Thursday, March 7, 2013

February Self Portrait

Wow, February.  What can I say except, wow.  That was a rough month for sure.  Nothing earth shattering, but it was a month of sickness in this family and in this house.  Warning: If you have a weak stomach, you may want to skip this post.  I'm serious.  Good riddance February.

It started out with Addy (as it always does, now that she's in school) getting a cold.  She seems to have a cold 75% of the time.  But anyway, she got a cold and started coughing so much at night that she would throw up.  For many nights in a row.  Never during the day.  During the day she seemed fine.  But at night, when she would lie down, the coughing would ensue, and we knew we were in for a crib change or two.  She was so pitiful on those nights.  She would call out to us and we would go into her room to find her and her sheets covered in vomit (nice visual, I know).  So Mike and I would tackle it together.  We'd clean her up and change her bed, while she would sit on her changing mat saying, "Sorry Mommy.  Sorry Daddy."  Truly pitiful I tell you.  So we went full steam ahead with the every home remedy we could think of (since you can't give children that young any cough medicine).  We put a humidifier in her room, we propped up her mattress with pillows (which of course meant that she chose to sleep on the other side), we gave her teaspoons of honey.  Nothing worked, so we decided to drug her up with some Benadryl (and sometimes Advil too) in hopes that she would just fall asleep.  That didn't necessarily work either, and we all just dealt with the gross factor and the lack of sleep for a few days.

After a few days, it went away, only to come back with a vengeance.  It was two nights before our trip to Philly, when Addy started throwing up in her crib again.  Only this time it wasn't associated with coughing.  And this time, it was bad.  It wasn't one crib change and then back to bed.  She was literally awake until 4:45AM (meaning I too was awake until then) throwing up every half hour to hour.  I changed her crib sheets SEVEN times that night!  Seven!  I was doing laundry all night long and as soon as one load was finished, it would go back on her crib and the next load would go in the washer.  A long, long night I tell you.  And let me just add that she also had diarrhea every morning for at least a week that required baths and crib changes.  Just a nice little added bonus for us.

So on Thursday off we went to Philly.  Seems logical right?  Yeah, in hindsight I don't really know why we decided to proceed with those plans.  But truly on Wednesday she was fine all day.  Eating, drinking, playing.  Fine.  So Thursday evening we took off.  Well, let me tell you, words can't even describe that trip.  It started with Emma throwing up (on me) three times on the ride up there.  Requiring three outfit changes for both her and I.  Three.  Addy hadn't thrown up in a few days at that point so on Friday we took her to the Please Touch Museum in Philly.  We all had fun and all was well.  Then on Saturday some family came to visit, and when they left it all went downhill.  I was up all night throwing up, Mike had it from the other end, and poor Addy had both.  We literally were up changing her sheets and bathing her at 3AM in between getting sick ourselves.  Nothing like cleaning vomit and diarrhea off of someone when you are vomiting yourself.  It was every bit as bad as it sounds.  I wanted nothing more than to just lay in bed curled up in a ball and sleep.  But, as every parent knows, parents don't get sick days.  So, up we were.  Cleaning, and changing, and doing laundry in the middle of the night.  Then taking a "break" to throw up, and going right back at it.  Clean, change, laundry.  Clean, change, laundry.

And then to boot, we so nicely gave this lovely stomach bug to Tina, Jay, and my mom.  Tina got it Sunday, and Jay and my mom got it Monday.  By Monday we (we being our immediate family) were fine.  So that Thursday Mike's family came to visit.  Oh boy.  Again, hindsight is 20-20.  We should have told them not to come.  But we were OK by that point.  Or so we thought.  I guess our symptoms were gone, but we were still contagious.  Because in succession, Lauren, Santino, Luca, Debbie, and Paul all got sick.  And then they took it home to Alex, who also got sick.  I'm telling you, this bug was a rager.  Luckily the babies got the least of it (Yay for the antibodies they get from breast milk!!).  But with Mike's family here it was back to the continuous stream of clean, change, laundry.  And then when they left I literally disinfected every square inch of this house.  From light switches, to doorknobs, to remote controls.  From toys, to toilets.  I cleaned it all.  Clorox wipes were my dear friend.

And then of course, there was laundry. So, so much laundry.  I think I did 18 loads in 3 days.  I did every towel, sheet, sham, bedspread, and article of clothing that anyone had touched.  I shudder to see our water bill this month, because I have never done so much laundry in my life.  

So here is my February self portrait:

Me hovered over the washing machine.  Where I spent more time this past month than I ever care to again.  Goodbye sickness.  Please stay far, far away from us.  We have had more than our share, I assure you.

3 comments:

  1. Whew, that was a rough month for sure! So long February!

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  2. Wow, I didn't know all of Mike's family got it as well! Good riddance February!

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  3. That was a rough month! I must say that I'm proud of the way you guys hung in there! Good job...I pray that March will be easier.

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