Ugh

What a week…I thought we knew what being “sick” was when Charlie had a 3 week cold, but add in a bronchial infection AND an ear infection (with a popped ear drum) plus a super sick mom and sick dad and all I can say is UGH. 

I should have known it was coming.  Last Friday when we picked Charlie up from school there were only 3 kids in his room and his teacher.  She was going on and on about how much fun they had today with such a small class.  I asked where everyone else was…well they were out sick.  Perfect.  So the last 4 days they were all here  infecting each other and Charlie had just yet to catch any of the new bugs. 

That evening we went to the annual Carter Christmas party that Jimmy hosts and were going to play it by ear to see how long our little man could last.  Of course he looked pretty stinking cute in his outfit with his Uncle Pat and Nana and Papa B….

…however, after just an hour of being there he was beat, rubbing his eyes.  The weird part?  He barely gave anyone any smiles.  So not like him, as he’s usually super smiley.

So off to bed mom and baby went.  He went down great and was then back up when drunk dad tried to go through the locked front door after very specific discussions and text messages saying that I would leave the BACK DOOR unlocked.  (the front door that he tried to “break” in caused Toby to wake up and protective bark for like 10 minutes – hence Charlie wakes up)  Saturday he was feeling ok, but not smiley and fussy at bed time and then Sunday, well that was it.  Mom and Charlie were both super sick.  We skipped the Carter chief’s game and just let Jimmy go while we hung out in our PJs on the couch.  Screaming, fussing, sleeping…it was quite the pattern.

One of our peaceful sleepy moments.  Poor kid.

Willy enjoyed the day laying in front of the space heater.  ALL DAY.

I talked to my mom and she said she would be able to stay with him at our house on Monday because she only had early morning appointments, which I took her up on her offer because he started to run a fever.  But I was trying not to be THAT first time mom and run him to the doctor right away.  We had already taken him in twice and it was “just a cold”, so I didn’t want that to happen again.  So the plan was for my mom to come over in the morning and stay with him and I’d call the doctor and talk to them. 

He slept SO well on Sunday night.  Like almost 11 hours without waking up one time.  Monday morning came and immediately after I stood up after his morning feeding he threw up ALL over me.  Like I’m not talking a little throw up.  Like I was cleaning up the floor in his nursery in addition to the fact that my entire tanktop and sweat pants were literally soaked.  So bad that I had to jump back in the shower to rinse off.  Poor kid.  That was when I said I don’t really care at all about the first time parent’s syndrome and we would take him into the doctor right at 8AM for walk in appointments. 

We were third on the list and poor kid was patient even though he continued to hock up a lung and snot rolling out.  Once we saw the doctor she said he had a bronchial infection and that she would just take a look in his ear to make sure.  Welp – there was an ear infection in his right ear and even worse his eardrum had popped.  I told her I was so surprised that he slept well last night, as she dug out the puss and grossness out of his ear, but she said he was probably relieved because the pressure was relieved.  So we got some antibiotics and eardrops and off we went.  He stayed with Nana B the rest of the day (we had quite the time getting him to swallow the antibiotics…) and was feeling a little better at the end of the day.  However, that night he was STILL running a fever, so Jimmy volunteered to stay home with him on Tuesday.

Tuesday, I went to the doctor myself.  Apparently I haven’t gotten sick in a while because the last time I went was pre-Carter in March 2010.  Wow, guess a baby does that to you.  No bronchitis for me, which is good but still have a cough that is keeping me up and still so congested.  I got my inhaler and she gave me some ideas for natural remedies since I’m nursing.  (it's funny how life doesn't stop as a mom...guess it's a good lesson to learn now...)

We STILL can’t figure out how to give him his medicine – shoot the kid gets it in his mouth and then just spits it back up!!  But Charlie was feeling much better, so it was back to day care on Wednesday for him. Guess there were lots of other kids that hadn’t been there all week also!!  He didn’t eat hardly on Wednesday at school… which turned into a disastrous Wednesday night.  Poor kid kept waking up and was starving from not eating during the day and then poor mom and dad were just exhausted from being sick.  Bad combination for everyone. 

Pretty sure I was a walking zombie on Thursday at work.  My head felt like it was going to blow up and I had the chills and a horrible cough.  I checked and didn’t have a fever, so that was good.  But at my lunchtime pumping – I literally almost fell asleep sitting there.  Cue me going home and taking a nap and PTO in the afternoon.  And what a glorious nap it was.  Just 2 hours and I felt like a new person.  Luckily we drove separately that day and Jimmy had a work happy hour in Waldo, so I headed there to see him at 4:15 and pick him up.  Mama felt like a new woman.  He went to bed like a champ and didn't wake up until 4AM on Friday morning, ate and then right back to sleep so mom and dad could pack for their trip to Iowa.  Woke up at 7:15, ate and puked up his medicine on mom (this is a common occurrence now) and then off we went to meet Papa Rog for our 6 hour long drive!!  Quite the day.  With just 3 stops...(haha) we made it in a good time and Charlie had a GREAT time meeting his great grandma and great grandpa.  I got some video with both of them, but no pictures - YET.  That's a must do for tomorrow. 

Watching him roll over...then TRYING to get back.  So cute.

TWINS!

I'm still pretty sick and it sucks that I cannot take much medicine...BUT I am finding some natural cures that kind of work.  This whole Nedi pot?!?  I have been trying that.  But I will say - Jimmy needs to get back to this hotel room now with some lotion Kleenex.  I have been blowing my nose non-stop with not-soft stuff and I look like Rudolph!!  So sick mom is in bed in the dark hotel room blogging while baby Charlie is sound asleep and Jimmy and my dad are off at the Alta basketball game.  I think this is my cue to go to sleep to rest up for more family time tomorrow!!

In sad news, I'm just broken apart completely at this tragedy in Connecticut.  I started typing this "self pity" blog post earlier in the day and as I'm finishing it up at night I'm sitting here with an aching heart.  You better believe that I held Charlie extra close all night long and let him fall asleep on my chest just because I wanted him to be close to me.  So many prayers and thoughts go out to all the families that were affected.  Those that lost their children...I cannot even fathom.  It pains me to even think about that.  And those who's children were witnesses...their lives and innocence will never be the same.  And those whose mom/dad/uncle/aunt/daughter/son/etc. was an adult victim...I'm praying for you.  

All of that makes me thankful that I'm sick as a dog lying 5 feet away from my sweet sick son.  Life is so precious.