Saturday, January 29, 2005

Well, it was inevitable that I'd get sick, but I'm a little surprised that I have strep throat. I woke up last night shivering and I had a fever. I piled an extra blanket on my side of the bed. This morning, I'm shakey feverish and exhausted. Then about an hour ago I got the telltale spot on my tonsil that says STREP! I'm waiting for the doctor to call me back. Sigh. I would get it on the weekend when I should be playing with my baby.

Grrrr. Argh.

Wednesday, January 26, 2005

This morning everybody seemed pretty healthy, so YAAY! Rich got up very early for a job interview. Eric figured out that he was in the shower and pointed to the bathroom door and said Da da? So, we went in there, and Rich peeked out of the shower curtain. Eric looked him up and down, leaned forward and shoved his plastic pirate ship into the bathtub with Rich. He nodded turned to me as if to say "My work here is done!" and turned to leave the bathroom. Rich was very pleased to have the pirate ship to play with in his shower.

So, the boy made it through a whole day at school. He even ate his lunch today. So Whoo HOO!

Monday, January 24, 2005

I may have earned some kind of new motherhood badge last night. Rich became violently ill around 2:00 in the afternoon. Then my tenants e-mailed to beg us to come over and blow out their driveway. This is fine, it's in their lease. But Rich was too sick to care for Eric if I went, and I don't know how to use the snow blower in any case. So I called Emily to beg her to come over and watch Eric so I could go get my Dad and he could use the snow blower to clear out over at Harrison Street. Of course Emily came over. She's that kind of friend.

So, I went out and shoveled out Rich's car when my Neighbor Ami said, "Want some help?" and sent her friends over to help me get Rich's car out. It was unbelievably kind of all of them. I wish I had a way to thank them.

So, I drove to my parent's house picked up my Dad and we went to Harrison street. They had SEVEN cars parked in the back yard. We allow three according to the lease, and it specifically says NO parking on the grass. So, it was much harder than it should have been to get it cleared out. Fortunately the blower had a full tank of gas because there were cars blocking the container where we keep the extra gas.

Anyhow, it took about a half hour or so but we got the driveway cleared. I took my dad home and ignored his backseat driving. I came home and managed to back into the hole where the car was parked before. The snow drifts around here are over my head.

Rich was staggering to the bathroom in my bathrobe. I knew he must have been feeling very poorly because his bathrobe is on the same hook as mine. He must not have had the energy to distinguish between the bahtrobes. Poor Rich. Em had just gotten Eric to bed and he was crashed. I was trying to clear out the chaos in the kitchen a little when I heard a sharp "something's wrong" cry on the baby monitor. I went downstairs in time to see him puking up his dinner onto his crib sheet. He was sobbing. So, I poured him a bath and got him washed down while Emily changed the sheets. I gave him some water. He was really thirsty and drank a whole cup of water in a short time. So, I put him down with a towel under his head and waited. Half another later, sharp cry, followed by more puking. This went on until four AM. I called the doctor, and he said to give him water a few tablespoons at a time. But he couldn't even keep that down. So, I just let him sleep. He'd wake up again about an hour later, and I'd give him some water and I'd hold him until he threw it up. On me. I went through many shirts last nigh. And countless jammies. It's all a blur. Finally around five, he kept down the water. It was so heartbreaking because I couldn't let him drink as much as he wanted. Then I gave him a little more every hour or so after that and he's kept it down. But once it started staying in his system, he was definitely less thirsty. This morning he slept until nine. Woke up and wolfed down some food.

he's been back asleep with one short break since 10.

I wonder if he'll sleep tonight.

But the good news is that Rich is back on his feet. I got to take a shower. BLISS!! And Eric seems to be on the mend. But it's scary how much weight a little dude can lose in a matter of hours. He's much skinnier around the middle than he was yesterday. So, Emerson is closed today so I don't have to feel guilty about not going in to work today. Rich had to miss a job interview because he was way too sick to do that. So, I'm hoping he still has a shot. But that job would be a hellish commute, so I'm hoping something else will come up instead. This whole process is just so frustrating. I really hope something good comes along soon.

grrrr arg.. tired.. so tired.