Character Building Parent Style

Have you ever noticed how when something really sucks people say it is “character building?”  Given this definition, the last 24 hours, hell 48+ hours have been quite character building…and we are not out of the woods yet.

I mentioned Belén’s ear infection which was causing vomiting which we thought would be under control with a few doses of amoxicillin. Six doses later, we still have a whiny, unhappy kid on her hands.  I stayed home with her yesterday and felt really good about being there for her all day.  She slept quite a bit so I was able to get a couple hours of work in and even did a couple of phone screens for candidates applying to jobs in my organization.

Everything took a turn for the worse around 4pm when Andy called from work saying he was feeling a bit nauseous himself and that he was going to come home.  Great!  I was going to have two sick people to take care of.  Not that I wouldn’t do anything for both of them, but not something I was looking forward to.  Andy came home about an hour later with “sick food” including saltines, soup and Baby Motrin.  Within two hours, he was loudly praying to the porcelain God upstairs.  I finished up my dinner, continued to take care of Belén and dropped off some water and Gatorade to the bathroom.  By the time Belén went to bed at 7, I started to feel a little nauseous myself but I was hoping it was just the mental image of puking after hearing Andy go at it for so long.

Five hours later, when I found myself sprinting from the couch towards the bathroom, I knew without a doubt I had the same bug Andy and Belén had.  I didn’t believe it would hit me in the same way because I really hate to throw up and for some reason by hating to throw up, that would somehow make me exempt from actually doing it.  And actually doing it, I did, probably fifteen times the first round and another six in round two.  My body acted like it was giving labor to the contents of my stomach, expelling them from my being as if they were poison sucking the life out of me.  It is really incredible the force involved.  My ribs hurt bad today from the ordeal.

And of course, like anyone would feel, I hated every minute of it.  While Andy is content to puke on his own with no support from anyone, I appreciated that he was there for me, cleaning up the mess and talking me through it with small words of encouragement convincing me I would soon feel better.  And what better time for our washing machine to die…when it is full of puke-covered towels and articles of clothing.

When it was all said and done, I found myself back on the other side of the couch opposite from Andy.  My body moved into the chills phase as Andy was then on the tail end of the chills.  I sent an email to work saying I would be out another day and canceled all of my meetings.

At some point, night turned into day, Belén woke up and wanted to breastfeed.  My body ached so bad that I tried to find a position the minimized bone ache while feeding.  Andy was feeling quite a bit better than I was in the morning so he entertained Belén the best he could but it was difficult as she continuously crawled to me and wanted up even if she didn’t want to feed.

The day was incredibly LONG.  Daytime tv kind of sucks and I didn’t feel up to doing much more than sleeping or watching tv.  Belén was pretty unhappy and fussy all day even though she was no longer puking and her ear infection must becoming under control after a few days of drugs.  We are going to take her back into the doctor tomorrow because she ended up throwing up again tonight, her cough is sounding pretty “croupy”  and she is far from her normal, happy self.

As my Tylenol wears off, I am finding myself achy once again.  I have progressed from only being able to consume water to having a grilled cheese sandwich for dinner tonight.  I would really like to go to work tomorrow, but I would feel horrible exposing anyone else to this.  I will wait and see how I feel in the morning but the fact I still have a fever is making it not look good.  This has been a good reminder that any time I wish I didn’t have to go to work, I should remember the alternative.

It has been very difficult taking care of a baby, a sick one at that, while feeling like death myself.  Andy and I have done our best to suck it up and share the childcare responsibilities throughout the day but I have to admit it is nice when she is sleeping.  Poor little thing.  I cannot tell you how much I look forward to a smiling, wiggly, active, healthy baby once again…and two healthy parents able to keep up with her.

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Tagged as: childcare while sick, porcelain God