Okay, so as I laid in bed thinking (and not sleeping - more on that in a bit), I realized that this week could have been much, much worse. Our car could have broken down. Or the air conditioner quit working (it's been around 95 every day for a couple weeks). Or Paul could have lost his job. So really, even though things were miserable, in the scope of things - it probably wasn't that bad.
What made it seem worse was the fact that our Worst Week encompassed two holidays - Father's Day and my birthday.
Now about that not sleeping bit. Apparently just the fantasy of caffeine is enough to keep me awake. And not just me.... My just even thinking of fixing myself a cup of coffee (half-caff, even!) kept Jacob awake all day too. His normal schedule is 2(ish) hours after he wakes up in the morning, he takes a nap, then two hours after he wakes up from his morning nap, he takes his afternoon nap. Today he woke up at 7. He finally fell asleep at noon, slept until 1, and was awake the rest of the day. And not happy awake. The I-must-be-in-Mommy's-arms-constantly awake. So no more dreaming of caffeine for me.
So. On to what's been happening around here.
Last Thursday, Nathan woke up about 6:30. He wanted milk, and I was still exhausted, so I gave him milk and turned on the tv (like the great mom I am) and went back to bed (our room adjoins the living room, so I was right there). About a half hour later he comes in our room and says, "Mommy snuggle." So I pulled him up in bed with me and he laid there for a minute, playing with a car, then
cough, cough..... BAAAAAARF.In case you've never seen milk come up after it's been ingested, it's not pretty. And it stinks. And it was all over my bed.
I got him out of bed and into the bath. He threw up again while he was in the bath. A bit later, as I was changing clothes, he came into the bathroom and hung his head over the edge of the tub and threw up in the tub again. I went and got a mop bucket and told him to "spit" (what he calls it, after watching Jacob spit up so much when he was younger) in the bucket. He got to be quite the pro at getting it in the bucket, because he ended up throwing up pretty much every 10 minutes for the next 6 hours. Although, after about the 20th time of puking, he was so worn out he couldn't lift his head anymore, and I actually had to hold him upright to keep him from puking on himself. Around 11, I thought I saw blood in it, so I called the doctors office. The nurse spoke with our doctor, and the doctor said to take him to the emergency room to get fluids into him.
My sister met me at the hospital just after noon to take care of Jacob for me (kind of hard to leave him home when you're nursing). Of course it would be busy, so I was trying to discreetly let Nathan throw up in the waiting room. Not pretty. After an hour and a half in the waiting room, and another hour and a half in the back waiting to see the doctor (who was
very light on his toes, if you know what I mean), they finally got him started on an IV and gave him some anti-nausea medicine in the IV. He was such a champ getting the IV put in. They tried it his left hand, and he jerked and exploded the vein. So three nurses plus me held him down (he's a strong 2 year old), and they got it in his right hand. Then later, they had to come back and stick him again because they hadn't drawn enough blood the first time. He cried and hollered, but didn't try to pull it out. They also did an xray of his belly (to make sure he hadn't swallowed anything), which he did great at - holding very still. (Of course, he was feeling pretty crappy, so laying still probably wasn't that much of a struggle.)
I noticed the difference as soon as he started getting the fluids. He had been completely white - even his lips. The only part of his face with color was his little nose where he had a suntan. But as soon as they started the fluids, his lips plumped up and turned pink again. The doctor said the bug usually only lasts a day, so we figured the worst was behind us.
We left with a prescription for anti-nausea pills, and headed home to relax sleep. Paul had come home from work early - so thankful for that!
Friday, Jacob woke up at 6:30. As I sat in the chair nursing him, what do you think happened? That's right:
cough, cough.........BARF. Jacob didn't throw up nearly as violently or often as Nathan had been, but after 9 hours, and only one barely wet diaper, I called the doctor. She said that for someone so little that he needed to get some fluids, so I
again headed to the emergency room. They gave him an anti-nausea pill, and that seemed to do the trick. I was still worried about his being dehydrated, but the doctor I think was worried about putting an IV in one that small. They said since he seemed to be responding well to the medicine, to take him home and get him rehydrated. Which I was okay with not sticking him, but a little frustrated.... I'd called the doctor, she said to go to the emergency room, so I go, and I get a doctor's office diagnosis. But I have to pay God knows how much just to get that diagnosis, because it's in the emergency room.
