Saturday, January 19, 2013

Still Alive . . . but barely

I've been thinking about my good ole' blog (maybe it will have to end soon, who knows). I just haven't had a chance to post! We've been plagued with . . . the plague. Well, not really. It started on January 2 with Elsie having croup, then an eye infection, which lead to Andrew getting the same cough, and an eye infection and being out almost a whole week of work. I had a bad sore throat that week but never got the eye stuff or the coughing.

We managed to survive that week and then during the weekend, Noah started throwing up. It only lasted 8 hours or so but he was pretty sick. He was fine the next day and then on Monday, I started feeling bad. I had to call Andrew at work and ask him to come home because I had also been hit with the same stomach bug. Something about cleaning up a 20 month old's vomit for 8 hours might make you susceptible to catching it!

While I was laying in my bed in misery, I heard Elsie downstairs getting sick as well. Thankfully Andrew was still well and able to take care of her. He came upstairs in the middle of the night after Elsie was on the mend and went to bed. I was so terribly achy and couldn't sleep so I moved to the couch for some TV distraction. Andrew ended up getting it that night as well.

We were a sorry pair the next day, I'll tell you. For breakfast I managed to slap down some bowls in the living room and pour crackers, cereal, and toast pieces in them for the kids to graze on. Elsie and Noah didn't care so much because they'd been sick and were recovering but Abigail hadn't been sick and wanted real food. I managed (somehow) to make her cheese quesadillas for lunch but that's about all I could do!

I had only slept an hour or two the night before. So, we made it through that day and about the time we all went to bed, Abigail started complaining about her tummy. We gave her a "bucket" (a bowl actually) and let her keep it in bed. Her instructions were to stay there until she throws up and then she can come get us (because otherwise many nights would be filled with her crying wolf about her tummy, just wanted to get out of going to bed). Well, this night it actually did happen. She came and got me at midnight to say she'd thrown up. I made a bed for us on the couch and got her bowl "prepared" and I dozed while she watched some TV. She got sick several times before asking to go back to bed at 3. She slept until 5 when she woke me up again because she'd been sick and this time I asked Andrew to cover for me since I was oh, so tired. He took care of the kids until about 8:30 when he left for work. Abigail recovered easily the next day.

This may just seems like a tragic tale of your usual stomach bug (that hits everyone in the family!) but alas, Noah and Elsie have continued to struggle with stomach problems all week. They randomly vomit (usually in the living room, blah!!). Noah has finally ceased to throw up, I think. It's been a few days for him but Elsie still vomited twice today! I'm getting concerned about her so we'll continue to watch her. She is desiring to eat and is drinking and having wet diapers so I don't think she's in immediate danger.

It's been a long road since the first of the year. My soul is desperately seeking some normalcy. I know so many others have it so much worse than this, though. What we've been through is just temporary uncomfortableness and I'm thankful for that!

I'm just hoping next week will be better!!

(Especially since I have a carpet cleaner coming on Tuesday to give me a quote to clean my living room carpet. Ugh!)