Sick Feelings

It's been a rough week for the Cox family. Last Monday night at midnight we awoke to Ty coughing. Jeremy went to check him and I heard his say "Sweetie can you come in here and help me?" Ty had thrown up all over the place.

We then stayed awake for four more hours holding bowls under his sweet little head, changing jammies several times, giving baths, and washing sheets. The next day it wasn't getting better so off to the Dr. we went to also discover an ear infection so severe the Dr. said it was one step away from bursting. He hadn't been fussy or even pulling at his ear so we had no idea. Maybe the flu was to help us get him to a Dr. He's such a great, mellow kid we had no idea he was suffering from an ear infection.

Because he couldn't hold even water in his tummy he had to have two very painful shots of antibiotics that left his poor little legs bruised and swollen and tender to the touch. Fortunately he didn't get dehydrated and need an IV. Once he could keep some food and liquid down we started the oral antibiotics which led to some pretty bad diarrhea. So now we are dealing with messes on the other end and a pretty sore little bum.

Ty threw up for days and luckily Jeremy and I only had one bad night each. We can't remember ever being so sick and so tired and so concerned for each other. It was quite an experience for us so I thought I'd write it down so we don't forget what we learned.

1. You can never have enough laundry soap, sheets, blankets, jammies, onsies, and towels when you have a baby who pukes for three days straight. I think we did 3 loads of laundry per night. And what if there was some pandemic flu emergency? Would we be prepared to deal with it?

2. Jeremy is a saint. I know this and I've always had the comfort of knowing that he will take care of every need we have both big and small, but in these situations he just shines. He handles everything with such grace and expertise. And he wants to. He wants to be the one to care for Ty and hold him until he feels better. He wants to be the one to clean up the messes made by us both. He wants to hold my hair for me while I puke in the toilet. And he even wants to go get ice cubes from me from LDS Hospital at 4 am when I'm so thirsty I think I'll die and I can't hold down water. He's our hero. And when the going got the toughest it warmed my heart to see him barely able to hold onto Ty, at 3 am, kneeling in the middle of Ty's room in prayer for his family.

3. It's heartbreaking to see your baby so sick. It made me thankful for his health and more empathetic and in awe of the strength of my friends who have children who suffer so much more. Often times I left the room for just a second to wipe tears from my eyes and had to choke back a ton of times as I carried his limp little lifeless body into the Dr. office. All he could do was just look up at me and stare into my eyes. I'd repeat his favorite story, "The Very Hungry Caterpillar", which I have memorized, until he'd fall asleep, which was often. I had to pull over the car a few times to clean up the throw up on the the way to the Dr and just comfort a my sick little boy. It just breaks your heart....especially my really wimpy, very sensitive one. I learned I'd do anything to help that little boy and make him feel better. Anything.

4. It's heartbreaking to see your husband so sick. He's the strong one. Never calls in sick to work. Just keeps going. Nothing bothers him. And I've never seen him so sick in all the years I've known him. At one point, late at night when we were all on the couches he said in a serious voice: "Maybe we should just check into a hospital. I don't know if I can take care of everyone tonight." I cried again and told him I would be just fine to take care of Ty and the laundry and the cleaning and whatever he needed.

5. I'm pretty sure this is just the first experience of many with sick kids. I know a day might come when I look back on this one and think, that was nothing, now I have three barfing kids who are suffering!

6. This is motherhood. And I still love every minute. I wouldn't trade it for anything and this week has done nothing but increase my love for the boys in my life.

7. I can survive being sick and pregnant. The hardest part for me was worrying about becoming dehydrated and just a lack of sleep. The night I was the most sick my stomach hurt so bad. And to make matters worse, baby boy was kicking me a ton too. Although it was all very uncomfortable, it was very comforting to feel him moving around so much. For some reason that helped me feel that he was ok.

We feel like the flu bug has passed and Ty's ear is improving really quickly too. Ty is eating again, but still not a ton. We need to put that pound back on him that he lost. And we're still working on getting the energy back that was drained pretty heavily. Jeremy says when we're feeling back to 100% we should do something to celebrate and reward ourselves. My first thought was a Greek Salad. I always think of food. But feta cheese is off the list for me. Jeremy wants to go to Zion. We'll come up with something good :)