18-week appointment

The little women never fail to entertain!

They were quite the entertainers at baby brother/sister's appointment today. Of course, that goes without saying that the volume in the doctor's office probably went up a few notches once they walked in and made themselves comfortable! Maddie had taken the poodle and pony Pets and Faith of course had her Baa and Boo Pets, so they were busy playing in the waiting room and entertaining a couple who had just had their second baby girl. They told Dan and I that it was neat to watch our girls playing because their two girls are fairly similar in age difference. 

Maddie is always concerned about her Momma, and wants to stand right next to me during the entire appointment. They both waved goodbye to me (which they did last time too) when I went to give a urine sample, and Faith was so excited when I came back into the room. Maddie gets concerned about the blood pressure cuff, and insists on holding my hand through everything. My little buddy. She's awesome. Faith was spinning Baa and Boo on the swirly chair, and would come stand next to me at intervals. She cracks me up because all I can ever see are her little eyes peeking over the edge of the chair.

Maddie changes her mind often about whether she'd like a baby brother or sister, but today she was insistent again that she would love a baby brother. She told the midwife and said she would like to name a boy 'Prince Phillip.' The midwife laughed and asked if she had a name for a girl that she liked, and Maddie quickly responded, "oh that's easy.. Aurora. Just like a princess." We might have to break it to her easy that Prince Phillip and Aurora are probably not going to be options! Faith of course answered that she would like to name the baby 'Baaaa' or 'Booooo.' Hahaha.

Besides that though, everything was perfect. My blood pressure has remained perfect at every appointment. I measure perfectly at a little under 18 weeks, and I have never felt better. I thought for sure I'd be more stressed this time around with having to care for two little women, but the 'stress' seems to agree with me I guess.

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We took the little women to see the Holiday Lights at Gring's Mill after dinner. They loved it. It was just the right amount of walking for both Cran and Flop. One of Faith's favorite parts actually was a tuba band that was playing Christmas music in the barn. She thought this was awesome, and stood the entire time with her jaw dropped. 

They put their reindeer cookies on the tray when we got home-- cheated, because I got those Holiday Place N Bake cookies, but Maddie is anxious to try all kinds of different Christmas cookies that she has seen in her favorite edition of 'Better Homes and Gardens' magazine!-- and were off to bed. 

2 peas in a pod

Double doctor's appointment

Optimism abounds

I know optimism will bring us our best chances for a quicker recovery for my little women, so I am trying to look forward to when they are completely themselves again!

It was quite hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel though last night, and into this morning. Dan and I just stared at them sleeping out on the loveseat (where they have requested to sleep since they've been sick, and been passed out before 6:30pm every night despite LONG naps) from about 8:30pm until he had to leave for work. We kept discussing the color of their cheeks which had by then turned fire engine red. They were both burning up. I woke up at about 1:30am realizing that I felt ridiculously hot, and realized that the source of heat was Beebster laying next to me. I checked her temperature, and it was 102.5. I gave her Tylenol, but by 2:00am it had risen to 103.5. I am not used to them having fevers or being this incredibly sick, and it really was making me scared. She screamed in her sleep from then until waking at about 8:30am. I would rub her back and stomach in circles, and this would soothe her for a short while before the screaming would begin again.

They both woke up with low-grade fevers, and I've realized that now the 3 of us girls have colds. Lovely. The cherry on top of the sundae. I'm thinking that on Monday Faith must have come down with a cold when she went out to Blockbuster with Dan for a short trip in the afternoon. She was the only one of us that day that was feeling well, and Dan hadn't quite been hit yet with the lovely stomach virus so he wanted to get her out for a little while. It just so happened that there was about a 5-minute downpour that looked like hail right when they stepped out of the car to come back inside. I'm wondering if, despite being dressed like an Eskimo, her immune system was still weak and then the cold and rain put the icing on the deal for her and she came down with this next cold. 

After watching "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" and "Backyardigans" this morning and eating nothing more than a few tablespoons of applesauce for breakfast, I realized this day would be another disaster. Faith was crying from the discomfort of a runny nose and probably a sore throat and/or congested head, and Maddie was laying on the floor wanting to do nothing but sleep. I got out their Play Doh's and we spent a good while making pizzas, and luckily that seems to have turned the day around for my little women. I set up their Disney Memory game and a version that Faith could play too, and they loved it. Maddie got out Disney Scene-It and Faith even loved watching the clips and rolling the dice. They colored with markers then- and Faith made a picture which she hung so proudly on the fridge for Dan (she now constantly asks, "Where Da-da?" when he is not around)- and then played happily on the top bunk for almost an hour setting up Radiator Springs with Beanie Baby cats that were supposed to be Marie, Toulouse, and Berlioz. My little troopers. I know they feel like total crap, but I'm hopeful they can finally have a fun day.

Show girls

de Gortari video

Violently ill

The stomach 'bug' that reared its ugly head in Beebster on Saturday has now turned into the most vicious stomach 'bug' that we have ever had in our history of being a family. In fact, it's the only stomach virus that we have ever had.

I should have known that it would slowly but surely work its way through each of us. Poor Faith was listless and unresponsive all day yesterday. She wanted nothing else to do but lay in her little makeshift bed in the living room. She threw up and had bad diarrhea all day. She seemed much better by the time dinner rolled around, and we were so thankful. 

But, at about 1am, I started feeling the beginnings of nausea. I spent the entire night in the bathroom throwing up and with diarrhea that reminded me of pre-labor with Faith and her post-delivery recovery. It was awful, and still is awful. It worries me since I have never had anything like this before, and I get anxious about any effects on the poor little baby. I did call my doctor though, and she assured me that everything will be OK. I went to check on Faith at about 4am, and noticed she had thrown up all over the comforter on the bottom bunk. She was covered in vomit on her jams and on her blankie. So, everything went into the laundry and my poor little Beebster had to sleep without a blankie in our bed.

We were all up by 6am, and Maddie started showing signs she was becoming infected. She started throwing up by 6:30am, but yet was still laughing and playing with the Flop. By about 8am, she was a completely different Cran. She now has occupied the makeshift bed the entire day. She has been throwing up non-stop; it has been every 10 minutes. She throws up and goes immediately back to her little floor bed for about 10 minutes of restless sleep and then is at it again. I called the doctor because she really started worrying Dan and I when she was beginning to crawl to the trashcan instead of walk. She was so incredibly weak. And, I hadn't even noticed that she hadn't peed since about 8am. They told me if she goes 8 hours without peeing, we will have to take her in for an IV at the hospital. Luckily, Dan got her to pee the teeniest bit at about 2:30pm and we'll take it. 

Wouldn't you know that Dan started feeling nauseous and quivering by about 10:30am. And, this would be the day that poor little Beebster feels much better. We're never this sick that it affects us being able to still play with the C. and the B., but the three of us were all just lying on the couch while Faith played with her Littlest Pet Shop. Bless her poor little heart. She kept coming up to us and saying "awwww... paw Da-da," "awwww... paw Momma," "awwww... paw dis" as in poor all of us! She's still not 100% though and is still having diarrhea and doesn't want much to eat, but at least she's our one ray of hope for how we might feel by tomorrow. I absolutely hate though being so affected to the point that I'm completely sluggish with doing ordinary things with my little girls. Usually, it's a minor cold that I can deal with and go about my business. This one has us totally sidelined.

Not to mention the ever-increasing job of laundering all the blankets, blankies, comforters, shirts, pants, etc that have fallen victim to the throw-up. This totally sucks. And, the worst part- seeing Maddie and Faith so unresponsive and unlike themselves. That is the absolute worst part. Hopefully though we'll be all better by tomorrow.