Germs, Germs, Go Away

Two weeks ago, I picked Baby R up from the sitter's, and she was lethargic. I asked her if she was feeling ok, and she said she was, but when we got home, she didn't eat dinner. Baby R likes her food. So i took her temperature and she had a fever. My poor baby. We spent the next day lying on the couch watching tv and sleeping. Her fever finally broke that evening. I had to keep her home the next day as well since she had to be fever-free for 24 hours before going back to daycare.

I thought we were in the clear since everyone else was fine the rest of the week. But then last Monday night I started to feel feverish. I had a hard time falling asleep because I kept hearing a hooting. Or a howling. Or something that sounded like my babies wailing. So I would get out of bed and stand in the hall outside their room listening. It drove me nuts until around 1am. Then I had just fallen asleep only to be awakened by the chirping of the alarm on our house.

Our alarm requires a landline, and we have ours through our cable company. This has happened before. The cable company tests the line or something, I don't really know. But the landline stops working, so the alarm goes offline, and it beeps at 10-second intervals until you turn it off. And then they finish testing it, and it starts to beep again. So you have to turn it off again. There's a keypad in our bedroom, so it's impossible to ignore.

Since I was sick, DH was sleeping in the spare bedroom, and couldn't hear it. In the past, this has been the one thing he's dealt with in the night. Crying/bedwetting/puking babies - all me. But he has always dealt with the alarm. For the next couple of hours, I got up, shivering from the chills, about every 15 minutes to reset the freaking alarm. I was almost in tears the last time, and finally stumbled down to the hall to the spare bedroom to ask DH for help. He called the cable company. He called the alarm company. He thought he got it resolved. Thirty minutes later, it chirped again. He called everyone again. Finally, around 4am, he just unplugged the stupid thing. Which was good, because I was about to rip it out of the wall with my bare hands.

Got the girls up and on their way, and went back to bed. Fever and chills all day Tuesday. Tuesday night, my throat and my ear started to hurt. Wednesday morning, I called the doctor's office since I thought I might have strep or an ear infection. While I was waiting for them to return my call, my fever broke. Went in and had a throat culture done which came back positive. Got my Z-pak and went home and back to bed.

Thursday morning, S started coughing. I asked her if she felt ok, or if she thought she was getting a cold. She said she wasn't sure. I decided to keep her home because I was afraid she would get to school and then a fever would start. No sense in exposing all the kids before the long weekend. (They didn't have school Friday.) She probably could have gone to school; she did have a stuffy nose and cough, but played normally. I was exhausted and told her if she stayed home, we wouldn't be doing anything fun, just sleeping. Which is what I did the whole day. She colored and played on the iPad while I slept in the morning, and played quietly in her room during nap time in the afternoon.

When I picked Baby R up from the sitter's that afternoon, she said she (the sitter) had chills but didn't think she had a fever (never heard of that), so I was pretty sure she would be calling to say she couldn't watch the kids Friday morning. Which she did. Thankfully I had a little bit more energy on Friday, but not enough to do anything except stay awake all morning.

Saturday, I felt well enough to shower (thankfulness from everyone for that), but I was wiped out afterward. We were supposed to go to the pumpkin patch, but my lingering illness combined with S's cold and the fact that it was raining nixed that plan. That afternoon, S seemed a little less energetic, so I took her temp, and she had a low-grade fever. Sigh. DH and I were supposed to go to a shower, but I stayed home with the girls and tried to keep things disinfected. I hadn't had the energy to clean anything yet, so I was (am) terrified that we won't be able to keep this from making another round. I didn't get tired as quickly in the evening as I had been, so I got a little bit of stuff cleaned up.

Today, I felt more like myself. Well enough to use my ballet ticket which I was worried was going to go to waste. I felt guilty leaving when there was so much cleaning that needed to be done, but I also just needed to get out of the house for awhile.  The weather was nice, so DH mowed and took the girls outside to play. I think we are all a bit better off for that. Will tackle cleaning tomorrow. And pray that no one else gets sick this week!

My Roles

Woman

Wife

Mama

Comforter

Scheduler

Chef

Housekeeper

Washwoman

Parental caretaker

Daughter

Daughter-in-law

Sissy

Half-sister

Sister-in-law

Niece

Aunt

Cousin

Friend

Christian

Parishioner

Designer

Employee

Small biz owner

Writer

September Recap

Wow, I don't think I've missed an entire month before. September was... difficult. My dad was in the hospital for two weeks. During that time, my mom stayed with us. Dad was in congestive heart failure and a-fib. He's home now with a life vest that can shock him if need be until they upgrade his pacemaker with a defibrillator. Mom did better staying with us than I expected, but there were some disturbing moments when she experienced some long-term memory loss in addition to her usual short-term issues. Thank goodness for our kids who provided levity.

In the midst of the chaos with Mom and Dad, their homes association decided to repave their driveway. The last day they were working on it, Mom, the girls and I stopped by to pick up her meds and a change of clothes. When we were walking out, the mason was using a tool to mark the final line through the pristine concrete. S and I had gone down the hill to where the van was parked on the street so my back was to Mom and Baby R, who was latching the front gate by the patio.

Suddenly, I heard yelling and turned around. Baby R had run down the top half of the driveway which had dried the day before and continued on into the freshly poured and completed bottom half, slipping and falling forward, destroying the mason's work and covering her shoes, legs, hands and arms in concrete. I was furious at her for running through there despite everyone telling her to stop, embarrassed and feeling badly about it ruining the construction worker's efforts, and worried about getting her cleaned up. I grabbed her and raced back into Mom's house, stripped her down and sat her in the sink. She was crying. I was consoling and cleaning her. And slowly, finding the humor in the moment. Because honestly, more than anything else, it was freaking hysterical. And I totally needed a laugh right then.

The doctor's decided that the bottom part of Dad's heart isn't viable, so a bypass was off the table. He decided he should quit his job driving work-release prisoners from the prison 60 miles away to the warehouse near their neighborhood since the doctor said "instant death was possible at any time." It was sobering news for all of us. He was very depressed when he first got home.

Thank God for my half-sister, D. She helped me so much with my mom. My younger sister came home from St. Louis to help me start cleaning out Mom and Dad's house so we can try to put it on the market and get them moved into a retirement community. I feel so terrible for her; she feels guilty for not being here to help more. But, life is just life. Nothing to feel guilty about.

Dad ended up getting his job back when the doctor cleared him last week. Sigh.

The other funny thing that happened when Mom was staying with us was also courtesy of Baby R. We were eating breakfast one morning and I said that the girls were being silly, and they got their silliness from Daddy and Grandma. Totally out of the blue, Baby R said, "Daddy's so silly; he clogs the toilet!"

You should have seen the look on my mom's face. I couldn't help myself, I busted out laughing. Poor DH wasn't even in the room. He came in a minute later, and I said, "Hey, honey. Guess what your sweet daughter just said?" He about died. Kids say the darnedest things, don't they?