When It Rains...

One of the side effects of waiting this long to have a second child, is the constant wondering and daydreaming about what that second child will be like and how he or she will fit into the family. Because I am a worrier by nature, I have often pondered hypothetical situations where I needed to be with one child for some reason, and how, oh how would I balance it for the kid left behind?

I got a taste of that this weekend.

My son had been sick for several days. Coughing, fever, lethargic sick. But he woke up very slightly better Saturday morning. Better enough that we decided against taking him to urgent care, and planned to just stay at home for the day instead.

Fast forward an hour when my husband and I simultaneously noticed that the kitten was limping. Now, I make no apologies for excuses for the fact that Peep is my replacement baby. She is my BABY and I adore her.

So upon seeing that she was limping, I picked her up and flipped her over to look at her paw. My husband came over to see what it was and the two of us got a good look at her paw pad at the same time. There was a simultaneous gasp and mad dash for the phone to call the vet when we realized that all the skin on her paw was missing.

Now my son was still sick, but holding his own for the moment. We had no idea yet what had happened to Peep (turned out to be frost bite, of all things), but my parent's dog had had an accident that involved her paw pad, and she nearly lost her leg as a result. So I was in a blind panic driving her to the vet.

At one point, I remembered my son at home and it dawned on me that this must be what it's like to have two kids. You don't pick favorites, necessarily, but you go with the one that needs you the most at the moment.

Peep came home hopped up on pain killers and a cast on her leg up to her hip. She should be fine, provided we can make it one week without infection. It appears she fell asleep with her paw against a window overnight. The cold window froze the skin, and when she ran up the stairs, it ripped the dead skin right off. Horrifying, but she should keep her paw provided it doesn't get infected.

Later that day we wound up having to take my son to urgent care where it was discovered he had a double ear infection and bronchitis. I spent the rest of the weekend hovering over them both.

Strangely, this has all had little to no effect on my desire to add to our family.