Most Difficult Parent Day

I have never experienced a more difficult day as a parent. This would have been a hard day even if I only had Samuel, but having Joseph pushed me over the edge. So here is my day in a nutshell:

Dave left for work around 7 am. Samuel started to stir in his bed, so I knew he would be getting up soon.

Joseph hadn't really eaten much throughout the night (he slept a lot, so I am not complaining about the lack of eating), but my boobs were huge so I decided I would pump while everyone was still sleeping.

As I was pumping (only about 5 minutes in) Samuel started to wake up and was super cranky. Normally this means that he goes back to bed for a little bit because he isn't really a morning person. As I was finishing pumping Samuel coughed a few times and then I heard a huge hacking sound, then he started to call for me. I ran downstairs to put the milk on the counter so I wouldn't forget about it, then I ran back upstairs to Samuel's room. At this point, Joseph is started to wake up and is crying in our room, but I figured I would just get him about I dealt with Samuel.

As I entered Samuel's room I was bombarded by the foulest smell. It wasn't poopy smell it was a hundred times worse. Entering his room was like hitting a wall of just vulgarness. Anyway, I turned on the light and Samuel had thrown up everywhere in his bed. It was all over his pillow, all the blankets, his sheets, his clothes, his entire body. I realized at that moment that I do not handle throw up well at all. I wanted to hurl all over everything myself.

So I striped Samuel down and took all the sheets and blankets and threw it all in the washing machine. Then I started the bath, grabbed Joseph out of our room, put Samuel in the bath, washed Samuel off completely and then fed Joseph while Samuel was playing in the bathtub. I got everyone dressed and we headed downstairs for breakfast.

I thought for sure that it was just a fluke that Samuel puked this morning, because he has never done that before (when he had croup cough he threw up all over Dave, but that was because Dave was playing really hard with him and he started coughing and just upchucked all over Dave).

So, I made Samuel breakfast and he was eating fine, he ate about half of his food and then told me he was done. After I cleaned off his plate he said, "Mooooooooooom!" and then he threw up all over the table. As I was cleaning it off he threw up again all over the towel and everything.

All of this happened before 8 am this morning.

I called the doctor and the nurse said that there is a virus going around and kids and just throwing up non-stop for about 4 hours and then it starts to slow down. She said I just need to try to give him liquids and make him comfortable because it wasn't going to stop. Great! Also she said this was highly contagious and that I needed to keep Joseph away from him. That is so much easier said then done. I had to go back and forth between the two of them all morning. I feel like I am a surgeon about to go into surgery because I have been washing my hands, arms and chest after I go from Samuel to Joseph.

Anyway from 8 to about 11, Samuel threw up about 3 more times. We went through all the blankets on the couch, about 6 or 7 shirts and three pairs of pants. He threw up all over the floor in the living room, on the couch and one couch cushion. I am now on my third load of laundry.

Around 11:30 Dave came home to drop off some Pedialite (not exactly sure how you spell it) and some food for me, which I inhaled in about 2 seconds. Samuel gulped down some pedialite and ate about one and half pieces of toast and was fine with no throwing up from 11 to about 12:15.

(By the way, I haven't mentioned that Joseph has been screaming all morning long and I have been wearing him in my Ergo carrier to try to keep him quiet. I was either trying to feed him or carrying him in my carrier).

Then the best part of my whole day came around 12:15. Joseph had been sleeping for about 45 minutes and Samuel was doing great. We were reading a book and relaxing. Then all of the sudden Samuel looks at me and his eyes get really red and glassy and we run to the bathroom. I put him over the toilet and he just spits. I rubbed his back and asked him if he was feeling okay and he said yes. I asked him if he wanted to go take a nap and he said yes. He started crying like he wasn't feeling well, so I picked him up and we headed upstairs for me to rock him. As we were heading up the second flight of stairs, Samuel unleashed the most disgusting, smelliest (and I could go on with adjectives) throw up all over me, all of him, all over the stairs, all over the walls, all over the hallway. When I say it was all over I mean ALL OVER. Everything was covered. Other then wanting to die myself, I got us all undressed, threw towels all over everything, wiped down the walls and then I started the shower for us to jump in. At the same time Joseph started screaming. Poor second baby, I had to just let him cry while we jumped in the shower.

Again, once we were all clean I ran downstairs turned on cartoons for Samuel, fed Joseph and relaxed for a little bit. Now it is 2 pm, Samuel is finally sleeping and Joseph is still screaming.

I am going to now relax on the couch with Joseph and watch some soap operas. I think I deserve that.

It is a beautiful day outside today. I hope that people are enjoying it. I would love to be outside myself.

Hopefully this evening will be better. Keep your fingers crossed.