That Time I Felt Like The Worst Mother, Like Ever

We’ve recently encountered a problem.

Riya has been complaining about a sore tummy.  A lot.  Like all the time.  Like at least 5 times a day for the last month or so.

So normally I’d be really concerned and we’d be off to the Doctor, forking out more money that we don’t have.  BUT here are a few extra little deets that might put my irresponsible parenting into perspective.

1. There is no fever, vomiting or unusual poop.
2. She eats really well.
3. Besides being miserable when she is tired, she is upbeat, playing, laughing and generally her lovable nutty self.
4. When I touch her actual stomach, it isn’t sore.
5. When she is bored she whips out any one of the following sayings at random, “I’m hungry” or “My tummy’s sore” or “I needa wee”.  A urgent exclamation of “My tummy’s sore” will be followed very shortly with “I want cake”.  Not really convincing.

Then the other day at our Mom’s group we had a Doctor come in and chat to us about things that should flag our attention and our need to get them to the Doctor quickly (I’m hopefully going to share these really informative tips on the blog soon).  One of the things that she mentioned for a sore tummy with no other symptoms, is that it could be emotional.

Now this is something I can understand.  I mentioned the other day that when I was in primary school I stayed home a lot.  What I didn’t really say, is that to me, I actually felt an incredible pain in my tummy every time I thought of going to school.  It was so bad that we did blood tests and all manner of things, only to find out that I was fine, it was just an emotional reaction and it eventually wore off.

Knowing that Riya is most acutely in touch with her emotions, it wasn’t a stretch to think that this could be the cause.  This in light of all of the above, but also in the last few months she’s had to deal with quite a few new situations.  Her teacher left after just getting to know the kids, then they were without a permanent teacher for a while, then she got a lovely new teacher.  While all of this was happening we had a much loved Aunty who came and stayed with close family for 3 weeks and then had to leave again.

For a feeler, this is all just too much to grin and bear.

I spoke to her teacher who concurred that every mention of the tummy was when she was feeling tired or bored or when she would rather be doing something else.  So although I try and be sympathetic, the all to frequent mentionings of a sore tummy were starting to drive me nuts.  My sympathy was wearing so thin I often struggled to find it at all.

So when she woke up yesterday morning moaning and groaning about her stomach again I just couldn’t take it anymore.  I forced her to put on her shoes and jersey, brush her teeth and just generally get on with it.  We were not going to let “it” win, we needed to get her out of this slump.  Right?!  My hardball attitude was totally going to work.

Until she vomited on the floor.

Aaah parenting.  You funny thing you.