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Someone being sick. Every Christmas means we are treated to some type of virus going through our house. A few years ago Sue Sue ended up in the emergency room just a week before Christmas. She had croup. By Christmas Eve I had what I describe as "the adult version of croup." It knocked me on my back for an entire weekend (including the day after Christmas). Since then, at least one of us ends up with something right around Christmas.
This year is no different. I've spent a week battling a cold. I think I'm finally on the mend, but now Tortilla is suffering from a stomach bug. I'm finally getting her to keep down liquids, so that seems promising. She's asking for soup for lunch, so I hope that means she's starting to recuperate.
So far, though, we're still managing to get things done as we approach Christmas. As long as I have everyone healthy on Christmas Day, I won't complain (too much)!
Tortilla spent all weekend dealing with a nasty stomach bug. I won't give you the details, but it was brutal. By Monday, though, she was chipper and ready for school. Unfortunately, Hubby and I were both down for the count. We both woke up at 3 am, feeling the effects of Tortilla's bug. For whatever reason, Hubby decided he could get the girls to school. I didn't argue because I was miserable and I figured a child-free house would help with our recuperation. Until the school called at noon saying Sue Sue had an upset stomach. At that point, neither Hubby nor I were in any condition to go get her. Fortunately, my mother in law was able to retrieve Sue Sue (who, by the way, came home and did not appear to be the least bit sick). This is the first time we have both been violently ill at the same time. It was miserable. We managed to get through it, but it was not easy.
By Tuesday everyone seemed OK, but not 100%. Hubby and I slugged it out at work, and fell into bed around 9 pm. Wednesday I was ready to get back on track. I took everyone to school, hit the grocery store, did laundry.... and then received a phone call saying Tortilla had to leave school because she had a fever. (sigh). It didn't help that Sue Sue had an appointment in the afternoon that she couldn't miss. So I picked everyone up from school (the others were going to be picked up in an hour and a half anyway), let Tortilla rest and then went to the appointment.
By the end of the night, we were all exhausted, so it didn't help when Cakes woke up at 2 am, apparently the next victim of the bug. Today is only a half day of school, so I kept everyone home. There's no school tomorrow or Monday, so I'm really hoping everyone is better by Tuesday! Did I mention tomorrow and Saturday mark the fall sale for my moms of multiples group and I'm on the "team" that is organizing the sale. Yeah, did not need this illness this week! Oh, and today is Hubby's birthday, so we've had to cancel our night out. Thankfully, I had ribs in the freezer, so I can make my mom's "secret" rib recipe, which is one of his favorites. Now if I can just get my house disinfected... again!
My daughters' health is the one area where I try not to take chances. You have to understand that these four girls spent between 63 and 87 days in the NICU. Any and every little gurgle was a cause for concern. Having had such "fragile" babies has likely turned me into one of "those" moms, the one who calls the pediatrician at the sign of any pending illness.
The other day I was convinced Sue Sue had a concussion. She woke up and said she had a headache. I told her to drink some water. A short time later she was on the couch and seemed a bit lethargic. I tried talking to her but she wouldn't say much, other than reminding me that she had a headache. Then I noticed she had a bruise on her head. For a few minutes I was convinced she had bonked her head without my knowledge and now needed to be rushed to the pediatrician. Fortunately, rather than calling the pediatrician, I first called Hubby. Not that he had any answers. He was at work and could only go by what I said. In the course of that short conversation, Sue Sue got off the couch and started playing with her sisters. Her lethargic ways had disappeared. So much for the concussion. (In my defense, she is sick. She has some type of virus, so I'm guessing that day was the beginning stages of her illness).
It's easy to laugh and write me off as a hypochondriac or a worry wart. The thing is, when I don't worry, things go from bad to worse. About two years ago, Sue Sue had a fever and a cough. A terrible, horrible cough. I brushed it off as a cold... until the evening rolled around and she was having trouble breathing. After a brief consultation with the on-call pediatrician, Sue Sue and I were on our way to the emergency room. Croup. We were there for hours doing chest x-rays and getting doses of steroids. That incident is always in the back of my mind. What if I blow off the next illness and it's even more serious?
Over the summer, both Cakes and Sue Sue had really goopy eyes one day. We had been outside all day and it was really windy. I chalked it up to allergies... until their eyes were matted shut the next morning. Pink eye.
In all seriousness, I truly don't call the pediatrician that often. I know what questions the nurses are going to ask (temperature, rashes, etc), so if I can answer those questions and be comfortable with the answers I usually don't call. Sue Sue spent all day yesterday napping. Today she seems better, but not 100%.
Since my daughters have been in preschool before, I should have known this was going to happen. Here we are just a week into the school year and they all have runny noses. It's the sign that school is back in session... and the germs are back with a vengeance.
