Our Little Baby Blog

Sick

We've had a rough week here in the Roth household. Poor little Anna caught some sort of stomach virus from the little boy she stays with during the week. We knew he'd been sick so we kept Anna home with us last Monday and Tuesday thinking we could avoid catching it. I guess it was inevitable that we would all be afflicted because we dropped her off on Wednesday and, sure enough, the next day she got sick.

By the time I arrived to pick her up, Anna had already thrown up several times and was now dry heaving. (Sorry if it's TMI) I had never seen my baby so weak and tired. My heart hurt just looking at her and imagining how scared and upset she must be. Can you imagine having no concept of sickness and then suddenly being ill? How terrifying!

She was limp, just laying in my arms, barely moving at all. Anna is so active these days, I had completely forgotten what it was like to have her so quiet. It reminded of when we first brought her home and she would just sleep for hours at a time. Last Friday and Saturday Anna slept a ton but seemed to be doing fine - until Saturday night when she got sick again BIG time. Sunday also seemed a bit better and but then she got sick again yesterday.

We talked to the pediatrician who believes that she's still got a bit of the bug running around in her little body and that the formula is too much for her system to handle right now. He suggested we stick to soy formula rather than regular. The nurse had mentioned it on the phone when I first spoke with her last week, but I hadn't realized that we needed to keep her on soy for so long. This explained why she got sick yesterday - we had switched back to regular formula. I feel awful that we could have prevented the last round of it by simply avoiding the formula.

On top of everything, Mike and I also got very sick ourselves on Saturday and Sunday. Mike cancelled a trip to St. Louis to attend a wedding and a family birthday party because he knew it would probably hit us also. But, he even missed work yesterday because he was still sick, which is pretty rare for him. Thank goodness we're now on the mend.

As much as I hate having Anna sick, I'm sort of glad that we've passed this "first" experience. I've been worried about how to handle her first sickness. I want to be a comfort to Anna, just as my mother and grandmother were to me when I was sick but, at the same time, I realize that I don't intuitively know what to do beyond the holding and praying. Thank goodness for the pedatrician's quick return call policy and advice- how would anyone know to switch to soy formula?

So we can add this to the list of "firsts" and, hopefully, close the chapter on this weekend o' sickness. I promise, we'll return with fun pictures and smiles next week after we've finished recuperating!