SICK

So, a few months ago, I wrote a post about being sick while taking care of the kids. In that instance, I had a bad case of chills and aches that made me want to lay in bed wearing a hooded sweatshirt (hood up) while the children ran around like loons. But, as life is constantly trying to give me perspective, I realize I should've looked at that day like a little vacation at the spa. Because it surely can't compare to what just happened in our house over the past few days.

There has been a little stomach bug going around at my kids' schools. It's relatively short-lived, but even 6-8 hours of vomiting is 6-8 hours more than I like to deal with. In the middle of the night between Friday and Saturday, Lucy started. She spent the night puking in a bucket once an hour (Old Faithful) until the morning. During the day on Saturday, she was tired, but no longer sick. All day Saturday I watched the others for signs, but it appeared that some kind of miracle allowed the bug to only hit one of us. I know. It even sounds delusional to me.

By Sunday, Lucy was running around like the rest of the crazies, so we went about our business. We went to Patrick's basketball game. We got the house ready for the Patriots play-off game, and we invited company over to the germ factory.

The game was great - GO PATS! I ate lots of Chinese food and had a few beers (that I would later regret). In all, it was a fun evening. The first clue that we might not be ok was when Patrick didn't want any dinner. Then Sophie kept telling me the button on her jeans was making her tummy tired. Uh-oh.

Patrick went to my room which has its own bathroom. That's when he started. Sophie came down to complain about her button again. I asked her to go get daddy because I was holding Charlotte and didn't feel so good. She never came back. I went to find her (& hand off Charlotte) and she started getting sick. We rushed her into the other bathroom. Her getting sick finally sent my churning stomach over the edge and I started, too. Two people, one toilet. It's a real bonding experience. Please keep in mind that we still had company at this point. Don't worry. They left in a hurry.

That night, I had Patrick and Sophie sleep with me since we'd be closer to the bathroom. PJ and Sean slept on the couch to try to be as far away from the germs as possible. There's nothing quite like getting sick once an hour. The experience is only heightened by helping others while they get sick, too. To add insult to injury, Charlotte started at one in the morning. Seeing as she's only fourteen months old, she couldn't figure out why I kept pinning her arms and holding her over a bucket. Poor little thing. Needless to say, I didn't sleep at all. When you're waiting at attention for anyone in a bed full of sick kids to start throwing up, you really can't rest. My only concern was keeping it out of the bed. I just didn't have it in me to change sheets, too. Rinsing out buckets was bad enough.

Of course, around 2:30 in the morning, PJ came down to inform me that Sean had started, too. Since my bed was already full of me and three kids, they stayed on the couch and handled it down that end of the house.

All-in-all, it was an absolutely dreadful night. I hate getting sick and it was made horribly worse by the fact that I was caring for three others who were getting sick at the same time. Not only that, but as each of us succumbed, I was feeling guiltier and guiltier about inviting company to the house. I keep waiting for the awful news that one of our guests is sick, too.

So, yes, Universe. I'm sorry I complained two months ago about feeling achy and needing to lay in bed. I get it. It can always get worse.