I can't complain too much. At least my girls are building their immunity. (I'm choosing to see the positive side of this). Still, it's frustrating to have ended the previous school year with pink eye and start this year with a cold. I'm pretty sure this is a cold and not allergies, just based on some of the other symptoms.
I'm not the only parent with this problem. Most of my Facebook friends who are moms have status updates relating to illness. One of my co-workers has a third grader who missed the entire second week of school due to strep throat. It's just how it goes.
I, too, unfortunately am falling victim to the Back to School Bugs. My throat is on fire. I'm sneezing up a storm. But remember... I'm choosing to see the positive side of this, so here it goes: I would rather have all of us be sick NOW, instead of in a few weeks when we celebrate a fifth birthday times four!
I should know better than to think a busy week will ever go as planned. All weekend long I thought Sue Sue and Cakes were having major allergy issues. Hubby and I have been having allergy problems lately, so it didn't concern me when Sue Sue and Cakes started sneezing a lot and coughing and had runny noses and goop coming out of their eyes.
Then I woke up yesterday and realized what a fool I had been. I knew the second I looked at Cakes... Pink Eye. Then Sue Sue started throwing up... which has nothing to do with Pink Eye, but I'll get to that in a minute. I called the pediatrician's office and the nurse immediately faxed a prescription to the pharmacy for Cakes. When we started discussing Sue Sue's symptoms, she said the doctor needed to see her.
So instead of going to work, I took Sue Sue to the pediatrician. She was severely dehydrated. I already knew she was having hydration issues. On Sunday she ate an OK lunch, but never ate again after that. I had to force water in her. How she became so dehydrated between lunch Sunday and our Monday morning appointment is beyond me. Even the doctor was surprised... and said if she couldn't keep down a popsicle in his office then he was sending us straight to the ER for IV fluids. Fortunately, she kept down the popsicle. She's slowly starting to be herself again.
Did I mention she also has Pink Eye? There is a never a dull moment in our house. I am now frantically washing and sterilizing the house to keep everyone else healthy.
In the middle of all this, I started a new job on top of my part-time retail gig. I'm now scoring tests for Pearson. Somehow, in all this madness, I actually managed to get my work done yesterday. (I did it after everyone was in bed, which had been my plan all along).
Sue Sue and Cakes are no longer contagious so here's hoping the other two managed to avoid the dreaded Pink Eye!
I remember a commercial where a mom goes to the doctor, he tells her she's sick, she flips through her calendar and says "Not this week" (or something like that). This is exactly how I feel about illnesses. I don't have time for it.
I have time to care for sick children. I don't have time to be sick myself. Fortunately, most of the time, the bug waits to get me until all the girls are healthy again.
We have our schedule down to an exact science. A sick child makes me have to tinker with the schedule. A sick parent throws the whole thing out of whack.
Right now we have a cold working its way through the house. Nothing too traumatic. The girls are home from school today because they're hacking away. I figure today is a good day for all of them to rest and regain their strength so tomorrow they're ready to go back to school. Unfortunately, I woke up sniffling and sneezing, so I figure it's not long before I start feeling the effects of this cold, too. Oh well. We've been germ-free for a few months, so I suppose it's about that time.
Have you ever noticed that when you have a sick child everyone has a suggestion on how to help her? Yes, for the most part these people are well meaning. Still, when you hear the same advice over and over, it's enough to make you want to scream.
For instance, about a year ago, Sue Sue was sick. Sick. Sick. Sick. This culminated in a long (4+ hours) visit to the emergency room where we found out she had croup. Before I took her, on the advice of the on-call nurse, I sat in a steamy bathroom with Sue Sue. Then I took her outside in the cool air. I won't get into the science of it all, but this helps with croup. Except it didn't work this time. The next day I had to go to work. I clocked maybe four hours of sleep but knew I had to show up because in retail you don't call off the week before Christmas. People wanted to know why I looked so tired. I explained I was in the ER very late with a sick child. When they found out she had croup every stinkin' person told me I could have avoided a trip to the ER if I had just put Sue Sue in a steamy bathroom. Or taken her out in the cool air. To their credit, a few nights later when she was having problems again, those remedies did work.
Right now we have a cold/laryngitis/fever thing going through the house. Today I had two different people tell me I should take the girls out for fresh air so they'll get better faster. Yes, getting out of germ-ridden house definitely helps.... but not when your children are so exhausted they can barely muster the strength to do anything more than be on the couch.
I do appreciate advice, tips, suggestions to a degree. But when I am dealing with a sick child (or two or three or four) it's not always the best time to critique my parenting.
