sweet release.

yesterday was a bad day.

probably as bad as alexander’s.

let’s just say this, i didn’t take a shower until well after 3 pm, and even then when my mother saw me (post shower) she said, “hannah, i’ll take him. why don’t you go shower.”

it sounded to me like, “hannah, i’ll save him from you. why don’t you go wash yourself because you look like you’ve been dumpster diving behind barnes and noble”.

why “barnes and noble”? well, because there is nothing better than free books. i’m the person who picks them up off the free book table only because they are free...not because i need them.

so back to me not having a shower. i must, must, must take a shower every single day. if i don’t, my hair is so greasy. and no...i don’t believe that it’s better for my hair. or that i could brush it out and have the oil evenly distributed. no. no. no. it’s just greasy.

pratt didn’t sleep more than 1.5 hours tuesday night. he had started to get fussy around 7...but i just thought he was hungry. he woke at 12...and then from there...we were pretty much up all night long.

i could take it if it was just being up to look at each other. but no. it wasn’t. it was because he was sick. his little belly hurt. bad. really, really bad. he usually has a dirty diaper every hour or so. maybe every 2 hours. anyway...i realized around 3 am, that he had not had a dirty diaper since 5 pm tuesday night. and this was wednesday morning. i immediately became worried.

he would stretch out his little legs, turn red in the face, scream at the top of his lungs and then lose his breath because he would scream for such a long time.

at some point, i came upstairs and woke clint up. i told him that he had to try something because i was going to fix another bottle. you must understand...i had no idea what was causing the bellyache.

when i came back up (about five minutes later) pratt was quietly laying on clint’s chest. sound asleep. i would have been so appreciate and completely cool with it...however....clint goes, “i think he really likes laying on my chest. it always calms him down.”

OMG. are you kidding me? i’ve been up with this child for oh...i dunno...like a gazillion hours...clint is woken up from a deep sleep and in oh...i dunno...three minutes he’s become the baby whisperer. had i not been so exhausted we would have exchanged some words right then and there...but i was really just so thankful that he was sleeping. and...i had to remind myself that clint wasn’t being ugly or rude or “told you so”...instead, he just loved the fact that pratt was so comfortable on his chest.

it was actually a really sweet sight.

okay, so clint leaves that morning around 830. pratt is asleep when he leaves. around 9 am, pratt gets up. and he’s up for the rest of the day. yes. no...seriously, i’m not exaggerating...he took NO naps.

still in pain. still no poop.

it’s now close to 24 hours. i called the doctor’s office that morning and the nurse told me that it’s “normal” for babies to go without bowel movements for 2 days. what ev. i can’t go without one for 2 days. how could a baby?

around noon, i start praying. seriously, praying for a poop diaper. it was one of those high school moments..you know, like in that garth brooks song...where you just say, “look, lord...if so-and-so will ask me to prom...i’ll never sin again.”. yes, it was that kind of moment.

something like, “lord, if you’ll just let him poop, i’ll never skip church again. i’ll join the peace corp. i’ll start building homes for habitat. i’ll do anything.”

no poop.

so it’s 3 pm. and now we’re both crying. he’s screaming. and i’m just sobbing. big, huge crocodile tears. they’re dripping all over his face. i’m sitting downstairs in the recliner with my robe on. at some point, i decided to take off his diaper to see if he had pooped.

well, fast forward to around 415 pm. my mom arrives. she comes in...makes the comment about me taking a shower and immediately takes him from my arms. she says that aunt carol said that sometimes it helps with gas to put them over your legs, face down. when she demonstrates, his bare butt is exposed for all the world to see. he has on his onesie...but no diaper.

she looked at me, and started laughing. said something like, “hannah, where is his diaper?”.

i just put my hand over my face and said, “i’ve been up since 12, mom. i forgot to put one on him last time i changed him.”

that child had been diaperless for oh...maybe an hour. but that this point, i would have loved for him to have had a bowel movement on me. right in my lap. i would have jumped for joy.

fast forward to today, thursday at 855 am. clint’s at work. mom and i are here. we’ve tried karo. we’ve tried everything. nothing has worked.

so we resort to glycerin suppositories.

and voila.

i’ll spare you the details...but let’s just say that it worked. within 3 seconds. yes.

and as brandon bates would say....sweet release.