Even though we were told this was a 24 hour bug, it was
not a 24 hour bug. Nathan threw up at least once every day until Tuesday. We had the anti-nausea pills, but only had 8 doses, so we tried to use them sparingly. Jacob threw up for three days (a couple times each day), I think (all the details are a bit fuzzy), and they both had diarrhea, which caused a horrible bleeding diaper rash. After the first two days when he was so weak, Nathan resumed going poop on the potty, but it freaked him out and hurt, and we're having a bit of regression now that he's well.
This week has totally blown our diaper budget. I had been doing so well using cloth diapers, trying to save money..... until this! I was using 2-3 disposable diapers per day TOTAL (both kids), and went to using 30 or more A DAY when they both had the diarrhea so bad. (As cheap as I am, I wasn't going to even attempt to keep up with cloth.)
We skipped church on Sunday, because Saturday night was so bad. But it turned out that Sunday everyone felt better, so I thought we were on the upswing. We spent some time outside, went for a walk with the wagon, played on the swings, and Paul mowed the yard. Then Sunday evening, Nathan threw up twice, and Paul started not feeling well.
After the boys were in bed, Paul finally threw up. It did not sound pretty. I can handle the boys puking in front of me, and even on me, but I had a hard time listening to Paul. As soon as I heard the first heave, I jumped out of bed on the pretense of getting him a wet cloth. I did empty the bucket for him, and then I liberally sprayed the bedroom with disinfectant.
Monday morning I got on the phone to the doctors office and begged for a prescription anti-nausea med for Paul, too. They actually did call one in for him, without wanting to see him. The pills helped with the actual throwing up, but he was still weak and miserable until about Wednesday.
Did I mention right in the middle of this was my birthday? Things were getting better on Tuesday, but it was still pretty lame - possibly the worst birthday I've ever had. Paul did wish me happy birthday first thing, but I didn't get to enjoy him staying home from work since he was in bed the whole day. I didn't even get to fix myself my once-a-year feast: fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and gravy. (All things Paul hates, so I only am allowed to fix them on my birthday.) I did get to escape the house for an hour or so that evening and go into band practice. (And I'd like to disclaim: I'm not necessarily one of those people that wants or needs anything special on my birthday.... I just would like to not have to clean up poop and puke.)
By Wednesday evening, we were all doing better. No barfing. Nathan had a "real" poop. (Mommies get excited about these things.) Paul was feeling better. Things were looking up. I went to bed, then Jacob woke up just after midnight. He started to nurse, then pulled away crying. I switched sides, and he did the exact same thing. So I turned the light on and looked in his mouth, thinking maybe he'd bumped his lip or bit his tongue. His tongue was red and bumpy, and he had white patches all over the inside of his cheeks and down into his throat. He had
thrush. I got him rocked back to sleep, and went back to bed, worrying. We were barely getting him hydrated as was, with the diarrhea. Now if he couldn't nurse..... By morning, though, Nature was on his side, as I was so full, he didn't really need to latch on well. Just as long as he was in the general area, it pretty much was pouring down his throat. I got him into the doctor that morning, and he prescribed him some medicine drops that he has to get 4 times a day. It says right on the bottle "thrush may take several months to fully cure." Lovely.
Then to top all this off, apparelty because I missed the bullet on the gastroenteritis (the name for the virus they all had), I come down with a yeast infection. My second in two weeks. Apparently something is up with my body, so I went to the doctor for this one. So now I have a prescription, too. We've been to the pharmacy 5 times in a week. They probably think I have some prescription drug abuse problem.
So that's my worst week. I shudder to think how much we owe in doctors bills, hospital bills, and lab work.
Now I am working on putting the house back in order. Even though I didn't leave the house for 5 days straight, I did pretty much nothing in the way of housework. So now I have to clean up our mess, so that I can mop and disinfect. It's getting there. I still need to do the kitchen, half the bathroom, and the floors in those two rooms and the dining room. Everything else is done. But the laundry.... I did several loads each day, but every load consisted of blankets, sheets, towels, and whatever clothing had the poop or puke on it. The pile is - not even joking - shoulder high on me, with that much again piled on the floor next to the actual hamper.
Sorry the rambling entry. I'm still fuzzy, and needing to get caught up on sleep. But when I try to go to bed, I just toss and turn. So I thought I'd do something productive, and write.
Sigh.
Paul tried valiantly to stay awake, but only lasted about an hour before he fell asleep. We let him go to bed.
