Last week is one that I will remember forever. It began with Paulie vomiting - on Mark - in the wee hours of Tuesday morning. Unfortunately, my kids getting sick is a fairly ordinary occurrence in our household. It turned out this was no ordinary sick, however. By Wednesday morning, the vomiting hadn't let up, and Paul was looking awful. Mark brought him to the clinic, and the nurse immediately recommended that he go to the hospital. So I headed off to Children's Hospital to see my boy. Whether your child is in the hospital for something relatively mild like dehydration or something much more serious, it is hard to take in the sight of him in a tiny hospital gown. Paul had an IV put in for fluids, a process made easier by the numbing patch the nurse applied. He spent most of the day listless and in and out of sleep. Since he still had not perked up by night, the doctor recommended he spend the night, another first. By Thursday morning he was much better. The entire staff at Children's is wonderful, and I feel lucky to have it so close. Paulie received the star treatment, coming home with a fleece blanket, pillowcase and stuffed puppy, all items donated to Children's Hospital.
The story doesn't end there. Thursday morning Mark began to feel sick. Then my mom, who had been helping us, fell ill. I wasn't surprised, then, when I got the call that Ben was sick and needed to be picked up from school. And it wasn't long before I began to feel ill. So there we all were, feeling awful. Except Paul, who was hyper. It was a long, hard day, fighting our various nausea, vomiting, fevers and chills. My mom still talks about the time when she and my dad both fell ill when Sean and I were little. Let's hope this is the only time it ever happens for us.
Lucky for us, that is the end of the story. We all felt significantly better by Saturday. So though those days were tough, this Christmas I'm giving thanks for our health. We are blessed.
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