Sacrifices of a Mom: Hilarious and Heartfelt Tales from the Trenches

[janetupnorth]

A few threads on here (namely the grill pan/bathroom door one) reminded me of all the sacrifices we make as Moms. So let's list a few (funny and serious) in honor of ourselves and remind ourselves why we deserve today!

Some...

Since having kids, I CANNOT use the bathroom in peace...

Having to sleep on the floor in the hall with a sick child when they've thrown up 5 times that night in order to have a toilet close while Dad is comfy and asleep in his bed...

Having lots of "special drawings" to post on the fridge, but no room for any appointment reminders!

 

[pcchris]

How about having to give up your own plans because there's something going on with your children that you forgot about...and don't have the heart to tell your kids you can't make it.

 

[KellyTheChef]

Sleeping on the couch with my two year old on my chest during sickness....

Getting real "squeezes" when my two year old hugs me now...

Hearing him giggle and laugh when Dad plays with him...

Seeing him grow and learn new things every day...

I love being a mom!

 

[genburk]

Getting clothes or shoes for them, when you REALLY need them for the holes in them. But your kids come first.

Also how about the unexpected hug and grin and I love you when you are having a bad day. BEST THING IN THE WORLD !!

Here's another one. The other day my teenager threw a baseball at me, and I threw it back and he was surprised that I can throw AND catch. We tossed for a few minutes, then he said.... Let's go over here so T.J. can see 'My Mom can toss ball !!' I was amazed. My teen was proud of Me.

I was beginning to think only my 3 year old liked me anymore.

By the way, I have a 17 year old boy, 15 year old boy and 3 year old girl. (All the same family - just a couple of Great Ooops. )

 

[Chef Stacy Edwards]

My heart melts when my 5 yr old picks me wild flowers and puts them in a vase,sits them on the table for me when i come home from my shows.

Ask me if I will marry him and Daddy.

when my 18mth old kisses me over and over and over etc...

Of course the "I love yous" and Kisses Make you day better no matter what.

 

[amy07]

My first reality of being a true mom (after labor and all that) was when my oldest got his first real cough in the middle of the night as an infant. I was on the phone with the on-call nurse and she was trying so hard to calm me down. Then I spent the rest of the night locked in the bathroom with a hot steamy shower - and no I wasn't in it. I was sitting on the floor cradling my baby so that he could breathe in that steam to help his congestion. I remember thinking that the world was coming to an end and then........well, you guys know, it gets better/worse and everyday is a new challenge.

 

[mistym]

giving up your eight hours a night...so long sleep..it was nice knowing ya

giving up that new pair of shoes so you can buy him something cute

Eating toddler friendly food day in day out cos you can't be bothered to cook another meal for yourself....welcome to finger foods R us - yes pasta, blueberries and chick peas is a dish....tee hee

Pushing off your "tasks" and "To do's" just to spend another couple hours just hanging out and sharing love.

there are so many...some nights I sit in the chair by his bed just to be close...i then realize I am freezing and uncomfortable and should go to my own bed...but that little bit of time where I can just breathe him in is pure bliss.

 

[janetupnorth]

My favorite ones lately are having my kids bring me the pretty yellow flowers (dandelions).

Having my daughter say she got a Birthday gift from God (the bear and babies by the house).

Having my 3 year old pray for his food..."Thank you for my mommy, my daddy, my Sammie, my choo-choos, my doggies, my kitty, all my toys and my food. Amen."

 

[ChefBeckyD]

I never thought that those "pretty yellow flowers" would proudly sit in the center of the table in my very best vase......and that I would be taking pictures of them, because he picked them just for me!

How about - being sick, but not getting a nap or a rest, because you can't let a toddler roam free in the house for the day!

Taking your very first ambulance ride with a very sick week old baby, and praying harder than you have ever prayed before in your life.

Being thankful to God every single day for the privilege and honor of being called "Mommy".......the BEST job in the whole world!

 

[ChefBeckyD]

giving up your eight hours a night...so long sleep..it was nice knowing ya

giving up that new pair of shoes so you can buy him something cute

Eating toddler friendly food day in day out cos you can't be bothered to cook another meal for yourself....welcome to finger foods R us - yes pasta, blueberries and chick peas is a dish....tee hee

Pushing off your "tasks" and "To do's" just to spend another couple hours just hanging out and sharing love.

there are so many...some nights I sit in the chair by his bed just to be close...i then realize I am freezing and uncomfortable and should go to my own bed...but that little bit of time where I can just breathe him in is pure bliss.

Misty - I still go in and check my little guy every single night to make sure he is breathing okay......sometimes I wonder - when does that stop??? When do I stop marveling at the wonder of who he is? Or maybe it just never stops?

 

[ahammons]

Delivering your first baby then having him taken to a hospital an hour away without having a chance to hold him... the LONG ride to the hospital the next day was so worth the discomfort. So...holding your baby for the first time - awesome, even if it's a day later!

Giving your lunch to your kids b/c "yours looks better". ~ Letting a restless preschooler sleep with you b/c of the "monster" in his room.

