The Sickness Saga

Last Saturday's post talked mostly about Mia being sick with croup. Not fun at all. The virus stayed with our little one through Monday. It completely threw her off schedule. She was incredibly tired, cranky and clingy; she barely ate. I'm pretty sure she has lost some weight which isn't very good for a little one. She had awful diarrhea waking her up during the night and getting her incredibly messy during the day. We were easily doing at least one load of laundry a day for her clothes. It also led to an awful diaper rash for her which is painful. We kept her out of church on Sunday and out of school on Monday. Finally though, on Monday afternoon, it seemed she was back almost to normal, so we thought the germs were gone.

On Monday night, we put the girls to bed and then Ryan and I enjoyed a fantastic steak dinner on our new deck; it was a beautiful evening, and it was nice to have a nice, relaxing dinner together. We had the monitor out so we could keep any eye on the girls. Everything appeared fine, and about 5 minutes after the last time we checked it, we decided to go back in. When we opened the door, Lily was standing there bawling. I asked what was wrong and she said she had tried to go to the potty by herself to cough (aka throw up), but she couldn't make it; then she couldn't find us and was upset. Sure enough, the hallway from her room was covered in throw up, and she was pale as she could be. I held her for a few minutes while Ryan cleaned everything up and then we helped her back to bed. She stayed there the rest of the night.

However, at 3:30 that morning, Mia woke up and was crying out for Daddy. Ryan went in and she was absolutely covered in diarrhea. So, he helped her take a shower to clean her while I changed her sheets, disinfected the mattress, tried to get the smell out of her room and got clean pajamas out. About 4, we put her back to bed but then she woke up at 7:00, ravenous. Ryan stayed home with both of the girls on Tuesday; it was a rough day as they were both whiny from not feeling well.

On Wednesday morning, Lily threw up just a tiny little bit, so we decided to keep her out of school even though she seemed perfectly fine. She was thrilled when she learned she would get to come to work with me. Ryan already had other plans for the day, and since Wednesday was an extension deadline for my corporate clients, I needed to go in (Liz was sick in Birmingham and my parents are out of town). She asked to wear her favorite yellow dress. We brought some Color Wonders and the portable DVD player with us, and she did great being up there. She made me 5 or 6 pictures and decorated my office with them. She loved the water cooler and wanted to fill up her cup multiple times. She met several of my clients who stopped in, and they all loved her. We picked Mia up at 1 and then headed back up to the office for about 20 minutes to wrap up a few things that were due that day. We stopped in to see Wayne before we left and then headed home at 2 for naps. Both girls were exhausted and slept well. We all went to church that evening and Liz met us at home after that.

Other than Mia's diarrhea (which is just now starting to get better), I think we're all back to healthy. What a week and a half it has been though! Here's hoping this winter won't be germ-filled!