SICK Stages

My gloomy view

Here we are, Spring around the corner.  A time for birds to start singing, and tulips to poke their fresh green tips out of the soil, as a thank you to the sun for it’s increased daylight.  Yet here I am up to my hips in nasty laundry.  Sickness has descended on our little slice of heaven.  All I can say is EWWW.  I would rather have a cold for a full year than to have the ‘stomach flu’.  The bug started making its ugly presence known at the beginning of the week. My daughter gave us a beautiful 18 month ‘unbirthday’ present, and I mean that in the most sarcastic way possible.  She was sick twice during the night, and I in my denial, thought she seemed fine. 12 hours later I was kicked out of my denial as the sickness trend began: sick child, wash, dress, spot treat laundry, rinse and repeat ad nauseum. 

I have already visited five of the stages of dealing with a sick child.

Stage 1) Denial; “You have never had Melon, it must have upset your stomach”. 

Stage 2) Blame; “Who brought this sickness into my sanctuary?!  Did Daddy bring it home from work?  What, no one else has this sickness at play group?” .

Stage 3) Acceptance; “We could have picked it up anywhere.  It’s only a few extra loads of laundry, and 2 sleepless days/nights”. 

Stage 4) Hope; “You’ve been sick for 24 hours, let’s go to the doctor, but you’ll feel better soon”. 

Stage 5) Anger; “What? This could last another few days? This is normal? She is still too young for over the counter medicine to treat her symptoms?” 

I am hoping that Stage 6 can be titled Joy; “Yay, no more poopy laundry, cranky baby, tired and showerless mommy”.  But alas, that stage will have to wait as I am revisiting the previous stages.  It is three days later, my daughter is still cranky because of the lingering fever, but thankfully free of clothes and blanket ruining symptoms.  Also, my husband has been up all night with his own version of the bug, and my own stomach is not feeling too good today.  I am hoping that the rumblings and queasiness are a result of exceeding my usual caffeine intake.