Maternal instinct

I'm thankful for that little thing buried deep inside me that I have no control over: maternal instinct. 

Its not something I can buy at a store or borrow from a friend. I can't inherit it from the women before me or learn it from the mom next door. Its something that I was born with. And lately, its been kicking into full gear and I've paid attention and my mom instinct has been right on. 

Thankfully, its February 1st which means the long month of Helluary 2014 is behind us. Holy cow, the sicknesses! Of course there's nothing that says we Blinns are out of the woods because its a new month, but I'm thankful that January is over and that we're moving forward. Every single one of us has been sick in the last month. Miserable. Flu, sinus infection, stomach bug, bronchitis, ear infection, walking pneumonia. Yep. ALL of those. I'm done. Is it late April yet? Usually by then the sickness has past, the flowers and trees are blooming and there's sun and warmth and joy! 

But back to the maternal instinct part... With Zachari, I didn't have a good feeling about a cough she'd had for over a month. The cough would come and go, but it had lingered for so long and I knew it wasn't quite right. Matt thought it wasn't anything to worry about, merely a cough that kids get from school, in the winter, etc., but that didn't settle well with me. I made an appointment for her on January 9th only to find out that the girl had walking pneumonia. No wonder! I knew it! I didn't know what specifically she had going on, but there was something in my gut that was yelling at me to take matters into my mama hands and get her some care! (I do feel a little bad for not doing it sooner, but I'm leaving the guilt out of this post for now.)

A few days later we had a conference at the pediatrician's office to go over blood work Zachari had done the week before Christmas. Again, tests that I'd requested to run because I just felt like something was a little off with her. Irregular sleep patterns, crazy lashing out behavior at times, overly emotional about things, frequent tummy aches and awful eating habits... I wanted to see what was up. Was it something environmental? Maybe gluten or dairy or something else? The conference was amazing. Our nurse practitioner Kristen (who might as well be a dear friend by now since we've seen her nearly every week since mid-December. No joke.) patiently and intelligently went over every blood test with me and explained what each line of the report meant. I felt so empowered from the time with her to know more about my girl and what makes her tick. She's not allergic/sensitive to gluten, but dairy is a no no for a while. As I suspected. She's positive for a certain somethin that makes her more prone to being sick more often. Makes sense as we look back on the last few months. She's deficient in zinc, vitamin D, calcium - as I figured she would be. The chemistry of her gut isn't quite right, we're working on that with removing dairy, daily supplements and probiotics, bettering her whole foods intake. Its a process. One that I am ready for, one that I knew down in my soul we needed to pursue!

And then this week Little One came down with something. Feverish on and off for a few days, lethargic, a little clingy sometimes, and then a cough and a chunkiness to his breathing that would unnerve most parents. I called the doctor's office yesterday, they got us in right away and sure enough, he's got what I'm calling "respiratory gunk". Not quite bronchitis or pneumonia or RSV, but just yuck. That, and an ear infection (explains why he's had his hand in his ear). Five days of antibiotics for the little guy and a couple doses of childrens' Tylenol and he should be good as new. That is, if I keep him and Sister quarantined for the rest of their lives!

I listened to the small voice in my head, the tugging on my heart and I got care for my children. I'm not tooting my own horn, I don't even know why I've made the time to blog about this. Its just something I guess. To be a grown woman who has procreated and is now responsible for this offspring and all of the million things that entails. I'm sure my own mom had a good bit of maternal instinct that kicked in a few dozen times and I'm sure it proved to be really helpful in the long run. 

Its a gift to get to be a mother. One I take for granted far too often. Am I really admitting that? Its also a God-given gift to have that little voice inside telling you to fight. I'm thankful. That's all.