Man! It has been a tough week. Both the boys and I have been sick, yucky sick.
I have been pretty lucky so far with the boys health. BBJ1 had runny noses when he was teething, but was pretty healthy the first year until he hit daycare. Within the first couple of months of starting daycare, he had croup, an ear infection, a cold, and one night of dreadful vomiting, other than that he has been healthy. During all of those sicknesses exHusband was here to share in the care-giving. We took turns taking time off work to be home with BBJ1, even sometimes splitting the day. We both cleaned vomit, we both cleaned the nose, we both held him and rocked him to make him feel better - we shared the load. This is the first time that BBJ2 has been sick.
It started with BBJ2, and for the first 2 days, I could rarely put him down, he was either nursing or in my arms. Those days were exhausting, it is hard almost constantly holding the baby, while also trying to keep a toddler alive. Then BBJ2 started to get better, he was crawling around, but he still wouldn't eat any solid food which means lots more nursing than normal. As BBJ2 was getting better BBJ1 started to become sick. I must say the kid is such a trouper, diarrhea & vomiting and not one complaint from him, just demands to clean the mess. He was exhausted, slept more than normal and was unbelievably calm. It was like a little holiday for me that made me very sad.
I get scared when my kids are not feeling well. I was taking temperatures constantly. I was watching them like a hawk. There was more than once when I was on the verge of packing them up to go to the hospital or the pediatric walk-in clinic. There was no need to take them, they were just sick, but it really freaks me out when they are not o.k.
I was also exhausted. The first night of BBJ2's sickness, I didn't sleep and he barely slept, I don't remember if the sleep got any better for the following nights. Diaper changes were occurring about 4 times more frequently than normal. I had to do laundry so that we would all have clean sheets in our beds, then had to laundry the next day so that they would have clean pajamas, they were going through them so fast. I was constantly trying to clean everything to make sure that the germs weren't going back in to them.
Then I got hit with it, just as they both were through the worst of it. Bloody rough. Most of yesterday I was fighting to not pass out and leave the 2 of them fending for themselves. BBJ1 was now fully recovered and was jumping on me, on my nauseous belly, and would not calm down. I tried explaining that mommy was sick like he had been - he did not give a rat's ass.
I know that if I wasn't a single mother, it still would have been hard dealing with all of the sickness, but I missed having that in person second opinion (I think that it is pretty hard to understand how sick someone is by text message), I missed having an extra pair of hands to help with the heavy lifting, I think the boys missed having the second person to hug, while I was busy with the other one. The being sick myself is completely different without a partner, I remember exHusband staying home from work when I was on mat leave with BBJ1 when I was really sick, so that BBJ1 would be taken care of properly and so that I could recuperate better.
How do you handle sickness in your home? Any tips for the next time?
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