The Flu

We expected to be sick this year.  It's Lilly's first year at school, and therefore our first real exposure to lots of little kid germs.  We've had colds that seem to come and go but two weeks before Christmas, were hit hard with the flu.  It's still debatable how we contracted it.  Mum and Dad were both sick when they were staying with us, so Dad blames Mum since she got sick first and says we have her to thank.  We didn't get sick until after they had been gone awhile so it could just as easily have been something that Lilly brought home from school; no one really knows.  At the end of the day, it doesn't matter how we all got sick.  But we sure did.  Lilly started us off, coming home from school early one Thursday with a sore throat.  She went downhill fast, falling asleep everywhere--even at the table--which is something she's never, ever done before.

That Saturday, I started to feel awful and by the time I was finished teaching my SAT class, my whole body ached and I just wanted to go to bed.  Jack and Jim were hit on Sunday.  Poor Jack was just miserable.  When they're so little, it's the worst as they can't talk and don't understand what's going on at all.  Thankfully, Jim had a milder case than the rest of us so we had someone who was semi-healthy able to take care of those of us that were not.   The only upside to sick children is the snuggles.  Jack just wanted to be held or sleep on one of us.  Lilly wanted cuddles and her bed, so slept for 7 hours a day and then 12 or 13 hours at night while she had it.  It took us all a good two weeks to feel almost normal again.  At one point, on that first Sunday when everyone was sick, we were all lying in Jim and my bedroom and Jim turned to me and said, "this has to be one of the low points of parenting..."  That couldn't have been more true.

Being pregnant and sick and trying to take care of sick children is hard.  Jim had just taken his vacation from work so needed to be in the office for at least part of the next week, and that week was the hardest week I've had as a mother...so far.  I was worried about our little ones, and worried about the little one growing inside me.  I knew I was losing weight as I had no appetite and eating was exhausting but my doctor assured me that the baby would be fine, taking his or her nutrition first and that as long as I was drinking plenty of fluids, everything would be okay.  Gradually, everyone started to feel better--just in time for us to enjoy Christmas.

I hope that means we've had our sickness for the season, and that it's out of the way before there's a little newborn in our midst.  I'm keeping everyone pumped full of fruit and veggies and a few herbal remedies that Jim just shakes his head at but takes anyway.  We weren't sad to kiss the flu goodbye, and if we don't see it again for a couple of years, we won't be sorry.  And I have a newfound appreciation of our "normal" weeks now.  I can now officially bid farewell to the Clark Family Flu Epidemic of 2012.