Sickness Before Christmas

As I mentioned in this post, Hudson missed out on his school Christmas party because he was sick.

It all began on Wednesday, December 19^th. The day started out the same as usual and Hudson ate a great breakfast. He played well and was happy all morning, but didn’t eat much for lunch. Before his afternoon nap, he had a dirty diaper and it was diarrhea.

He took a good nap and when he woke up, I loaded up both kids to run to Toys R Us {which is about 30 minutes from our house} to grab a couple Christmas gifts. I knew exactly what I was going to get and knew it wouldn’t take long.

When we got there, I couldn’t find what I was looking for, so I had asked an employee to help me. While I was waiting for him to look for the item, Hudson began getting fussy. He didn’t want to sit in the cart, but he didn’t want down either. He just wanted me to hold him.

I finally convinced him to sit in the cart and watch a movie on my phone while I was looking for a different item on my list. No sooner than I sit him in the cart and walk 2 steps away, he threw up everywhere!

All over him. All over the cart. All over the floor.

And then he wanted me to hold him.

I had no wipes {left them in my car, mom fail #1} and wasn’t sure what to do. I asked a stranger to find a store employee for me to let them know of the mess. Another sweet customer offered me her pack of diaper wipes to clean things up a little.

I stripped Hudson down to his diaper while waiting for an employee to come clean up the mess and also alerting other customers to not walk through it! After waiting about 10 minutes and still no sign of someone coming to clean up the mess, I got Savannah out of the cart, tried to gather up all of the dirty clothes and make our way to the car because Hudson was getting fussy again.

Thankfully, it was about 70 degrees outside because I didn’t have a change of clothes for Hudson {mom fail #2}. I got the kids loaded up and Hudson was just crying and crying. I knew the poor baby didn’t feel good and I was trying to get home as fast as possible.
It was rush hour now and the roads were a little congested. Just before three lanes merged into two lanes and the shoulder disappeared, Hudson threw up again. Talk about feeling helpless. He’s sitting in nothing but a diaper, now has throw up all over him {again} and he’s sitting in it in his car seat.

I pulled over onto the shoulder to try to clean him us as best as I could. The poor boy just couldn’t stop crying and wanted out of his car seat for me to hold him. I knew I just needed to get home as quickly as possible. So once I cleaned up as much as I could, I got back on the road.

Once we were finally home, Hudson was happy to be out of his car seat and just wanted to be held. It wasn’t 10 minutes later {about an hour after his first accident} that he threw up for a third time. This time on the {easy to clean} kitchen floor.

I decided it would be best to just shower him off and get him into bed, so that’s just what I did. While I was rocking him before laying him in bed, he threw up on me. All down the front of my shirt. I changed his clothes {and mine} and was able to get him in bed soon. Thankfully, that was the last time he threw up, but unfortunately it was just the beginning of the sickness which would hit our family.

He woke up that night every 2-3 hours with the most disgusting diapers ever {diarrhea}. It made for a long night and a lot of laundry. I kept praying that he would be well soon and that the rest of us wouldn’t get it. I really was hoping Savannah wouldn’t be sick the following day because she had her school Christmas party and music program.

Hudson ran a fever on Thursday and the diarrhea continued, but Savannah, Caleb and I were fine. He had no appetite and only wanted to be held. This is when you know he doesn't feel good, because he is otherwise a very busy boy. While I went to Savannah’s school party, Caleb was off work and able to stay home with Hudson. Then I took over that afternoon while Caleb went to work, but all we did was lay on the couch and watch movies.

Thursday night was a repeat of Wednesday night with Hudson. Up every few hours to change dirty diapers. And it wasn't just a simple diaper change. It literally took both Caleb and I to get the job done. One of us had to hold him still while the other changed the diaper. His poor little bottom was so red and he hating having anything touch it. We weren't using the usual diaper wipes, we just used wet paper towels to as gently as possible clean him without burning him.

I was woken abruptly on Friday morning with cries from Savannah. I ran down the hall to her room to find her throwing up in bed. And unlike Hudson, who threw up four times in two hours, she was sick eight times and it lasted for twelve hours. The only saving grace of it was that it happened during the day and she was super good at telling me when I needed to get her to the bathroom {or a trash can}. Therefore the clean-up was limited.

So we spent all of Friday on the couch again. And if I wasn’t cuddling with one of my sick babies, I was doing laundry {I did 5 loads in 48 hours} or using Clorox wipes on everything we touched. It was a loooong day!

Savannah is a tough little girl though. Like I said, she was great at telling me when she was feeling sick, but after that 60 seconds past, she was happy and wanted to play. That is until Saturday rolled around.

She slept great Friday night, but woke up Saturday morning with a fever and she acted like she didn’t feel good. All she wanted to do was lay down and she had no appetite. She took a 4-hour nap {that NEVER happens}, but when bedtime came, her temperature reached over 104 degrees. Caleb and I gave her IBprofen, Caleb adjusted her and we layered her with ice packs.

Thankfully, her fever was down to 101 within about 30 minutes and we put her in bed with us that night.
At about 3:00 a.m., she woke up wanting a drink of water. Her temperature was still right around 101, so we gave her more IBprofen and Caleb adjusted her. She went back to sleep just fine, but I was wide awake. Within about 30 minutes, I noticed that her head was sweating {hair wet and all} and I knew that her fever had finally broken. Praise God!

Sunday was spent recovering. Hudson was finally feeling more like himself and appetites were slowly returning. Hudson and Savannah both lost about 2 pounds during their days of sickness.

Caleb and I had some body aches, but we took so many vitamins that we were able to keep the worst of the sickness away. I’m pretty sure that everyone I know locally has had this bug {which is apparently the flu} hit at least one person in their house. I am SO thankful for strong immune systems, vitamins and chiropractic care to get us through the flu and without a visit to the doctor {or shot}.
We spent a lot of time doing this....

but thankfully, we are all well just in time for Christmas!