When Daddy's Away . . .

The whole family will . . . get sick. It started on Halloween. Declan started getting sick - really bad congestion and he was obviously not feeling well because he was becoming fussy all day long. Then I woke up Saturday morning feeling sick - congestion, sinus pressure, and sinus headaches were the main problems. Then it was Sunday November 2, and Tom had to head out to Harlingen, TX for a 2 week rotation. I was a bit worried with me and Declan sick. By Tuesday he'd been diagnosed with an ear infection, but I felt we were on the way to recovery; fortunately things hadn't been too crazy, and we were making it alright.


Then came Sunday. My parents were in town for the weekend to help while Tom was gone. On Sunday afternoon as we were getting dinner ready, Shelby started having these breakdowns. She hadn't been to bed late, so I was trying to figure out what was going on. After the 3rd meltdown, I had her come give me a big hug, and the moment her head touched me I KNEW she had a fever. I checked, and sure enough she was running a 101 temp.

The next day she stayed home from school, but she wasn't the only one who was sick. Declan had had a bad night and was starting to have a runny nose, so I figured he'd gotten it too. I felt awful when I woke up and was running a fever. I ended up holding Declan for about 3 hours in the afternoon so that he could nap. He still had a hard time, but he definitely got more sleep in my arms than he would have otherwise.

By Monday evening Taylor started running a fever. Later that night after I'd given medicines I was sleeping on the couch (I CANNOT sleep in my bed when Tom's gone and find I can get some sleep on the couch) when I kept hearing a sneeze here and there. I looked around for the kid it was coming from but couldn't see anyone. I finally found out where it was coming from. While I was sleeping, Taylor had crawled onto the couch and fallen asleep between the couch cushion and the back of the couch.

By Tuesday morning Payden was running a fever, so at that point all the girls were running fevers. I just can't believe my luck . . . Tom goes out of town for 2 weeks and we get our first family illness in a LONG time . . . and it's a nasty one - fever, congestion, runny nose, coughs, sore throats.

So now we're trying to get through it. I've switched into taking-care-of-sick-family mode. Of course with me being sick too it's not very easy, but we've had sooooo many family illnesses that I know I can handle it. It won't be easy (and not very fun), but doable. So what is life like? The days are filled with taking medicine, watching movies/tv, and fortunately some playing as the medicine kicks in and gives the girls some relief. Nights are a bit more difficult, especially because of Taylor. For some reason, Taylor runs a fever much higher than her sisters. If they're running a 101 fever, then hers is 103 or 104. It's absolutely frightening. For some reason, nighttime the fevers run higher, so nights are filled with taking medicine every 3 hours (for Taylor and sometimes Payden) and every 6 hours for Shelby. Then there's the occasional bath for Taylor to get her fever to stop rising while the medicine is kicking in. Unfortunately for me, by the time I'm ready for bed it's about an hour or less before I need to give medicine so then I debate whether to go to sleep or just wait. With Declan waking up to feed a couple of times a night (he's had bad nights as he's been sick and is not back to waking once a night yet), my nights end up being really crazy, which is not helping with my own recovery.

Fortunately Shelby is getting better, so hopefully the others will get better soon as well. Tom returns tomorrow night, and it will be so nice to have him home. For now we're just making it through each day. We'll survive (and most likely with my sanity intact); we'll be in survival mode for awhile, but we will definitely make it. For now I'll just have to look forward to the night when I can actually get a good night's sleep. I can't wait.