Sunday, May 27, 2012

The plague...at least it seems that way.

I would imagine that anyone, with more than one child, has had the pleasure of dealing with sickness after sickness after sickness.  One child gets sick and it spreads like wildfire through the whole family.  It's tough when there are four or five members in the family.  It's tougher still when your household consists of seven people! 

You see, a 48hr. stomach bug can take up to two weeks to make the rounds!  Yes, you read that right...two weeks!  Actually, that is a conservative estimate.  I am not sure whether it would be better for everyone to contract an illness at once, therefore, ending it's length sooner or if it is better to only have to deal with one sick individual at a time.  If you are only dealing with one sick person at a time and it takes the next person a few days to contract the illness....well it can drag on for weeks! 

My husband came down with a stomach bug two weeks ago.  He was down and out for a day or two.  It began spreading from person to person, taking each one out for an average of two to three days.  It was brutal...not just the unmentionable yuck but also fever, chills and awful body aches.  After a week of dealing with nasty, I was beginning to feel as if I were living in a real life movie about a pandemic!  I had been cleaning up messes, wiping bums, changing gross diapers, filling up cups/sippy cups/bottles, taking temperatures and doling out Tylenol/Motrin for over a week.  I was on my last leg.  I had yet to come down with said virus and I knew my days were numbered.  The worst part was that my husband had a busy week at work that would allow him no wiggle room and no time to stay home and take care of me.  I KNEW I was going to get sick.  I KNEW there was no escape for me.  It was like a serial killer was stalking me, but instead of hacking me up and ending things quickly, he was going to make me suffer.

It began with a small headache when I went to bed.  I woke in the middle of the night to a sick baby and the headache had grown worse.  I downed some Motrin and fell into bed praying that somehow I would be spared.  I woke up to a queasy stomach to accompany my headache.  I knew I had lost.  I curled up on the couch and prayed I would be able to make it until 5 o'clock when relief would arrive.  The baby began getting sick all over the house and my body aches became awful.  I crawled as I carried the baby upstairs for a bath to clean all the yuck off of her.  I cried as I wrapped in her a clean towel and I tried not to let my teeth chatter from the chills I was feeling.  This went on and on for the entire day.  It was a long day.  It was a bad day.  I went to bed as soon as hubby walked in the door and I didn't stir until the next day.

Miracle of all miracles, I woke up feeling slightly more human.  I had hope.  I made it through the worst of it.  It took the baby another three days before she was back to her normal healthy self.  I was so thrilled that we were all healthy!  I had visions of a great Memorial Day weekend full of BBQs, swimming, yard work, baking, cleaning, etc....  Yes, I did notice that the baby's nose was a little runny yesterday.  I chose to ignore it.  Yes, she did seem a bit cranky.  I closed my eyes. 

Today....the baby has a head cold.  Here we go again.  I imagine it will take a head cold about three to four weeks to make the rounds.  God help me.

2 comments:

  1. You and the baby sick on the same day??? You poor thing! I'm amazed that you made it through that ordeal! The description of crawling up the steps with her and having chattering teeth as you bathed her -- it totally gave me chills just thinking about it. Here's hoping that nothing like that EVER happens again!

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  2. I think this is what morning sickness is for---preparing us for having to deal with sickness and still taking care of little ones.

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