Let it Snow

There were two constants last week at our house -- sickness and snow. In my worried and wearied state of mind the two became somehow related and as the week dragged on each time I looked outside to see more snow piling up I felt a little like our mailbox must, under attack. It all started last Monday morning when Anna woke up and said she didn't feel well. By that afternoon she was officially miserable and not holding anything down. I braced myself for a 24 hour stomach bug to ripple through our family throughout the next few days. Sure enough, Tuesday Abby called me from school in tears saying she was sick. Nate came home from pre-school pale and saying "my tummy isn't feeling bery well." I was actually kind of relieved that it was all happening in such a nice short time frame and that soon it would be over.

Later that afternoon I left everyone home with Brennan while I ran down to the Church for my "Activity Day" activity (my church calling with 8&9 year old girls). Just as we started deep frying scones, Brennan called me frantic saying Anna's temperature was 105 degrees. I left my poor partner with twelve 8 and 9 year old girls and two oil spitting frying pans and raced home as I called the doctor. It had started to snow. They said I could bring her right down and quickly got us in and tested her for strep and a urniary tract infection. By now she was in tears saying her head was killing her and when the doctor examined her she complained of her back hurting. The rapid culture for strep came back negative as did the urine test. The doctor said although she didn't think it was meningitis, she wanted us to take her to the ER and rule it out. It was snowing hard.

I drove home and traded Brennan spots. He drove the snowy icy roads to the hospital. I looked meningitis up online and started to cry. They got there waited and waited and waited. I forced myself to stop crying and take care of my other two sick children and my non-sick, but ornery baby. I finally got them to sleep and waited for news from Brennan. He called several times saying they were still waiting. After several hours someone came in and explained they would test her for the flu and if that was negative they would do a spinal tap. We prayed for the flu. Our prayers were answered, that test came back positive. Huge relief. They waited longer for a doctor to come and confirm and release them. Finally, he came and said she had the flu and it would probably last 3 to 7 days. They drove home in the snow.

All of a sudden I had developed a cough and in the middle of that night Nate threw up all over himself and his bed. Brennan slept on the couch while Anna was on the loveseat. We brought Nate into the couch in our bedroom and Abby was in bed with me. They all had fevers. We woke them every three hours to give them tylenol or motrin. I'm sure it was snowing.

Wednesday is a blur. With new perspective, I remember feeling grateful to have kids with the flu. My Mom kindly took Ben to her house to give him and me a break from his cabin fever. That night I had a fever and chills the kids were still burning up if we didn't give them something every three hours and didn't want to eat.

Thursday Abby started throwing up. All of them had fevers. I didn't anymore, but had no energy and a horrible cough and congestion. Brennan took care of all of us. My Mom brought homemade Chicken noodle soup. It snowed, a lot.

Friday more snow. The doctor's office called and said that Anna's strep culture that was sent to the lab came back positive. She had strep throat. My Mom came and picked us up and the three of us got tested. Mine negative, Abby and Nate positive. We picked up some food and prescriptions and went home. My Mom watched home movies with the kids and I slept feeling like maybe there was an end in sight. Our neighbor plowed our driveway.

Saturday I washed every scrap of bedding and disinfected every possible surface I could think of and my Mom did more of my laundry. By that afternoon all of them had a temperature of 102. I cried. It snowed. We called our friend who helped Brennan give each of the kids a priesthood blessing.

Sunday lots of coughing, fevers first part of the day, but normal temperatures by the end of the day. The kids got off the couches and played. They even bickered. It was music to my ears. Things were finally looking up. The nagging worry Brennan and I'd had for 7 days finally started to lift and I realized just how heavy it had been. I looked outside and it was snowing. I started to feel despair again and then realized that the snow was evidently never going to stop, but my kids were going to get better. It's time for the two to part ways. Good riddance, sickness -- hello again, snow.