We had big plans for this weekend. They involved helping one adorable little boy celebrate turning three years old with our family. I made this cake...it's no masterpiece, and I won't be quitting my day job to join Duff on Ace of Cakes for a professional gig, but the cake DID actually look like a tractor. I have gaggles of green and yellow things that were all prepared for our tractor party. I spent Saturday making pulled pork and pasta salad to feed the folks we were expecting to see on Sunday afternoon. Some of it was supposed to go to Darla and Jeremy now that they're home with baby Daphney, but I'm hesitant to take it over there for fear that it's somehow contaminated. I wouldn't wish the following days' turn of events on my worst enemy, I swear it.
And then...just like that...we became the next victims of the flu. Swine flu? Probably. It sure sounds like the same bug everyone who has been diagnosed with the swine flu has had. Regardless, it was a nasty couple of days at our house. Joshua woke up from his nap on Saturday afternoon (looking back on it, the whole idea that he even took a nap should have been a sign of impending doom) throwing up. He did so from 3:00 pm until he finally conked out around 9:30. Poor little buddy was pretty pitiful. Nothing would stay down--- not popsicles, not a few sips of Gatorade, not toast, nothing. We revisited everything we tried.
In the middle of the night on Saturday (early Sunday morning), I woke up and realized that the fever had begun. Joshua was on fire. So we started Tylenol. Unfortunately, it didn't touch his fever after the first dose. I had been sleeping with Joshua in his bed to make sure that he was OK, but when Lauren needed to eat, Jason would come over until I was done. In between, I was changing clothes and washing my face and hands so that anything that Joshua had breathed on wouldn't be up against Lauren while she ate. Futile effort? Perhaps. But we did whatever we could to keep the kids separated and to disinfect ourselves before getting anywhere close to the baby. It was a tricky tight rope walk to be sure. I said to Jason on Saturday night that my gut was telling me to pack Lauren up and take her somewhere far away, but that just wasn't an option. By Sunday morning when we woke up, our little guy was sick sick sick. He didn't get off the couch all morning, sleeping most of it. His fever was really high--- to the point where you could feel the heat radiating from him when you even got close. He had that look in his eyes--- you know the one--- where there's no question that this little person feels downright awful. I wanted to cry every time I looked at him.
Sunday afternoon the fever returned with a vengeance--- 102-104 range--- and we began alternating Motrin and Tylenol to try to help him cool down. We even tried baths to cool him off. He slept and cried most of the night, but the combination of medicines seemed to help some.
Last night was better. He woke up this morning much less fevered and has been playing some this morning. He ate some breakfast, which is truly the first sizeable meal he's had since Saturday morning. He played himself out and is now resting upstairs in bed with Jason (who has also now come down with the same thing). We have to keep reminding Joshua to take it easy today, but we're thankful that he seems to be turning the corner a little bit. He's still coughing and it sounds nasty, but it's not scaring me quite as much as the hot as Hades fever he had yesterday.
My concern still centers on Lauren and how much I DON'T want to test her little immune system at 3 weeks old with a bug like this one. So far, she's not showing signs of being sick, but I know it can turn at any point. I'm saying many prayers for her safety and health, and for a lack of anxiety that won't do any of us any good. We've done what we can do in washing our hands and being as careful as possible.
Here are a few pictures of Joshua's #3 birthday yesterday. They break my heart. We have yet to cut into the tractor cake, and hope to do so today if he feels up to it. Otherwise, I might just need to make another one for him to enjoy.
We're hoping that we'll all be feeling significantly better as the day goes on. Thank goodness for Jason's ability to stay home with us today because keeping the kids separated while I'm here alone borders on impossible. As it turns out, he needed the day for his own recovery anyway.
I can't put up a post without a picture of the little lady for you to enjoy. She's as cute as ever, although a bit on the fussy side today. She's finally sleeping peacefully until her next feeding (which seem to be requested less than every 2 hours at this point) and I'm enjoying getting a few things done.
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