In Sickness and In Health. But mostly sickness.

It has been almost two weeks since my family left. When they left, Mom, my brother John and myself were all feeling sick. That was Monday the 28th. By the 30th I was down and out with the Cold From Hell, and the girls were all starting to run low fevers. By Sunday Lucy was very sick. Her fever crept up to well over 104 and we took her in to urgent care on Sunday morning. She tested positive for influenza A, and by the time she got home we had three little girls with high fevers.
Sunday night and Monday were a blur of Motrin, Tylenol and temperature-taking. Miles ran a low fever as well, and I was sick the entire time,  but the girls were a nice distraction for me. Andrew and I took notes and mostly communicated via dry erase marker on the bathroom mirror, as both of us were running nonstop for 48 hours! Thankfully we're both pretty patient with a house full of sickies and we work well together. We just keep moving.
Lucy went back to school Tuesday and Claire's flu peaked on Tuesday night. Molly was sickest on Tuesday, as well. Wednesday was calm with low fevers for Mo and Claire, and then Andrew took Thursday off because HE was sick. On Friday morning I woke up with Miles burning up next to me, so Claire and the twins and I took a trip to the ER where he tested positive for influenza A, as well. That was yesterday. Today he was looking pretty good and running a low fever about every 12 hours. It's been about a 48-72 hour bug for each of us.
So because of Miles, we canceled Saturday to lie low. Tonight we decided to run out to Target, mostly to get some air and stretch our legs. Lucy mentioned a stomach ache as we were leaving for the store, and when we got home she ran straight to her bed and passed out. We woke her up an hour later and she said she still felt unwell. As she walked into the kitchen to let Andrew know that she was feeling sick, his major Daddy instincts took over and he spun her around and flipped the trash can open just in time. Super dad!

As soon as THAT happened, we switched from "Influenza A" mode to "tummy bug" mode. That requires an entirely different skill set, you know. Stuffed animals and cuddling blankets were stripped from the beds, towels were stacked in strategic locations, bedroom rugs rolled up, bathroom prepared for middle of the night baths, etc. A well-oiled machine, I tell you. So now we wait. A contagious bug? Something she ate? A fluke? It's like a murder mystery dinner of the infectious disease variety.

The twins are now 8 weeks old, and we've spent the first two weeks on our own trying to just keep our heads above water and out of the ER.

I want to write more about them, but that'll have to wait. I think a child needs me.