Sick Mommy

Well, whatever Hannah had, I got.....worse.

Friday night when I was reading to Hannah before bed I felt a little queasy. I decided to not work on cleaning the basement and instead to spend the night on the couch watching TV. I will spare everyone the details, but I'll just say that within an hour or so I was on the bathroom floor. I ended up making a huge mess that I had to clean up because Jon was out of town with our church youth group. I was so sick that at 10pm at night I called my mother-in-law and asked her to come in the morning to take care of Hannah all day. They couldn't get to our house until about 8:30, so I was praying that Hannah would sleep in.....and she did - she woke up promptly at 8:30. I managed to get up and we went downstairs. She was running around asking for waffles and milk and I asked her if she wanted to watch TV first. You should have seen the look in her eyes as she said "oh, sure!" It was the "oh my goodness, Mommy never does this" look and she ran to the couch. She laid with me while we watched something Mickey Mouse (after I found out what channels have kid shows on them - the only one I know is PBS, and Saturday morning it doesn't show kid shows!). When my in-laws showed up around 9 I told them Hannah needed to eat and fortunately Grandma Woolley took over with Hannah.

Hannah spent most of her day playing with Grandma and Grandpa. I spent my morning on the couch dozing on and off, and when Hannah went upstairs to go down for a nap, I did too. I asked my in-laws to get some Gatorade for me, since Jon's basketball stash was empty. When I got up from my nap, I had a piece of toast and 32 oz of Gatorade. That was my first food in about 24 hours. I was worried that I was a little dehydrated (especially since my urine was an orange-brown color!), but I just couldn't handle the thought of anything other than water in the AM (and didn't have any electrolyte drinks that I could easily get). I'd also assumed I would only have a 24-hour bug like Hannah and be fine by Saturday night.

Ron & Sally left to go home after Hannah went to bed on Saturday and after about an hour or two I realized that I wasn't going to be able to do Sunday on my own....so I called my parents. I probably should have called them earlier in the day so they could have come the night before, but I really thought I'd be better. Instead, my parents left their house in WV at 4am!! to get to our house by 7. Of course, Sunday morning Hannah didn't sleep in! She was up at 6:30, so when my parents arrived, I was once again on the couch with Hannah watching TV. My parents spent the whole day cleaning the house, doing laundry and dishes, doing our grocery shopping, and playing with Hannah. By lunchtime I had another piece of toast, and by dinner time I was able to eat a small meal. I don't EVER remember being this sick. My parents left after dinner to head home so my mom could work Monday morning -- they are such troopers!!!

I should also mention that Saturday night after dinner Jon called to tell me he felt queasy....yep....he got it too. He was in New York on a ski trip and ended his "puke free since '93" streak.... I think I had it the worst, but being away from home and being sick isn't easy for anyone either. He skipped one of the sessions with the youth, and then spent 6 hours in the car on the way home on Sunday (fortunately he didn't have to drive). He drove out to school to do his lesson plans and after trudging through the snow realized that he'd left his keys with me so that if he lost them skiing he wouldn't lose his school keys!! ARGH. So, he had to come home, switch keys, and then go back to school! Jon stayed home on Monday and by Monday evening the entire Woolley household had recovered. THANK GOODNESS!!

What really struck me during this time when we were all sick is how in the world you are supposed to be a mom and take care of others when you're really sick. I don't remember my mom ever being sick -- I'm sure she was, but she must really be able to "play through" because I don't remember her being down for the count. I'm also not sure how people do it who don't live near family -- I called in-laws and parents who drove 1.5 and 3 hours (respectively) to come and help out on zero notice. I don't think I really understood how good it was to live near family until we had a kid....and I'm thankful for that even more now.