The boys have a book with a dinosaur that says "BLEH" when you push a button. They love it, and they love to mimic the sound it makes. Well, I wish the "BLEH" from the title of this post was just a cool noise from a book and not about the sickness we fought the night of our anniversary.
Thursday, March 1, started out like a normal day. Shawn went to work, and I took Joshua to preschool. When we left preschool, I called Shawn to see if he'd like some Starbucks. To my surprise, he said sure. So, Caleb, Ryan & I drove and got his favorite drink and headed to his work to drop it off. He had a little treat for me when I arrived, and the creme-filled donut (my favorite) was delicious. Then we went home where Caleb & I worked on cleaning up the office a bit, and then we headed back to grab Joshua from preschool. My belly was feeling slightly off, but I figured it was from the sugar rush. I didn't give it much thought, honestly.
We had invited my friend (and former co-worker) Kelley and her son Lincoln over for a play date. We used to get Shamrock shakes every year when we worked together, so she had suggested meeting and getting them again. I agreed and invited them here to play afterward. So, on the way home from preschool, I stopped and got us shakes and the boys some chicken nuggets and fries for lunch. Honestly, I didn't even feel like a shake - what was wrong with me? Again, I blamed the sugar and got one anyway for tradition. But, since I don't like how minty they have become, I added my own green flavoring to a caramel frappe to make it look like a shamrock and did the same to Joshua's chocolate shake.
The boys all played together, and then they left so Ryan could nap in the afternoon. Joshua told me during the other boys' nap time something about if he had lots of money, he would buy me all sorts of pretty flowers all the time. The sweetness of his comment made me smile. I'm not sure where it came from, but he said it kind of out of the blue. :) Well, when Daddy got home that night, he did have another dozen roses for me (three months to 2012 and three bouquets of flowers - I am a lucky girl!). He also had a heart full of candy kisses and a card. I had made our bed and put his present on it - including a card and a picture frame with the top 8 x 10 having the Resolution from the Courageous movie printed out and the bottom a 5 x 7 picture of our family. I told him how much I appreciate over all these years how he has proven to be that courageous man.
Our babysitter Miranda arrived shortly after Shawn got home, and I told Shawn I wasn't really hungry, but why waste a night that a babysitter was coming? She was keeping all three boys, and we had a gift card from Christmas for Applebee's that we hadn't used yet. Why I didn't listen to my body and not order food, I'll never know. But, you sort of get in the habit of ordering dinner at dinner time and eating lunch at lunch time, etc. We had a nice time just the two of us, talking and dreaming. Our service was TERRIBLE, but it didn't really matter. When we got home, I told Shawn that I was feeling really, really awful. Too much sugar, too much to eat, too much everything. We put the kids to bed and we stayed up watching a little TV before Shawn passed out.
When I laid down, I immediately went to the bathroom where I began vomiting violently. Even after I did, I didn't feel any better. I thought back to me sending back my spoiled iced tea to a waiter who never got me a new one and thought "I shouldn't send things back, you know they're going to spit in your food then!" I truly thought I had food poisoning at first because for the next several hours, I couldn't stop throwing up at least every 15 minutes. I was miserable. I got rid of everything I had eaten that day, but I couldn't stop heaving. Bile came out. I'd swallow even the teensiest bit of saliva and I'd heave again.
That's when I heard Joshua "HELP! I need to spit!" We went running into his bedroom, but it was too late. He was doing what I had been doing the last four hours, but he was still at the top of his bunk bed. As Shawn got him down and grabbed his blankets, vomit came flowing down onto the carpet. I ran to the bathroom to start puking again, and so did Joshua in our family bathroom. Thank God we have multiple bathrooms!!! I told Shawn I wasn't going to be able to help much. I helped get Joshua cleaned up and into jammies, but I was back in the bathroom soon enough. I told Shawn to let him sleep with us if necessary - I couldn't possibly stand long enough to clean up his bedding.
My brave and strong husband put all the bedding downstairs to be washed and got Joshua into his own bed with new sheets before he started feeling sick. He was about six hours behind me in this TERRIBLE illness. There is nothing worse than your stomach coming so forcefully out of you that it's in your nose. I felt AWFUL! I tried to take a sip of water to no avail. Everything came out.
I continued to feel downright terrible for 24 hours. I'll soon be 32 years old, and I tell you that I still wanted my mommy. We still had a baby to take care of, I felt bad that I wasn't soothing whatsoever to Joshua, and I can't remember the last time that Shawn & I were sick at the exact same time. No one to help, no where to turn, and I was still the adult even though I felt like a weakling. It was THE WORST! Well, when you're as old as we are, mommies no longer want to get sick. She stayed home. And I still nursed Ryan when he needed it, etc. Shawn & I didn't venture far from bed or the bathrooms the following day (Friday). Caleb wasn't sick, but he played quietly on his own. I told him he could have whatever he could reach in our pantry to eat. He brought up crackers for me to open for him to eat. That was fine - I really didn't care what he had. Joshua was feeling better by the next day as well, and the two of them played nicely together. Ryan was also a gem. God was gracious to us. By dinner time, I went down and fed the boys. I don't remember what - maybe even cereal with milk? They were safe, and they were fed on Friday and that was about it. And I felt like that was a huge accomplishment for how I was feeling. I couldn't eat a thing.
Finally by the next day (it was Saturday at this point), we felt woozy and dehydrated but on the upswing. We didn't do much, but we start eating some toast with applesauce and we did clean the house. I cleaned all three bathrooms with bleach, and Shawn worked on the carpet in the boys rooms. I did the wash, and he helped make the beds again, etc. Sickness be gone FOREVER! May we never feel like that ever again!
When Joshua asked why his stomach was so upset and he was throwing up, I told him we must have caught a nasty stomach bug (since I no longer believed it was what I ate). He said "why can't we SMACK that bug?" I laughed. I couldn't agree more!
Happy anniversary, my dear! I don't think we'll forget this one for awhile. ;-) Thankfully, we took vows that said "in sickness and in health." Here's to hoping the rest of our married lives are healthy!
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