The Love of a Father

Monday, March 01 2010 -

We arrived in Montreal around midnight on Sunday. I was due to be downstairs for a long day of meetings at 8am. After check-in and getting settled we finally got everyone in bed by 12:30am. I lay there a while, fighting the dull fatigue of the long drive. It was much later that I finally fell asleep.

At 3:27am Jade coughed. As a parent you learn to react when your child does something unusual. I was instantly awake. I looked over, she was barely three feet from me. She coughed again; wet, gagging as vomit spewed across the bed, her stuffed animals and down onto the floor.

I leapt out of bed and snatched Jade up. The first one is just a precursor to what is coming; another thing parents quickly learn. I ran to the bathroom, Jade gagging in my arms. Most of the second wave made it into the toilet, not all, but most. As she emptied her stomach I held her close, waiting. Finally, nothing left, the growling of her stomach clearly audible. I grabbed a towel and cleaned her face and arms off.

Leaving Jade, I went back out into the room. The smell was overpowering. I kicked Devan out of the bed, he was sitting half up, not sure what had happened. Thankfully Jade had vomited away from him. I stripped the bed, Carol called room service for new sheets and I spent a minute wiping down the floor. The sound of Jade gagging again sent me back to the bathroom to help her.

The new sheets showed up and we got the bed made and Devan back into it. I managed to get Jade into new pj’s  ( we only brought 2 pair because they “never” get dirty ) between episodes. I then cleaned the bathroom floor and toilet.

Finally, all signs of vomit erased, aside from the smell ( for the next three days our room stank ) I tossed a couple of towels down on the cold tile bathroom floor for Jade to lay on and just hugged Jade. Her stomach was still gurgling loudly. Every five to ten minutes she would throw up again.

I leaned back against the edge of the tub, the lip digging into the muscles along my back just below my shoulder blades, and locked my legs extended, the flat of my feet against the far wall. Jade lay down onto my chest. She curled up there and, stomach still protesting, fell asleep.

As I sat there, back on fire, legs aching, tailbone being driven into the hard tile and the 62 degree room temperature chilling me to the bone I smiled. My daughter, sick, miserable, lay curled up against my chest sleeping those moments when she could, comforted because I was there to hold her when she needed it.

A tear ran down my cheek as I realized, though I was in serious physical discomfort, I wouldn’t have changed that moment for anything. To be there, even just to hold her, when she needed me was amazing. The peaceful look upon her face, even as the gurgling continued, told me all I needed to know. At 5:45am Jade had slipped down to the floor. She hadn’t been sick in over a half hour, so I figured it was safe. I slowly got to my feet and went back to bed. I was there less than 4 minutes before I heard her gagging again.

I finally slept from around 6am – 7am. It was a long day. Jade woke up feeling fine. She evidently got food poisoning from the restaurant ( The Three Tomatoes ) that we stopped at on the way in. Is there anything a parent won’t do for their children?