When you are pregnant and preparing for parenthood, everyone is willing to provide you with plenty of insight and warnings about the trials and tribulations that you will soon encounter. We were warned about sleepless nights, mid-night feedings, the incessant crying, the consistent and ever flowing spit-up, the mountains of dirty diapers, the never-ending loads of laundry, non-stop house cleaning and the joys of potty training. However, no one, not one single fellow parent, warned us of the true pitfall of parenthood. No one warned us of the day when our adorable, cute, little babies would become infectious, vile, disease-carrying monsters. When a single virus would invade our house and continue to attack until every person had been infected at least once, if not twice or three times. What a vicious little circle!
As the latest survivor of the most recent attack, I am amazed how such a small little organism can wipe out an entire household in a matter of days. And how it can linger on for weeks. And yet, somehow, this last attack is the worst stomach flu I have ever experienced. I have not had the privilege of emptying the contents of my stomach more, except maybe a couple times in college when preceded by copious and copious amounts ingested alcohol. And yet, then, it was deserved for drinking too much. This attack came unwarranted and unwanted. And sadly, not only did I finally get sick, but Josh enjoyed a repeat occurrence at the same exact time. We laughed as we lay in bed during the middle of a work day realizing that we have not spent a day "in bed" together since before we had kids. And this is the way we spent it ... taking turns rotating in and out of the bathroom.
Luckily, our children have not been as affected. We have discovered Madilyn a couple of times in the past few weeks with soiled sheets in the morning from diarrhea or some vomit on her pillow, but no fever or other signs that she is infected. And Aiden has only had some pretty messy diapers; nothing that we haven't experienced before. Definitely, Mom and Dad have bared the brunt of this infectious disease. Now that I have survived, it is time to disinfect the house. Back to the normal pitfalls I was warned about ... never-ending loads of laundry and non-stop house cleaning.
As a side note, I extend thanks to all of my fellow parent friends for not warning me of the disease-ridden vermin our children would become. That is a secret best learned on the job. Plus, I am not sure I would be able to look at their adorable little faces in the same light had I known they were going to attack my immune system in any moment.
As the latest survivor of the most recent attack, I am amazed how such a small little organism can wipe out an entire household in a matter of days. And how it can linger on for weeks. And yet, somehow, this last attack is the worst stomach flu I have ever experienced. I have not had the privilege of emptying the contents of my stomach more, except maybe a couple times in college when preceded by copious and copious amounts ingested alcohol. And yet, then, it was deserved for drinking too much. This attack came unwarranted and unwanted. And sadly, not only did I finally get sick, but Josh enjoyed a repeat occurrence at the same exact time. We laughed as we lay in bed during the middle of a work day realizing that we have not spent a day "in bed" together since before we had kids. And this is the way we spent it ... taking turns rotating in and out of the bathroom.
Luckily, our children have not been as affected. We have discovered Madilyn a couple of times in the past few weeks with soiled sheets in the morning from diarrhea or some vomit on her pillow, but no fever or other signs that she is infected. And Aiden has only had some pretty messy diapers; nothing that we haven't experienced before. Definitely, Mom and Dad have bared the brunt of this infectious disease. Now that I have survived, it is time to disinfect the house. Back to the normal pitfalls I was warned about ... never-ending loads of laundry and non-stop house cleaning.
As a side note, I extend thanks to all of my fellow parent friends for not warning me of the disease-ridden vermin our children would become. That is a secret best learned on the job. Plus, I am not sure I would be able to look at their adorable little faces in the same light had I known they were going to attack my immune system in any moment.
Comments
I feel the need to go use hand sanitizer just reading this!