This Baby is Bananas

(I started writing this on Sunday - I fail at finishing posts)

Silver Lining: I'm finally below my pre-pregnancy weight! I've been within a couple pounds for a couple months (Christmas took some undoing), but I'm there. I've been running 3 or 4 miles three times a week, but haven't come all the way down until now. But, there is a downside as to how I got there.

First, our Subaru got hit by a 16 year old girl on Wednesday. Chris was parked at Phoebe's daycare lady's house. Apparently, the girl hadn't properly defrosted her windshield, turned the corner, and bam! smacked right into our car. Luckily, neither Chris nor Phoebe was in the car at the time, nor were the car seats damaged. But it was a pain, regardless. According to Chris, he kind of yelled at the girl (he saw it happen) and terrified her.

But, but, but! Chris, Phoebe, and I just spent Thursday until today (Sunday) recovering from norovirus or the stomach flu or whatever. It has seriously been awful.

It all started Thursday when I started feeling awful right after lunch. In fact, I think I hit publish on the last post and high-tailed it out of the office. Frankly, I'm not sure how I made it home from work without pulling over the side of the freeway. The next few hours were a blur of pain. I told Chris he had to pick up the girls and feed them dinner because I couldn't keep more than a few feet from the bathroom. I called the advice nurse who called in a prescription of Zofran, which stops vomiting. Because I could barely walk, I figured Chris would be the one to pick it up, but suddenly he started to get sick. Meanwhile, we knew something was starting with Phoebe, who flinched every time he tried to give her anything to eat, including Cheerios. This was a clear sign because this girl is normally a bottomless pit. So Chris got Phoebe to bed, and then we had to somehow get Charlotte in her pajamas and to bed. Charlotte was so disturbed by our behavior that she told us not to give her hugs and kisses because she didn't want to get sick.

Chris looked terrible, I felt terrible, but one of us needed to get the prescription before the pharmacy closed at 9 because we wouldn't have another chance until 9 the next morning. So I threw up a few more times, put on my coat, and drove the mile to the pharmacy. Thank goodness it was a drive thru because when I saw that pregnant pharmacy assistant, there was no way I wanted to give it to her. I also as thankful that all I had to do to take the Zofran was to dissolve it on my tongue. (Shh, and I gave one pill to Chris). It worked! I haven't thrown up since. Chris slept in the guest bedroom so we wouldn't bother each other during the night.

Unfortunately, as we suspected by Phoebe's lack of appetite, she also got the dreaded bug. We discovered this on Friday morning when we went into her room and saw that she had thrown up in her crib twice. Poor thing. She never cried out (Chris had left the door to the guest bedroom open, so he would have easily heard her cry). She also had really bad diarrhea and somehow had slept through that too. I can't believe it. I was practically crying from all the pain I had been in.

Charlotte, meanwhile, remained completely unscathed, thank goodness for small miracles. Chris was able to take her to daycare, so we could stay home and tend to Phoebe (and ourselves). While neither of us had symptoms, we both felt exhausted and pretty nauseated. Phoebe, however, has continued to have bad diarrhea and refuses to eat or drink much of anything. She clearly feels worse as the day continues because each night she has refused to nurse or take a bottle of formula. This has never happened. She pretty much goes crazy when she sees a bottle, and now she has actually batted it away if we try to give it to her. Chris bought Pedialyte yesterday morning after Phoebe threw up her breakfast. She seemed to like it at first, but has also stopped drinking that.

To add to everything, Phoebe is fighting her morning nap like it's the plague. She screams if we put her in her crib, unless it's well past noon. I don't think this is related to the stomach virus because she was doing this last weekend as well. It's just bad timing because we know she's exhausted and we're pretty much drained just getting through the weekend with Charlotte (who, by the way, has taken full advantage of our not eating by getting to eat all her favorite foods - quesadillas, mac and cheese, and waffles - she's pretty much been a bottomless pit).

Wednesday update: Phoebe is finally 100% better. She was still fighting liquids and food on Monday night, along with a couple blow-outs at daycare, but now she is back to nursing at night, sleeping through the night (yay!), and eating (almost normally). I took her to the pediatrician yesterday, and she weighs 21 pounds (what a chunk!). Also, I found out that last Friday, not a single kid went to Phoebe's daycare except the little girl who's only there two days a week. Every single child came down with the flu. Almost every parent got it as well (but not the babysitter), including the very pregnant mother of one of the little boys (it started off some pre-term labor). I still can't believe that Charlotte didn't get it. I'm convinced she was the carrier, little bucket of germs that she is, and she just spread it to everyone.

Final note: I do not recommend this as a weight-loss strategy.