Elliot had a stomach ache off and on for the last week. My typical response "have you gone to the bathroom today?" He would usually stop complaining and go about his business. Thursday night he was out of bed several times crying that his stomach hurt, threw up around 2 am and was fine after that. He was fine all day on Friday until dinner. He didn't eat anything. Not a bite. If you know Elliot, you know that alone threw up red flags. That kid will throw up and ask for a snack practically in the same breath. He went to bed early (another red flag) and without dinner. I don't think it was much more than an hour later when I heard the bedroom door creak open and I sent Aaron upstairs to check on him. (I was elbow deep in bright red frosting!) Moments later he hustled down the stairs carrying a crying, whimpering Elliot, who upon being put on the floor immediately curled up in a ball. I don't think I've ever seen Elliot cry over a stomach ache. When he broke his arm he cried for all of about 5 minutes. For about a minute my mommy instinct said "something's wrong" and my head said "it's just a stomach ache, put him back in bed." Mommy instinct won. We packed up and headed to the ER. Three hours, an X-ray, an IV, and a CT scan later and we got the appendicitis diagnosis. Mommy instinct said "I told you so!"
Situations like this always open your eyes to character traits you didn't pay much attention to, or maybe just weren't appreciative enough of.
Since I had to go home so I could nurse Lorelei, I had to explain to Amelia what was going on. When she woke up, I was already getting ready for a shower so I could hustle back to the hospital. She immediately panicked realizing that Daddy and Elliot weren't home. I explained what was going on, and she immediately threw her arms around me and burst in to tears. Times like that I realize how big she's gotten because I cant' just pull her into my lap and hold her anymore. She's too tall! About a minute later she jumped up and raided my computer desk of paper, ran into her room to make him a card. She has such a good heart.
After his surgery, Elliot didn't want anything but apple juice. Not even popsicles. about 11pm, (I was at home with the girls so this was relayed through text from Aaron) he was awake and asked for some juice, apparently the nurse had to go looking for it. The nurse went in to his room with 2 apple juices and joked "I think the whole hospital is out of apple juice." Her humor was lost on Elliot who immediately melted into his sad face, tears, the whole nine yards. When Aaron can finally get him to talk he said he was upset because he "promised one to Mommy and Amelia and they are all out!" Aaron explained she was only kidding and he settled down and drank one of the juices. As Aaron was getting ready to open the second juice, Elliot stops him and tells him that one is for Amelia. Aaron tried to tell him that there were more and he is the one that isn't feeling well, so he should drink it. Elliot replied "if you open it, I won't drink it. I'm saving the last one in the hospital for Amelia." Sure enough, the next morning, he had a juice for both Amelia and I. He also made sure to get a popsicle for Amelia!
