Night From Hell

So Kaia's been working on another ear infection all week, and last night it hit its crescendo. She pretty much screamed all night. She'd been screaming about every hour, hour and a half all week. not really waking up, but waking us up.

Steph brought her to me at about 12:15 last night, so I sat in the nursery with Kaia until about one or so, then we traded off. Then we traded back, her still partly screaming, partly sleeping. At about 2:30, i brought Kaia to bed with me and remembered I hadn't let the dogs out before going to bed. I said that aloud.

"Fine, I'll let them out, but you have to pet my head when I get back."

"Okay."

So she got up and vanished to the living room. I heard the back door open and close, the dogs start barking almost immediately. Part of my half-sleeping head realized it was Fletcher's there's-something-out-here bark, but i was so tired, I ignored it.

I heard the back door open and close again. And then I smelled skunk.

My subconscious mind processed the info faster than the rest of my brain did, and I found myself leaping out of bed with Kaia, and racing toward the living room.

I said, "Are the dogs in the house?"

"Fletcher is."

"Then Ripley just got sprayed by a skunk. Here, take Kaia," and then I handed Kaia to Steph, went to the back door and yelled for Ripley. it took her a minute, but she showed up. I snatched her off the ground and sniffed. My nose filled with skunk spray. I think I said something like, "What do I do with her?"

Steph said, "Take her to the bathroom."

So we raced to the bathroom and I pitched her in the tub. As i turned on the faucet, I noticed she had liquid standing on her nose and her eyes were red and irritated. The skunk, as it turned out, was a wicked shot. I washed her off, but the smell was everywhere. It soaked into every surface of the bathroom. Into the tub and the towels, into my wedding ring, my hands, my watch band. Probably my t-shirt.

Cleaned her off best as I could, then she spent the rest of the night in the garage. I spent the rest of the night waking up to either Kaia crying or getting the odd whiff of skunk smell from my hands (was the wedding band, though I didn't realize that until this morning).

Fucking hell. Bought some de-skunker today and coated her in it. Seems to have done the job, actually.

Kaia's fever got up to 101.3 this morning, but she seems to have come through it this afternoon. She's doing better, though she looks tired. I just left she and Steph over at Paula's. I think Paula and Grandma Jane are watching the girl while Steph gets a nap.

As for me, I've got a column to write. This was a mental warm up. I'm so goddamn tired.