Anatomy of an Illness
Day 1 – Friday morning. Swee’Pea awakens with a very runny nose. Fluids ooze out of her faster than Niagara Falls. It quickly becomes apparent that Swee’Pea will not be allowed at daycare this day. Mommy and Daddy quickly state their cases why the other one will have to stay home. Verdict? It’s a tie. Daddy will work in the morning, Mommy will work in the afternoon. TheMonk? No signs of illness so off to daycare he goes without Swee’Pea – for the VERY first time (I’ll pause a second for you to wipe the tears away). At any rate, colds have been very minor so far this season so there is little concern that this will last longer than the weekend.
Day 2 – Saturday. Swee’Pea slept well but wakes up with a mucus facial mask. TheMonk decides this looks fun as his nose has now joined Swee’Pea’s in the oozing department. Luckily, the weekend had no concrete plans so Mommy and Daddy shift into Operation Wipe Noses. Bibs are placed around the neck to wipe snot and the twins are given plenty of fluids to drink. The day passes with little trouble but the bibs are replaced at least three times. The twins go to bed earlier than usual. TheMonk wakes up at 11:00 p.m., 2:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m. crying. Daddy takes care of TheMonk, thankful that TheMonk is generally an easy going sick guy as a gentle rub of his back while wiping the snot off his face puts him back to sleep rather easily. It’s a little rough with both being sick, but it’s just a runny nose. They’ll pull out of this just fine by Monday.
Day 3 – Sunday. No letup in sight. Noses still running. Daddy is a lttle tired from getting up three times the previous night. Daddy breaks out the heavy artillery but this is like hoping a pebble will stop a tsunami. A low fever is now also present but Tylenol does wonders and the family soldiers on. More bibs are soiled. Congestion is now felt in the chest of both Swee’Pea and TheMonk. Dairy is cut from the diet in the hope of alleviating some of the congestion. Juice becomes an important ally. Luckily, Swee’Pea and TheMonk continue to be good nappers (although TheMonk wakes up twice more in the middle of the night). An evening bath seems to help the twins breathe so optimism is high that this little cold will be gone soon. Just in case, Mommy decides she’ll stay home with them on Monday if needed.
Day 4 – Monday. It’s needed. Mommy takes one for the team and stays home with two sick 20-month-old sniffling, sneezing, coughing little ones. Daddy goes to work and shuffles around like a zombie from lack of sleep. The twins sleep during the day and Mommy reports that they did as well as could be expected. Will Daddy have to stay home on Tuesday? Mommy thinks so. Daddy clears his schedule for Tuesday. The cold’s gotta end sometime, right? Right?
Day 5 – Tuesday. Daddy is on his own. They are a little cranky but not that bad. Swee’Pea, despite her still constantly running nose, still finds enough energy to whack her brother every now and then. All the whacking takes it’s toll, however, and she takes a nice long morning nap. TheMonk, perhaps knocked senseless from some whacks to the head, sleeps well too. Daddy passes out on the couch. The afternoon, is filled with runny noses… RUNNY NOSES!!! MAKE THEM STOP. I CAN’T STAND ALL THE SNOT!!! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, MAKE THIS SICKNESS STOP!!! I mean, they’ve gotta get better soon, right?
Day 6 – Wednesday. TheMonk’s temperature is 102. Daddy has an evening meeting so he volunteers to take the morning shift. Mommy calls the doctor (and the doctor said…) he’ll see them that afternoon. Mommy takes both Swee’Pea and TheMonk to the doctor and he says… They’ve got a cold.
Day 7 – Thursday. Runny noses or not (Oh, and they’re running all right) and despite the fact that both Swee’Pea and TheMonk sound like they have a pack-a-day smoking habit, they’re going to daycare today. Daddy drugs them up with a Little Colds cocktail and they’re off. Daddy works a full day of work. When he returns he finds two little ones who are miraculously cured from whatever alien virus they were infected with with runny noses. RuNnY NOsEs!!!! rUnnY NosES!!! RuNNy nOseS!!!
Day 8 – Friday. Still runny.
Day 9 – Saturday. *sob*
Day 10 – Sunday. Kill me. Kill me now.
11 Comments
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I know this horror… I’ve experienced this horror… and it DOES get better.
Just remember; many, many years from now when they are older, they won’t need you to tend to them when they’re sick, and you’ll cherish these days of having to take care of them when they have a cold…
Ok, not really, but it sounds good… right?
Hang in there buddy, the colds will end eventually and Swee’Pea & TheMonk will be their usual selfs. In the meantime, my advice is to drink heavily…
Comment by Kemp — February 19, 2007 @ 6:35 am
I know I shouldn’t be laughing but I couldn’t help it. I’ve been there myself although my kids so far have been lucky with sickness. But I don’t expect that to last forever… Hope things get better soon
AD
Comment by AdventureDad — February 19, 2007 @ 7:16 am
You two must be exhausted. I hope the kids are better soon.
Comment by Maria — February 19, 2007 @ 8:01 am
Yeah, what Kemp said. Sending an emergency bottle of tequila.
Comment by Becky — February 19, 2007 @ 8:40 am
i drank some shiraz tonight, in sympathy for you and myself. my kids are sick too. Nishan has a fever, drippings, oozes.. You know. I almost can cut and paste your post into mine.
Hang in there.
Comment by archana — February 19, 2007 @ 10:45 pm
Ditto me in. Tad’s face has been a perpeptual crust of ooze and both kids sound like they will be hacking up a hairball at any moment. Ane’s rubbed her nose red and has had a couple of nosebleeds to boot. We’re doctoring them both with cough meds, decongestant (during the day) and Benadryl (at night). Also, vapor bubble bath does wonders. Really gets the snot flowing. Baby Vicks is also quite good.
This too shall pass. If not, pass me some heavy-duty chocolate.
Comment by Deanna — February 20, 2007 @ 1:55 am
Oh, those poor little things!! Tell them Auntie sends her
love.
Comment by Aunt Raina — February 20, 2007 @ 3:32 pm
mucus facial mask. ewww.
hope everyone is back to 100% soon1
Comment by Kara — February 20, 2007 @ 6:59 pm
I hope everybody’s feeling better! We’ve been sick, too. I think everybody has!
Comment by surcie — February 20, 2007 @ 9:34 pm
“Colds have been very minor so far this season”? It sounds like our colds have crossed the country. We’ve all been passing the sniffles and aches around for about a month. But they’ll get over it. Good luck.
Comment by Clare's Dad — February 21, 2007 @ 12:34 pm
I feel your pain. Both kids have been sick for over four weeks now, been to the dr twice, just to tell us it will moset likely take 6 weeks to get entirely through their systems. And just to boot, Husband came down with it and was bedridden for three days. Got to love a good cold.
Comment by Margaret — February 22, 2007 @ 10:49 am