Staying up all night, walking the floor with a 2 yr old b/c that the only way he could sleep... then finding out the next day that he has an ear infection that may cause his eardrum to rupture....and feeling like a terrible mom because you were frustrated and didn't realize he had one. ... then feeling okay again when you made the pain go away.

Hearing "Happy Mother's Day" from your child for the very first time!!!

Watching your "baby" start walking and feeling so confident when he makes it across the room.

 

[ahammons]

I never thought that those "pretty yellow flowers" would proudly sit in the center of the table in my very best vase......and that I would be taking pictures of them, because he picked them just for me!

My oldest son just started picking flowers for me this year... I pressed the very first one so I can have it forever!!

 

[katie0128]

Watching your three kids (7, 3 and 1) actually playing together and having fun with no fights, toys flying or name-calling.

Sleeping in the very uncomforable pullout chair in the NICU after your 13 day old baby was admitted for possible meningitis and having to wait for cultures to grow for 48 hours before they know if it was viral (what he ended up having) or the possibly deadly bacterial.

Waking up at night to find one (or more) of your kids has come snuggled in bed beside you and is now sleeping soundly.

 

[genburk]

Taking your very first ambulance ride with a very sick week old baby, and praying harder than you have ever prayed before in your life.

You reminded me of my ambulance story. I was in a car accident with my then 2 and 10 month old. Someone was holding the 10 month old while they were putting my 2 year old on a straight board with neck brace (screaming of course). They put him in the ambulance and another EMT person comes and tells us the other child is coming in the other ambulance. I didn't realize till we got to the hospital that the other lady had a child and they were talking about that child and NOT my 10 month old.

I started praying right then and there, that the person that had my baby wasn't standing there going.... Ummm, no one would know if I just got in the car and left with this baby. We would not have had any infomation about the lady, except for a description. (we were in an accident and flustered, so how accurate would that have been. )

Luckily, the person holding my 10 month was honest and took him to the other ambulance to be brought to the hospital. What a scary moment.

Although, I could NOT IMAGINE what a ride you must have had with a week old baby and having to go by ambulance. I hope everything ended up OK.

Delivering your first baby then having him taken to a hospital an hour away without having a chance to hold him... the LONG ride to the hospital the next day was so worth the discomfort. So...holding your baby for the first time - awesome, even if it's a day later!

I Agree... they took both of my boys and kept them because I get a slight fever everytime I deliver a child. They thought it was a virus, so they kept them. First one @20 hours, second one about @7 hours, Third one, they now call it milk fever or so they told me and let me keep her with me.

With my second child, they brought him to me after @7 hours and I tried to nurse him at 11pm and he had a little (maybe), then they took him to the nursery for the night. At 6 am the nurse comes in and tells me, I should have fed him, I should NOT have let him go 7 hours without eating. I told her, they had him and should have brought him to me. She just told me again that I should have fed him. Then she left.. her shift was over.

Next nurse on duty.... I try to nurse my son for the next 12 hours and he is not eating. The nurse tells me it takes time to learn (I tell her I was just nursing 6 months ago and I know how). She says he is getting more than I think. I tell her he is spitting out the little bit he is getting. 12 hours (now this newborn has only eaten once in over 24 hours and very little at that - probably less than an ounce if any at all) and her shift is over, so she now decides this child needs to eat before she leaves her shift. She comes and tells me she force fed him one ounce and he projectiled it across the room.

Specialist from Downtown Cincinnati are now coming to see why he won't eat. They finally realize he didn't want to swallow, because his throat was sore from the umbilical cord around his neck 5 times and being choked by it when born (he was blue).

When they dismissed me, I saw him in the room, being tube fed, with 5 nurses over him trying to figure out why his belly was now swollen from the tube feeding. ( just air, thankfully) He had to stay longer because he had a bad case of jaundice from not eating so long. What an ordeal.
Everything is OK now, well except for the teen part.. Just kidding, I love them.

 

[genburk]

Sleeping in the very uncomforable pullout chair in the NICU after your 13 day old baby was admitted for possible meningitis and having to wait for cultures to grow for 48 hours before they know if it was viral (what he ended up having) or the possibly deadly bacterial.

My co-worker had the very same thing. They took him ( 4 weeks old though) to the nearest hospital and they gave him some fever reducer and sent him home. It didn't break the fever , so they went to children's and found it was meningitis. They couldn't tell what kind for a few days because of what the other doctor gave him, so they started the treatments for the Bacterial kind. Had the treatments for 2 or 3 days before they could tell which one is was. Thankfully it was viral also. Glad to hear yours was viral also. That is such a young age to deal with that.

 

[katie0128]

My co-worker had the very same thing. They took him ( 4 weeks old though) to the nearest hospital and they gave him some fever reducer and sent him home. It didn't break the fever , so they went to children's and found it was meningitis. They couldn't tell what kind for a few days because of what the other doctor gave him, so they started the treatments for the Bacterial kind. Had the treatments for 2 or 3 days before they could tell which one is was. Thankfully it was viral also. Glad to hear yours was viral also. That is such a young age to deal with that.

