Monday, February 14, 2011

The Way It Often Goes

When Friday rolls around, I find myself excited for the weekend.  No alarms, Ryan to help with the kids so I can shower without wondering what is being destroyed, maybe get Emma and Elizabeth's room cleaned....  You know, typical weekend stuff. 

So 3 am Saturday morning arrives, and I am sound asleep when I hear a bed creaking, and the pitter patter of little feet.  "Mom?  Dad?  I feel sick!"  Ryan hops out of bed (he's closest to the door) and helps Elizabeth to the toilet.

This is repeated a couple times when we grabbed a bowl for her, so she could sit on the toilet. 

Clearly, there will be no more sleep that night.

Honestly, this was the worst bug we've ever had.  Usually the worst of the symptoms subside after 4-6 hours and then we are on the mend.  This went on for 15+ hours.  I spent the entirety of Saturday in the bathroom with Elizabeth.  It got so bad, Elizabeth was too weak and had to ask for help to get to the toilet.  At about 8 pm we decided we'd better take her to the ER for dehydration.  She had two bags of fluid administered via IV.  I got a call from Ryan at 12:30 am Sunday morning saying Elizabeth was finally being released.

Sunday morning came along, and although Elizabeth was no longer throwing up, she was by no means better.  She had a fever (which was new since the day before) and we were administering generic Immodium.  Oh, and we were really, very tired.  Ryan took a shower after lunch and fell asleep in there.  So we didn't go to church. 

At about 3 o'clock, not knowing what Valentine's day would bring (as in more kids getting the flu), I started Valentine's day dinner.  I made stuffed manicotti and salad.

 (And no, I don't think I brushed anyone's hair yesterday.  Judge me if you dare.)  Elizabeth didn't eat, but we pulled up the rocking chair so she could blob comfortably by the rest of us.
And I made chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.  I almost had an emergency- couldn't find any chocolate cake mix!  I did find one last box hiding in the back of the cupboard.  Whew.  (By the way, I love the Cupcakes from the Cake Mix Doctor cookbook.  It is divine!  You can turn a cake mix into something that tastes delicious and homemade.)

Elizabeth slept in this morning until 8 am.  When she did wake up, she said she was so thirsty.  I felt like this was a good sign, after forcing her last night to get any small amounts of liquids down her throat.  I let Elizabeth have a 1/4 cup of 7-Up and waited 15 minutes.  She begged for more, so I let her have some.  And it all came back, all over the couch and floor.  Oh brother.  So Elizabeth has been to see the doctor this morning, and we have some anti-nausea meds now.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed it works!

Elizabeth is so disappointed she is missing her Valentines Day party.  I signed her name for her on her Valentine cards (since we never got around to doing it this weekend, for some odd reason) and we dropped them off in the front office in hopes they will make it to her classroom and someone will hand them out.

In any case, my Valentine's Day date is indefinitely postponed.  I'm trying to come up with a fun activity to do for Family Home Evening this evening instead.  Wish me luck!

2 comments:

Valerie said...

One idea - you could Heart Attack... give paper cut out hearts and have the girls do nice things for each other and leave hearts in place. We did this as kids. Also you could have a competition to see who can cut out the best looking hearts. Or another idea you could have them decorate their doors with hearts or even their bedrooms.

Michael said...

Hope your upcoming week goes a lot better than that!