Anyone Need A Quick Weight Loss Plan?

Then come on over to our house.


A nice little bout of stomach flu will melt all those Christmas pounds away.


In order of appearance of sickness:  Catherine, Mommy, Dominic, Anthony, Joseph, Anne.  Of course it started in the middle of the night (night before last).  It always does. 

Poor Daddy had to take care of everyone yesterday.  So far he has shown no signs of getting sick.  Maybe he'll be lucky.  We are improving today, but you've never seen such a bunch of pasty-faced kids (and Mommy).

Oh, and by the way, Merry Christmas!  

Child Number Five Is First

Last Thursday I made my first ER visit with one of our children.  Anthony had gotten sick the evening before with croup and got up multiple times during the night.  Then during the day on Thursday he seemed to be improving, crawling around on the floor and playing with the other kids.  Then right after dinner time, he suddenly took a turn for the worse.  His breathing grew labored and he did not want to interact with anyone.  He just looked at me, seeming to say, Help!

So I put him in the carseat, grabbed my purse, and drove off to a nearby hospital (7 minutes away).  He got seen almost immediately and they gave him the standard treatment for croup (racemic epinephrine) and he got worse instead of better.  So they transported him (on my lap) by ambulance to a hospital in Wichita.  What a scary time.  The poor little guy was really working hard to breathe.  In the Pediatric ICU, he was poked and prodded all night long.  I had to help hold him down multiple times for IVs, blood draws, x-rays, breathing treatments, etc.  Finally, by morning he seemed to be breathing easier, and he was able to go to the regular Pediatric floor on Friday afternoon.  

Dan's brother came to our house after he got off work and stayed with the kids all evening so Dan could come up to the hospital (and cooked them dinner, and then even fixed our broken sewage pump, which had quit working on Thursday - wow!  Thanks, Al!) 



Here's Dan with our poor little sick baby on Friday evening in the hospital.  It was so warm in the room that Anthony was happy in just his diaper.  It's hard to crawl around in a hospital gown.





You can tell he is feeling better at this point.




Anthony got to leave the hospital on Saturday afternoon and come home.  Daddy and the kids picked us up.  The kids were so excited to see Anthony. 

 
Anthony is doing better this week, but still recovering from his illness.  The house is a disaster, and I'm still trying to catch up on laundry, but we are very thankful that he is home! 

If You Ask The Girls To Watch Sick Little Anthony While You Make Lunch...

...this is what you might see at our house.  Luckily he was vastly entertained.  Except for the dark circles under his eyes, he doesn't look too bad for a sick baby!

Round Three

Well, I hope we are on the tail end of round three of the stomach virus. Round One was relatively easy. Almost 3 weeks ago, Catherine was sick to her stomach for a day. Round Two was a monster that started 2 weeks ago. Dominic and Anne got sick together, but manifested it differently. Dominic threw up for a day, then was puny for a few days. Anne complained her tummy hurt for a couple days, then seemed better for a couple days, then threw up for a day. At the same time, Joseph had a horrible cold and was up many times every night. Finally it seemed like everyone was getting better. Then this past Sunday night Round Three commenced. Joseph started vomiting during the night (2:00am, to be exact), and continued doing so every 30-60 minutes until 7:00. He seems better now, except for residual crankiness. Dan has not been feeling well the past few days as well. So we have been in survival mode around here!

Let us hope and pray that there is no Round Four in our future. Because that would be me.

What We Are Doing

Tractor movie on downstairs for Joseph: Check!

A different movie on upstairs for the other kids: Check!

Jello made: Check!

Sprite on hand: Check!

Puking kids (and puke buckets) on the couch: Check!

I guess our next few days are planned out for us now. They were all fine when they went to bed last night! Nothing like pregnancy and puking kids to make you feel a little queasy yourself.