After our great weekend, we ran headfirst into the dreadful stomach bug. ALL 3 OF US! The MIS household had an interesting and kind of gross week. Ha!
My intention with sharing this is not to gain anyone’s pity. Every family experiences sicknesses…of all sorts, especially during the winter months. My real focus is on the lessons that came with this awful bug. Personally, I went from physically ill to mentally down to more hopeful by the end of the week. A true roller coaster of emotions.
How it all went down…
It all started on Monday. As I mentioned, Vishnu and his brother Niel both had the day off. They were in charge of keeping K company (daycare was closed) while I worked from home. All was fine until Vishnu came to the room I was working in to tell me Kaiden had an explosive diaper and that he needed help. Ummm…explosive was one way to put it. Let’s just say we stripped K down and immediately gave him a quick bath.
Then came lunch. I felt fine. Vishnu felt fine. Kaiden looked like he felt fine.
Fast forward to about 3:30 pm ish when I experienced my first stomach bug symptom. Then fast forward to 6:00 pm when the vomiting started. You guys, I haven’t been this sick since my last trip to India. It was BAD!
About a half an hour later, poor K throws up all over Vishnu, our bed, and the floor.
My BIL ran to the Walgreens down the street to get us some much needed Ginger Ale and Pedialyte.
Kaiden eventually fell asleep after drinking some Pedialyte while I continued to be sick. At one point, I walked into the bathroom and fell. All I remember is waking up on the floor and calling for Vishnu before getting sick again.
I really hoped Vishnu would be spared but nope…he got sick at some point that night too.
Monday night is now a blur. I remember waking up multiple times for various reasons but nothing really stands out at this point.
I felt dehydrated but fairly ok on Tuesday morning. I was functional. Vishnu, on the other hand, was wiped out. Poor guy hardly slept. We both took the day off to rest and kept Kaiden home from daycare as well. Niel didn’t fly out until late in the afternoon and offered to watch K for a bit so we could sleep a little. We totally took him up on that offer!
This is where I should mention what a little champ Kaiden is. Even though he probably felt like crap (no pun intended!), he was his smiley/playful self. Vishnu and I weren’t all that smiley or playful. Ha!
Kaiden’s daycare has a 24 hour no diarrhea policy, so because of that, we decided to keep him home on Wednesday. Vishnu ended up taking off from work as well because he still felt a bit of weak upon waking up. I felt better than the day before, so I worked from home.
By the afternoon, Vishnu and I were both back to our normal selves and even ate a ‘normal’ lunch (something other than soft carbs!). Kaiden, on the other hand, looked and acted fine but still had two not so great diapers. My friend and colleague Lamia came over to visit and kindly offered to come over and help me out if we decided to keep K home on Thursday. Ultimately, we decided to do just that.
I rescheduled a few of my Thursday meetings in case things didn’t go as planned (when do they ever?!). Lamia came over in the morning and was more help than she knows! It was SO nice to have an extra pair of hands to help out with K. I seriously have some of the best coworkers/friends in the world. Friends who are family, as I like to say!
It’s late Thursday night as I type all of this out, and all I can say is, things are looking good. Kaiden had a great day – food, rest, energy wise. Phew! I’m hoping tomorrow is just as good if not better. Vishnu and I want to take him out for a bit this weekend, since we were cooped up in the apartment all week.
So that’s the story about how week went from great to crappy (literally!) to great again.
And with that, here are a few lessons I learned along the way…
My 2018 mantra – embrace the chaos – was certainly put to the test this week. And while on the surface I probably appeared to be rolling with the punches, mentally I wasn’t. My emotions this week stemmed from not feeling like I could give my all to any one area of my life – not Kaiden (fully at least), not Vishnu, and not work. I know this is something I need to work on accepting, but this week it was easier said than done. As dramatic as it sounds, I felt like a failure on all fronts. Thankfully least so on the Kaiden front because I tried my very best to give him as much of me as possible.
My self-provoked negative thinking led me down all sorts of paths from questioning daycare to questioning my decision to work to questioning if I’m cut out for motherhood (I told you I was emotional/dramatic this week!). My amazing (in more ways than one) husband reassured me that more than anything I am the best mom and his superwoman. And my amazing coworkers told me to grant myself some grace, remind myself I’m only human, and do what I need to because they have my back (friends that are family, I tell you!).
The stomach bug taught me 3 big lessons this week…
- Motherhood and balance are two terms that just don’t go together. At least not for me. And thinking about everything in the context of balance stresses me out even more. Sometimes things will fall into a nice rhythm and sometimes you’ll be off beat for a while. It’s not about balance as much as it is about knowing your priorities and how best to spend your energy.
- Trying to give 100% of yourself to everyone and everything leads to lots of…you guessed it…STRESS. Instead, be vulnerable and talk to the people who you want to give a 100% to but can’t. I guarantee they’ll understand. And if they don’t, they probably shouldn’t be a big part of your life.
- And last but certainly not least. We have a lot to be thankful for. Throughout the week, I would look at K and think about all the parents of two or more who have to deal with various sicknesses, parents who have children with chronic illnesses, parents who have significant others in the military/travel/generally aren’t around a lot, parents who don’t have the means to take off from work as/when needed, etc. Even though I didn’t quite embrace the chaos of the week the way I intended to, I still remained thankful throughout. It could’ve been a lot worse. It’s all about maintaining perspective and constantly reminding yourself about all you have to be thankful for.
I’m sending each and every one of you healthy vibes/thoughts as we enter another (hopefully!) great weekend. Happy Friday, my friends, and stay healthy!
