A Bit of a Busy Week: Surviving Routines and Illnesses

In the grand scheme of things, everything is fine. But I sometimes wonder how. This past week we had so many balls up in the air: work, work commitments, doctor’s appointments, illnesses, plans changed last-minute due to illnesses…

Hubby had big events to cover Sunday and Thursday, and he needed to prep for both. Meantime, Babygirl was baseline cranky and not sleeping well all week. We both were up with her multiple times a night, and not sure why or what to do about it. Then I have to be up for work at 5:30 or so several days a week, and my workdays days have been longer than usual with a heavier patient and paperwork load. Babyboy and Babygirl are in school, granted, we’re talking preschool and daycare-school, but it’s a new routine for us… Nighttimes after they’re in bed, I’m downstairs trying to figure out what on earth they’re going to wear and eat and generally need to bring the next day.

And then midweek, I got food poisoning. It was, of course, Wednesday, the night before my day off. I was doing the post-bedtime kitchen-rummaging routine, making Babyboy’s (thankfully) sunflower seed-butter-and-honey sandwich. But while I was doing that, I spied a jelly jar in the back of the fridge that I hadn’t seen in awhile. It was this almost-empty old jar of fig marmalade that, in hindsight, was likely contaminated by Babyboy’s toddler fingers months previously. I thought it tasted a bit off, but it was still sweet, so I spooned up the last little bit and tossed the jar. A half an hour later I started to feel queasy… then the stomach cramps… and then I was in the bathroom half the night. Mmmm, Staph…or worse… I suppose I don’t really want to think about what may have been on Babyboy’s fingers that I then ingested.

That was the night before Hubby’s really big work event, and he was up cramming in prep work. (It was also the night before his birthday, which sort of got swept by the wayside…) He did check on me and brought me a glass of water, but really, what can you do for someone who’s heaving up their insides?

Around 2 a.m. I started to feel better. That was when Babyboy woke up, likely because of the sound of the toilet flushing repeatedly. I managed to lay down with him and rub his back ’til he fell asleep… Then Babygirl woke up. Hubby had to get up with her because I couldn’t carry her.

So next morning when the kids were up bright and early, we both felt like crap. Babyboy had an ophthalmologist’s appointment, and Hubby had this huge event he needed to cover. So, I managed to get Babyboy to the eye doctor’s.

He’s being followed for mild strabismus. It’s not that big a deal, though you can see that one of his eyes wanders, and it bothers him in the bright sunlight. She explained that the sunlight can exacerbate the symptoms and make it hard to see, which bothers some kids. He really does hate bright sunlight. She did all sorts of testing, and I marveled at the technological “equipment” in her fancy office. No basic eye chart here. She had a flat screen TV at one end of the room, and with the press of a specialized keypad, she could bring up an assortment of shapes, Elmo, or other cartoons. On either side of the screen were McGyvered animal toys set on little shelves, a piglet on one side and a doggie on the other, and with another press of her specialized keypad, she could make then oink and wiggle or bark and paw. She tested his vision using all of these contraptions.

The appointment was all over and done with in about twenty minutes total, and I’m sure they were able to bill insurance five times what I can bill for a forty-minute comprehensive physical with a pelvic exam and Pap smear. But whatever.

I managed to get the grocery shopping done, picked up a small gift of cologne for Hubby, and then get home… a bit weak in the knees. You know, the way you feel after you’re been throwing up half the night and then running around doing stuff and not hydrating well. Our babysitter was there with Babygirl, and Hubby was frantically trying to get ready for that event. I needed to lie down… but with the kids chaotically screaming downstairs and Hubby in and out of the room, I never really got sleep. Then he went off to the event, and the babysitter left.

As soon as she left, Babyboy ran to the kitchen. “Make cupcakes!” he yelled.

Now, we often do bake after the babysitter leaves on Thursdays. I felt like crap and it was 90 degrees out. But somehow I found myself pulling down the mixing bowls and getting eggs and butter out of the fridge… “Make cupcakes for Daddy’s birthday!” he yelled, over and over. It WAS Hubby’s birthday, and we really didn’t do much else for the poor guy, so I started getting everything together… Babyboy insisted on getting all the ingredients for chocolate chip cookies, though he insisted they had to become cupcakes. So, we made the cookie dough and made them in mini-cupcake tins. This was a bit of a mess, but it definitely occupied him for the afternoon… (and, the cookie-cupcakes were a total hit when I brought them to work!)

Nana came and helped me with bedtime… I was so, so beat, and I kind of called her and begged her to come. Nana got Babyboy down while I fussed with Babygirl… she went down but then spiked a fever… no wonder she’d been cranky all week. She was up crying and sweating every 30 minutes until I figured out to give her Tylenol for goodness’ sake. Hubby came home around 3 a.m., and then we were all up again at 5:30 a.m., me for work and Hubby with Babygirl. Hubby was a walking zombie. But my knees felt stronger.

While I was at work, Babygirl was with Nana, and she was feverish, pukey, and cranky all day. Hubby had a bunch of media stuff to do, I had another long clinic day, Babyboy had school; then we all converged upon Nana’s in the evening. When we got there, Babygirl was sort of listless, sweaty, radiating heat, cranky… We were worried until another dose of magical Acetaminophen took effect, and then she was in her high chair eating saltines and drinking liquid Jello… What a relief. Somehow we managed to have a family dinner (Takeout Chinese) and get home and get to bed. We dosed Babygirl with liberal antipyretics and tried to push fluids, and she was only up crying twice…

So, today, Saturday, we had planned to take the kids to the Children’s Museum. But, with Babygirl just starting to perk up a bit, and us all exhausted, we bagged that plan and instead have had a bit of a homey day. Some closet cleanout, a walk, playground time with Babyboy, and hopefully, a quiet dinner.

And a bit of blogging… Reflecting on how things are a bit busy, but overall, really, everything is fine.