Stomach Flu

Friday I drove Michelle and Josh down to Orange, CA to meet up with the Moody's for their SoCal family vacation. The drive was pleasant, even with the traffic. Saying goodbye to Michelle was ridiculously hard, she and I have become so close, and knowing that I more than likely won't see her again before they move to Missouri made it almost unbearable. Thankfully, I know she's in good hands. As if saying goodbye wasn't hard enough, the traffic on the way home made it worse (although thanks to GPS I was able to take the least congested route home), and then the kicker: about 20 miles from home Olivia threw up. Saving you the details, it was a lot. Poor girl, strapped in her carseat, covered in grossness, crying, and I'm stuck trying to turn off of PCH. Thank goodness I had been prompted to take PCH (and not only by my GPS), I couldn't imagine doing what I had to do on the shoulder of the 405. That was tender mercy #1. Tender mercy #2: I just happened to have beach towels in the trunk and a plethora of wipes; I even had a change of clothes for Liv, although I opted to keep her in just a diaper in case of a relapse. 30 minutes later we were back on the road, 25 minutes after that we were home. I could tell my little munchkin was NOT feeling well. Super clingy, sensitive, turning down all food and drink (even gatorade!). Tender mercy #3: Aaron came home in time to help me get her bathed and clean, she screamed through the entire process, but we survived. After a little Toy Story 3, she was sound asleep in bed. I thought the worst was over.

Wrong.

It was Saturday before I started to feel ill, and by Monday I had developed a full blown case of the stomach flu. Yuck. I haven't had the stomach flu since I was a kid. Literally. Olivia was still not quite herself Saturday, but she had recovered completely by Sunday - so I figured she had just eaten something that didn't settle well. It occurred to me Monday that it hadn't been bad food, but rather, the stomach flu. Kids just have some amazing healing powers when they're little. I got so sick that I broke down and called Aaron at work Monday evening. Thank goodness for a sweet sweet hubby who arranged his affairs at work quickly and was able to come home. He completely took over caring for Livi, including getting her dinner and taking her on a walk, and in addition, he cleaned the front of the house. Amazing man. After Liv was down, he was sure to take care of me, and even made a late night run to pick me up some Gatorade. I couldn't have survived the night without him. Tuesday I was in the doctor's office, and a few Zofran later, I was feeling much better. And today, I'm feeling great. Heck, I was even went out to Pier Burger last night and ordered me and Liv a hamburger, fries and a chocolate shake; c'mon, I hadn't eaten in 3 days.

So, why this post? Who really cares about the stomach flu anyhow? Right? I write it to share this: I have never felt so helpless in taking care of Livi. How do mothers do it? My solution? Call Aaron. But what if he hadn't been able to come home? What would I have done? Stepping outside the drama of the situation, I would have survived - and so would have Olivia, but we wouldn't have been happy before, after or during. There I was, so sick that I ended up just sitting on the floor of the bathroom, and tried to explain to Livi why I couldn't go outside and blow bubbles, couldn't make her Mac n Cheese, couldn't pick her up, couldn't, couldn't, couldn't. Olivia understands so much - but all she understood from my rambling was that I wasn't helping her. She broke down in tears, and then of course I followed suit. She's 20 months old! Poor girl. We are hoping to have more kids, and as I sat there all I could think was - how could I ever do this with more than one little person?! I thought of my mom - with 4 kids and a hubby who traveled a lot - how did she do it?! Super powers. I'm convinced.

I admit, I on the other hand have no super powers - but I do have a secret weapon: Toy Story 3. Yes. Thank you Disney Pixar.That movie has been my saving grace these past several days. Olivia is obsessed, and she's so tech savvy she can start it up herself (I still put the DVD in, but she can manage the tv and PS3 controllers).

The only downside to several days of watching movies is the "getting back into the normal routine". Before getting sick, we'd watch a movie twice a week. Now, twice a day if not more! The girl is hooked!!! And I've been too out of it to care. I've definitely had to be creative today, but we haven't turned on the tv except to listen to music. Yay. I also had to hide all her movies. Am I an anti-movie/tv mom? Of course not. But my goodness, we are far more productive without it! :)