm sure there were daggers coming out of my eyes at this point. I kept my mouth tightly shut. The associate walked me to the front of the customer service line to check me out. Maybe he was just tired of hearing my toddler scream. Either way, brownie points for that associate.
I practically sprinted to the van and coaxed AB back into her carseat by offering snuggles, bath, food, tv shows, sleeping in mommy's bed until she is 18, and millions of dollars as soon as we arrived home. Of course, she again had the urge to go potty as soon as we were on the road fighting rush hour traffic. She screamed, grunted, groaned. Her body was as straight as she can get it in her carseat. Feet were pushing firmly against the passenger chair in front of her. I convinced her to bite on her pacifier instead of her hand that was quickly becoming raw from the afternoon of constant struggle. How did it get so bad without me realizing it sooner?
We barely made it home with my emotions still intact. I left the keys in the ignition and climbed to the back with the medicine. I freed her from the chair and hugged her rigid body all the way inside. I tried to get her to drink the miralax. That did not go over AT ALL, so on to the suppository. There was a battle, but it was over quickly and she laid their clinging to my legs.
She eventually drank the miralax and juice combination, then promptly asked for "dordor and boo" aka Dora and boots.
A few hours later the poor girl finally got some relief. I cleaned her up and she said, "I eat."
1 comments:
Oh yes. The little things nobody tells you about having kids. Don't worry- I've been there several times. But at least EC and Ab haven't found laxatives at grandma's and eaten a couple. You would be begging for a couple days of nothing. A whole other level of screaming and crying. It gets better as they get older but they still have it and once they are independently potty trained you may never know how many days it is until they come tell you they hurt and they can only answer with "I don't know. A couple of days ago, I think." Just breathe and keep trecking. Glad she is all better!
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