"Is This Real Life?"

What a crazy day.

In the morning I reported to the home of an adorable one and a half-year-old at 7:15 am to babysit.  I’m used to going to bed around 3ish am and babysitting at 2:30 pm, so this was a tough hit.  I felt pretty fatigued but the little boy was very low-maintenance and pleasant, so I made it through okay.  I don’t know if it was the fatigue or my clumsiness in general, though, that caused me to trip over the baby gate at the entrance to the kitchen.  Even when it’s open, there’s still a bottom part that you have to step over, and I completely forgot it was there and walked right through it, falling onto a trash can with brute force.  I fell forward, smashing my boob (weird I know, but I literally fell on my boob) and banging my knee pretty hard.  The little boy was in his high chair eating and didn’t seem to realize that anything bad had happened.  I took a few seconds to go sit on the stairs and breathe through the pain, but it was gone within a minute. 

After this babysitting session was over, I took a little nap in the car to re-charge before my next babysitting job at 2:30 pm.  I have done this car nap thing a few times, and so far people seem to think it’s either weird, funny, or unsafe, but I literally cannot function on little sleep, and once again I’m used to a late bedtime.  It’s going to take a long time to reverse my schedule.

I reported to my next babysitting job at the home of a four-year-old and a one-year-old.  They both had colds, so I spent most of my time wiping runny noses and praying I wouldn’t catch what they had (I recently had a nasty bronchitis spell).  At this point I realized I was starving and that the little salad I had packed for lunch had not been very satisfying.  It seems that the earlier you wake up, the earlier you get hungry, and this threw me off.  Now, when I get too hungry, I abandon all notions of health and eat whatever’s in sight, but as I am determined to stop this, I vowed to grab some food after I was done babysitting, rather than raid the fridge at this home (I’m usually told to help myself to whatever, and this is a blessing and a curse).

In addition, my Womantimes (read: That Time of the Month) had arrived without prior notice.  Most women seem to know when theirs is coming, I never do.  I’ve always been irregular and have been tested for various conditions but apparently this is just the way it is for me.  So the evil cramps arrived without warning and as I did not have my precious advil on hand, I was forced to tough it out.

At the tail end of this babysitting session, there was a major urinary flood to clean up (when the boy said, “I have to pee but I’m going to go later” I shouldn’t have allowed him to wait it out.  Lesson learned.)  I also managed to bang my already-bruised knee on another baby gate.   This day was seriously getting out of hand.

As I walked to my car, the fatigue, hunger, cramps, pee-clean-up, and banged knee had taken its toll.  I shed a few “stress tears” and felt a release.  Is this what’s like for people who get up before noon?  I thought.  Fatigue, hunger, and injuries?

I grabbed some food and made the journey home.  As soon I walked in, a parent made a comment to me, the subject of which is unimportant but it caused me to “go on the defense” and my emotions pushed me over the edge.  I fled to my room to have a real “stress cry,” and it felt healthy.  The parent and I made up, and after that, everything was mellow.

Yes, it was a tough day, but at least things happened and I have stories to tell.  It beat sleeping all day and not feeling involved in the world.  It felt like I had a life.