We Survived Another One

They always seem to happen when you least expect it.  We started out having a nice weekend with Gary’s parents and cousin.  Then Saturday night Henry got sick with a tummy bug.  (As an aside, can anyone tell me why kids can’t get sick during the day when everyone is awake?)  Because I’m on Penelope duty, Gary slept upstairs next to Henry’s bed, but I don’t think did much sleeping until the sun came up.  I took over kid duty at breakfast and Gary slept in until lunchtime on Sunday.  Henry was tired and didn’t seem to have much of an appetite, but he didn’t get sick again.

At some point right after Gary got up I noticed a red knot on Henry’s head.  I talked to Gary and he said that Henry had hit his head lightly in the bathtub the day before, but that he hadn’t thought it was much of a hit at all.  I told Gary that Henry hadn’t hit his head at all on Sunday, and then we started worrying that perhaps Henry’s head was hurt worse than we thought the day before.  I immediately panicked thinking that Henry had thrown up due to a head injury and we quickly placed a call to our after-hours pediatrician and I was mentally preparing to go to the Children’s ER to do whatever one does to check out a kid’s brain.  Between the time that we left the message for the nurse and the time the nurse called back I remembered that Henry actually had fell out of my lap reaching for a toy and hit his head earlier that morning.  Oops.  We examined his head and decided it really was more of a rug burn than anything else.  I could have done without that stress on Sunday, even though it was all completely self-inflicted.  The rest of the day was pretty uneventful.

I knew from the two prior tummy bugs that Henry gets sick first and then the girls get sick two days later – Rosemary first then Piper.  But, everyone seemed to be doing so well that I didn’t think it was possible that Rosemary and Piper were going to be sick.  On Monday Henry was recovered and the girls seemed fine, so we went to Dreamland for lunch on Memorial Day.  All good.  We went home and everyone took a nap.  All good.  I started feeling a little queasy, but was sure it was all in my head.  Then . . . Rosemary got sick.  Uh-oh.  A few hours later, Piper got sick.  Then I felt more and more queasy.  I started frantically trying to do laundry and dishes and everything else that I knew I wouldn’t be able to do if I got sick.  At some point it became clear that I was truly sick. 

Of course Penelope picked that night to get up THREE times during the night, and I was terrified that she was about to show signs of the tummy bug.  Gary “slept” upstairs next to the girls, and I took care of Penelope and tried to take care of myself.  I was sick off and on until about 5 in the morning, and the girls stopped getting sick about the time that I did.

Tuesday I spent the day home with the kids.  Everyone was still tired and weak and probably a little dehydrated, so we watched movies all day.  Rosemary was particularly sweet.  I laid down on the couch, and the kids couldn’t believe that Mommy was going night-night.  I told them that I was sick, and they seemed quite concerned.  Rosemary immediately laid down next to me, and then brushed my hair out of my face over and over and then rubbed my back.  What is so sweet is that is what we do to the kids when they don’t feel well.  Apparently she has picked up on that and wanted to provide some comfort to me herself.  So sweet.  We all ended up falling asleep during a movie, then ate lunch and everyone took a nap that afternoon.  I later questioned whether I was going to make it through the day, but thankfully Gary got home from work just in time. 

I was so happy this morning when Rosemary woke up and announced that she was hungry.  All of the big kids seem to have their appetites back and are feeling so much better.  And I’m doing a ton better, too!

Gary and Penelope seem to have been spared of the tummy bug.  I don’t know whether I would have switched places with Gary, though.  Taking care of 4 sick people can’t have been any better than being sick!