When Hubby and I bought our couch and love seat 10 years ago, we just kind of shrugged when the salesperson pointed out that they both came with a free stain repellent. Whatever. We had two cats, no kids, stain repellent? Yeah, I guess that's a good feature.
These days I'm pretty sure whatever stain repellent was put on the couch is long gone. The first time we spilled something on the couch we marveled at how it just pooled in little beads on the fabric. Clean up was easy. The first few times one of our cats yacked on the couch we were thankful for the stain repellent.
And then came quads.... During the last few years the couch has had numerous bottles and sippy cups full of milk spilled on it, it has been spit up on, peed on and barfed on (yes, there is a difference between spit up and barf).
Fortunately, the cushions have removable covers. Fortunately, said covers are colorfast in the laundry. But when the arm of the couch is involved in the assault, well, there's not much I can do. My current cleaning routine involves Woolite pet stain remover (even for kid-related problems), followed by a healthy dose of Febreeze. After this weekend's "festivities" (ie sickness), my couch smells like a combination of lavender (the Febreeze) and puke. I'm hoping one more cleaning will solve the problem.
For awhile we tried slip covers. Any mess can be removed with the slip cover and thrown in the wash. But the covers just don't stay on the couch. I have a hard enough time being motivated to make five beds each day. The last thing I want to do is "make" my bed and love seat each day, too.
I know I should buy a new couch... but why spend the money to defile a new couch when the old one works just fine!
When Hubby and I were getting ready for bed last night, I heard a knock on our bathroom door. It was Hubby. "Roo just threw up," he said. What?! I was JUST in there and she was fast asleep. I rushed into the girls' bedroom. Sure enough, she was sick. Everywhere.
I was up with her two more times throughout the night. No one went to school today. I'm just waiting for the next one. It was about this time last year that a massive bug worked its way through our house.
Roo has kept down some toast and a popsicle. I'm busy doing laundry. Let's hope this isn't the start of something serious.
Growing up I seemed to have the misfortune of being sick on holidays. In third grade I missed trick or treating because I was sick... and a few days later even ended up hospitalized due to dehydration. I remember being ill on Thanksgiving one year and sick with a fever one Easter. My senior year of high school I became ill on Christmas and wound up hospitalized that New Year's Eve with a kidney stone. Even last Christmas I was fighting some version of Sue Sue's croup and could barely talk. So it should come as no surprised to me that my daughters are destined to repeat my misery.
Minutes before we left the house to go to my in-laws on Halloween, Tortilla vomited everywhere, including on part of her costume. I cleaned her up and debated skipping the festivities. The poor thing was devastated. She insisted she was OK and could go trick or treating. So I caved and we left. She was fine in the car, but threw up when we reached our destination... still insisting she could handle trick or treating. She rested for a bit and was ready to go. All four girls ran from house to house, filling their buckets to the brim with candy. Then on the way home... well, by now you can imagine what Tortilla did.
It doesn't stop there. That night... it was my turn. In the morning... Cakes. At dinner... Sue Sue. Let's just say Hubby was going out of his mind trying to take care of everyone.
Today seems to be a better day. So far... knock on wood... everyone has kept down her breakfast. Due to snow days last week, the preschool Halloween party was postponed until today. I decided to keep everyone home... just in case. Let's hope the holidays for the rest of the year are little less eventful!
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When I picked my daughters up from preschool yesterday, I asked them what they did in school. Their reply? "A boy threw up." Oh no, here we go again. Preschool is wonderful, but it is a building full of germs.
It would be easy to point fingers at the parents of sick children. How could they send them to school? But let's be honest here, if your child throws up often times there is very little warning. When we began "BarfBash '09" this past January, it started unexpectedly. Earlier in the day we had a picnic lunch in the playroom. We watched a movie. We had fun. Then at dinner Sue Sue suddenly had a funny look on her face and barrrrrrf... right at the dinner table BarfBash '09 began. All six of us were unwilling participants in the "festivities."
A few months earlier Tortilla had pink eye. When I sent her to school in the morning there was no problem. Later in the day I looked at her and saw a swollen eye. Thank goodness the pediatrician's office was open for another hour and the nurse called in a prescription without asking to see us. How I managed to keep the other three from getting it is beyond me.
Child care is also a huge factor. When I have to call off work because my daughters are sick sometimes the managers act like they don't believe me. Believe me... I need the money. I'm not playing hooky. I imagine there are parents who send their children to school simply because they have to work. I'm not suggesting it's right, I'm just saying it's understandable.
I'm fully prepared for either BarfBash '09 2.0 or BarfBash '10. I'm just hoping and praying we get through this week of birthday celebrations. After that, germs, you are free to wreak havoc on our immune systems.
