Piya's Perspective

STP started a bit early for me.  Or at least what I needed to do and the anxieties it caused started before Saturday.

The basic plan:  Spend Saturday doing stuff.  Head south on Sunday and stop along the way to portland to cheer on Ari and his group.  Meet them Sunday afternoon at the finish line and then spend a night with my family in Astoria.

Step 1:  Book a place to sleep Sunday night. 
The last time Ari and I went to Astoria, we stayed at the Crest Motel in Astoria.  Not having a bad experience and liking the price, I called them last Wednesday and was happy to find they still had rooms open.  Even called back the next day to upgrade to a King size bed — I had a feeling Simeon would wind up in bed with us and wanted to be comfy.

Step 2: Find Ari a ride to the Start Line.
Ari needed to be at the start line (30-45 minutes from home) by 5:30 Saturday morning.  One of my worries was that I would have to wake up Simeon to get Ari to the start and that this would disrupt his schedule for the day.  Luckily, my new boss came to my rescue.  He was biking STP, lives 2 minutes away and said he had room to give Ari a lift.  yay! 

Step 3: Let Ari get to sleep early Friday night.
This was the hard one.  It shouldn’t have been, but Murphy’s Law was in full effect. 

Thursday night was a late work night for me.  I finally logged off with a headache around 1:30 Friday morning.  That headache never disappeared and actually turned into a migraine.  I was sick to my stomach most of the day at work, but going home was not much of an option – Ari took the vanpool in and watching Simeon would not help me get any better.  Started feeling better around 5pm and by 5:30 I was picking Simeon up at the daycare.  The headache lingered a bit, but luckily it was pretty much gone by the time Simeon got sick.  Yeah…you may be able to see where this is going…  Ari said we were due for this.

Around 7:30, after a few minutes of a seemingly restless Simeon, dinner suddenly decided it didn’t like it’s new home and wanted back out.  Simeon outfit #1 out for the count.  Ari, luckily, was still downstairs and helped me clean up.

15 minutes later, as we’re on our way up to the bathtub, Pamela outfit #1 gone (Simeon was only in a diaper, so that was easy enough).  Thankfully, Ari was helpful for this one too.

30 minutes later, back downstairs.  Simeon, only in a pair of shorts, seems to be normal – no crying, ready for the next part of the bedtime routine.  I (stupidly) decide to continue as normal and we sit on the couch with a cup of milk.  No time at all and Simeon outfit #2 taken out.   Ari’s long asleep and I can’t wake him up – he needs to rest.

After cleanup, Simeon seems just fine to sit down and continue watching Blue.  I take the time to call the 24 hour nurse.  Result:  first 5 hours are the worst, call back if it continues beyond 8 hours.  When it subsides, you can start giving him a little bit of water or a few ice chips at a time.  I think we were on our way up to bed when Pamela outfit #2 takes the next hit. 

The next couple hours I stay awake to make sure Simeon’s ok.  Sure enough I hear him crying just before the next couple waves come through – but by this point his stomach is empty and the bowl I’ve got protects my clothes (he’s in diaper only).  I heard him one more time during the night, but other than that we reach the next day and he’s fine all day Saturday.

I think in some ways his getting sick helped calm me down for the rest of the weekend.  I had been nervous about this being my first overnight without Ari to help me with Simeon (not that I haven’t done practically that a number of times before).  I was nervous about driving down to Portland alone.  Nervous about a number of things.  Saturday morning, I woke up and…was just fine.  I was still a bit nervous I would have to deal with a sick Simeon alone, but I also knew that I could handle it.  And nothing could go any worse on Saturday or Sunday than it had the night before.

Probably a few more details than people really wanted to know.  Next installment to come.