It Was Just A Season

I am running on about five hours of sleep this morning. My eyes are puffy, I have three day hair (and I couldn't care less), and I overslept and had to get ready in about 15 minutes so that explains the rest of my unpolished appearance.

Hubby also left the house this morning to take GGH to Mamaw's without her bottles so obviously we are all behind the eight ball.

It's not been the easiest week in the Harrison house. I usually do not to blog about the hardships of raising a child (which thankfully have been few and far between) but this week it has been consuming so it only seems appropriate that I document. Hopefully I can look back and say it was just a season. And if any of my readers out there are experiencing the same frustrations, I hope this can relate to you and give you hope and reassurance that you are not the only one.

For the past several weeks Georgia Grace has been waking up at least once (usually 2-3 times) a night. She dislikes despises hates baths and Marcus and I both dread tub nights with a burning passion. She is recovering from another ear infection and giving her the ATB is like wrangling cattle. She has not been eating well and we are no where close to giving up the bottle. Her gag reflex has reared its ugly head again this week too. And I'm awaiting a call from her pediatrician on whether or not we are a candidate for ear tubes.

"Calgon, take me away!"

Her pediatrician told us that his protocol for ear tubes is four infections within a six month period. We met protocol this weekend with our 4th desperate trip to an urgent care clinic for some relief for our baby. I have never even had an earache so I can't relate to this pain but I hear it is torture which breaks my heart even more for our poor daughter.

I think all of our troubles we are being dealt right now all revolve around her ears. My prayer has been that if tubes are the answer to our problems that she would be a candidate and we could start that process sooner than later.

Putting my baby under anesthesia is probably the last thing I want to do but I also don't want constant pain or permanent hearing loss for her either. So I'm choosing to put on my big girl pants and put my faith in God's plan and provision.

He knows best and hasn't failed me yet.

Last night when I finally got to lay down around 11pm I was tempted to skip my nightly Jesus reading in order to squeeze in an extra 15 minutes of sleep that I thought I desperately needed. But I decided that this time with Jesus is a blessing to me and would be more valuable to me than the extra shut-eye.

And I was right because I read one chapter of Love Does and loved it so much I went for another. It even put a smile on my face and made me laugh out loud which I haven't done much of this week. Thank you Jesus for the gift of words on those pages.

 So even though I am worn and tired and slightly defeated, I know that tomorrow is a new day. I will get a full nights rest again (I am spoiled since she started sleeping through the night at five weeks, I guess this is payback ha!). Bath time will be fun again and that will be the nights we look forward to most. Her ears will heal and she will get relief somehow someway. Her appetite will resume and maybe someday she will give up the bottle :) The gagging episodes are already fewer and farther between and I know that will only continue to get better with time.

I realize how blessed we are that she is healthy and that our problems are so miniscule compared to what truly sick babies go through. I feel guilty even venting about our troubles and I am humbled when I hear about children waiting for transplants, childhood cancer, and those that are terminally-ill.

Please don't read that I'm not thankful for everything that I've been given because I am and I have been given way more than I deserve.

We will continue to pray for the hard stuff, have thanksgiving for the other 90% of our lives where things are really great, and remind ourselves that it was just a season.

And it will be a very sweet day when we are on the other side of this season.