It was such a scary time... the spinal tap, the waiting and hoping nothing grows from the cultures, the seemingly endless medicines - both antiviral and antibacterial - until they knew what was happening. We were SO relieved to hear it was viral, especially after hearing that a 3YO girl came through the ED the SAME NIGHT we were there and ended up with bacterial and didn't make it... I cried for her family, I cried for mine and even felt a bit guilty that a family in the same hospital had the same start to their night, but had a very different ending. (Even just typing this and reliving the day - over 3 years ago now - I'm starting to tear up.)

But, I did learn from it... Even now when the kids are sick, I find myself hugging and cuddling them a bit more than I did before. Even when I'm up all night with them coughing, getting sick, etc., I'm just glad it isn't serious enough to have us visiting Children's ED at 2am on New Years Day again.

 

[katie0128]

And on that note, I'm going upstairs to kiss my little angels goodnight... I might even crawl into bed and snuggle with one of them! I know I don't have too many more years I can do this with them!

So, to paraphrase Santa from the famous Christmas poem... "Happy Mother's Day to All, and to All a GOOD NIGHT!"

 

[Jennie4PC]

When my 5 yr old son is out in the middle of the tee ball field and he yells mom and gives me the I Love You sign.

I need to find the post about the grill pan and bathroom but we were living in an apt and I put a pan on the stove and while it heated up I ran in to put a load of laundry in the wash and my son walked in the laundry room and shut the door and I could not get out I was pounding on our ceiling waiting for our neighbor to hopefully answer and they had to break in to my apt to get me out. (the door handle was faulty)

 

[Jennie4PC]

when your 11 month old starts having a siezure and you hae no idea why then you are taking her to the dr same day and she seizes in the car and you jump out of it and chase a police officer down to help you.

 

[lacychef]

Good stories Being a mom is definately the best!
For me....
having 2 eventful deliveries. The first, I went through full labor; only to end up having an emergency c-section because she was in an odd position & wouldn't come down the birth canal & the cord got wrapped around her neck.
The second, I was supposed to have a repeat c-section; only to go into labor the night before & have her totally naturally! No drugs or anything-what a rush! By the time we got to the hospital (25 miles away) I was ready to push. Ironically it was Labor Day too! Both were unique experiences.
I love watching them grow into their own selves.
I love the big hugs & kisses at bedtime, and smelling their hair after a bath.
I love feeling proud of them....at report card time....and yesterday at their dance recital. My 3 yr old who isn't shy strutted her stuff. And my 7 yr old who used to be very shy is really coming out of her shell; next year she wants to do a solo dance. Then, they had made a video of all the dance girls wishing their moms happy Mother's Day...had some tears then!
Oh, and I used to have a life...now it's my kids'....but PC has given me a small part of MY life back

 

[BethCooks4U]

Having my baby getting ready to go off to college in the fall. I NEVER thought I would have empty nest syndrome until it's happening.

Raising my kids - making it through the teen years - only to have their biological dad who was TOTALLY absent through all those years come back into their lives and act like he was always there. We live 1000 miles away and he now lives really close to them now.

Having my kids talk about their step-dad's influence as the most important in their development as men. (My DH and I have been married for 21 years and he raised them all through their teen years. BTW: We have 2 together too so he also had the baby years with them.)

Seeing my son be the most excellent dad possible with his little boy. OMG!!! And he's the one who wouldn't even consider changing little brother's diaper unless there was absolutely no other choice. His life revolves around his son - I have never seen anyone be so absorbed in every single aspect of a child as he - well except me and dh. Hmmm, I guess he gets it from us! It is SO cool to watch! I wish we lived closer but he does call me frequently just to tell me the latest and he sends pictures and videos. I love the internet!!

Spoiling my kids' kids.

Well, these aren't all sacrifices - some are real joys!!

 

[ChefBeckyD]

Having my baby getting ready to go off to college in the fall. I NEVER thought I would have empty nest syndrome until it's happening.

Raising my kids - making it through the teen years - only to have their biological dad who was TOTALLY absent through all those years come back into their lives and act like he was always there. We live 1000 miles away and he now lives really close to them now.

Having my kids talk about their step-dad's influence as the most important in their development as men. (My DH and I have been married for 21 years and he raised them all through their teen years. BTW: We have 2 together too so he also had the baby years with them.)

Seeing my son be the most excellent dad possible with his little boy. OMG!!! And he's the one who wouldn't even consider changing little brother's diaper unless there was absolutely no other choice. His life revolves around his son - I have never seen anyone be so absorbed in every single aspect of a child as he - well except me and dh. Hmmm, I guess he gets it from us! It is SO cool to watch! I wish we lived closer but he does call me frequently just to tell me the latest and he sends pictures and videos. I love the internet!!

Spoiling my kids' kids.

Well, these aren't all sacrifices - some are real joys!!

It's ironic - but sometimes what may seem to be our greatest sacrifices also become our greatest joys!