Bedtime, and Why It Matters

I consider myself a rather organized and schedule-dependent person.  I'm a fan of order.  But sometimes dependence on schedules can be a real pain when something throws the routine out of whack.  Things like hanging out at a festival.

After Chad, Asher, Sebastian, and I were done exploring Rivers & Spires yesterday, I had to go back to the CM booth to work my second shift.  At that point it was approaching 4:00.  Well, apparently somebody (ahem) let Asher nap until nearly 8:30PM.

Asher's bedtime is 9:00.

Yeah.

See, for most kids it wouldn't be a huge deal, but Asher is tube fed through his Mic-Key button (see picture) continuously overnight - that's when he gets most of his nutrition, actually.  Ever since he was teensy, he's had issues with vomiting.  It used to be bad, but over time it's actually gotten a lot better - provided he's allowed enough time to digest.

Last night he didn't go to bed until about 11:00, which means his food didn't go off this morning until 9:00 (whereas it usually goes off at 7:00).  Asher basically had no time to digest before we had to get him up and start getting him ready for church.

Do you see where this is going?

I thought he would be okay.  We managed to get him dressed, load him into the car, drive to church, and drop him off in the nursery without any instances of vomiting - all signs of being in the clear.

Lo and behold, about halfway through service, Melissa, one of the girls from the nursery came to get me because Asher had gotten sick.  Not only did he get sick, he projectile vomited all over my friend Joy's shoulder.

Lovely.

So as I was changing him into a new outfit, it occurred to me that it would seem really odd to most folks if your kids had just puked everywhere and you put new clothes on him and then left him in there.  So I had to go through the whole spiel about how he wasn't really "sick" and how he had eaten late and usually had more time to digest and yadda yadda blah.  They understood (or else feigned it really well), so I went back and listened to the rest of the sermon.

It's really easy to forget that the things about Asher that are so normal to me can really freak other people out.  I'll be going about my business all nonchalant, and the whole time they're thinking "what kind of horrible parent are you to not notice your kid doing XYZ?"  I try my best to recognize those potential situations and head them off with an explanation, but it does get hard sometimes, and sometimes I forget.  And sometimes I get selfish and angry and feel like I shouldn't have to explain myself or my kid to everyone, which is not the right response.  The reality is that Asher isn't typical, and it's really not realistic or fair for me to expect a random stranger (or someone who's never seen it before) to understand that.  So, until I make up a little "I have CFC - here's what that means" t-shirt for Asher, I'll just have to keep explaining.

Just kidding about the shirt.  Maybe.  ;)