Free Again

I was sound asleep this evening when my "mommy-sense" went off. Mommy-sense is a lot like spidey-sense except instead of warning me of imminent danger, criminal activity, or run-away carriages mommy-sense alerts me to when my child may be in trouble, may be causing trouble, or may be contemplating causing trouble. So, as my mommy-sense was triggered I sat straight up in bed and listened with my super-sensitive mom ears for any unusual noises. There it was upstairs... pit-pat, pit-pat, pit-pat back and forth down the hall. I climb out of bed, turn on the stairway light, and announce "It's just me, mommy, coming up." to head off any fear that I may be the bogey-man or a ravenous wolf coming to eat up this night-walking child. Pitter-pat, pitter-pat, pitter-pat the sound of running back into Emma's room. I come down the short hall and notice a towel on the floor of the bathroom- okay so Em wet the bed. This is not a big deal it happens so rarely that she never gets in trouble for it, but why hasn't she called for me like usual? Why the towel? Why the running at the sound of my coming? I enter her room and ask, "Emma, did you pee the bed? Do you need help?" Immediate hysteria. She is crying so hard I can't make out her words. I grab and hold her tight stroking her hair and repeating, "It's okay, mommy's here. I've got you. I'm going to help you. Shhh. I promise it's okay." I make out- I peed- try clean myself- new panties and pajamas. I tell her not to cry it's okay and I just want to help her. I am still confused at why she is so upset and why at only three years old she wanted to clean up herself. Then I realized she wasn't afraid of getting punished she was ashamed and embarrassed. My heart hurt. As I got new sheets out of the linen closet I began reassuring her, "This is going to be alright. I'm going to put the wet sheets in the wash and see you have a waterproof pad on your bed it can go in the wash too. Now, we just have to put these clean sheets on, and the comforter is dry because it was at the foot of the bed. This is no big deal." Emma began to relax and as I was making up her bed she got excited about the rainbow sheets I was using to replace the soiled fairy ones- apparently she loves rainbows. When she and the bed were all clean and she was climbing in under the covers I took special note of the look on her face. It read happiness, comfort, and ease. My baby who was in so much despair just twenty minutes before was now free again. Thank you God for mommy-sense. And thank you God for all those times when I "wet my bed" and felt only guilt and shame and hopelessness and You came and wrapped Your arms around me and told me I've got you, I'm going to help you, It's going to be okay, I promise. Thank you God for always restoring my hope and making me free again.

Ciao, Areli