Two to Kiss, Two to Love: The Reality of Living

Why, why, why, why, why was sickness ever created? It is AWFUL. No one ever ASKS to be sick. So listen sickness, GO AWAY. 

I blame our most recent sickness on the fact that my toddler goes to preschool and extracurricular activities. How annoying is it that because she does fun things, and gets out of the house, we all have to get sick? Huge bummer here. It's like when I hurt myself because I work out or do sports. Come on. Because I'm fit, I shouldn't get hurt! But nope! It comes with being active, right? So obnoxious.

But that's reality. And instead of being annoyed with reality, we have to face it. And getting sick is a reality of living. It just happens. Bummer, right?

My older daughter, Bree, woke up at midnight the other night. I was on my computer working at the time, and I was ALMOST done- meaning that I was almost ready to go to bed. She said her belly hurt. She went to the bathroom, and then went back to bed. A little later, she came out and said she wanted to sit with me. She moved around a little, and then threw up. Luckily, she was covered in blankets and those can be easily washed, but then got spots of throw-up here and there all over the couch. I got her in the bath, cleaned her all up, started the wash, dismantled the couch, and got her back in bed...but in MY bed. Rookie mistake.

Just a bit later, I heard her screaming, and I ran into the room. Yup, you guessed it…throw-up all over MY bed, right next to the bowl I had lovingly given her to throw up in. Gross. Tell me something…why does throw-up make you want to throw up? I’m not sure there is any other bodily smell that makes you want to repeat the same action. You don’t smell sewer smells, and have to run to the restroom. But, throw-up? Oh, it just makes you gag!

As you can imagine, I gave her ANOTHER bath, and did MORE wash. Two things quickly fell off of my to-do list: finishing my work, and going to bed. Not. Gonna. Happen. So, naturally, I decided to go do all the dishes I put off earlier that day. Bree sat next to me on the floor, with a bowl, and threw up several times. During that time, she had to use the toilet, and ended up with diarrhea. This poor baby; she was so scared. I never knew someone could be scared of going to the bathroom, but she was. It frightened her so badly. I felt awful for her. Every time she had to go potty after that, she would scream and cry that she didn't want diarrhea. Sorry babe. No choice on that one.

When it had been quite some time since she had thrown up last, I decided we might be able to go to bed, but where? I could put her in her bed, but that would require a lot of clean up as well. I decided she could sleep in her sleeping bag on the hardwood floor! EASY clean up! And that’s exactly what she did. I made a little bed for myself in the same room (not too close to where her projectile vomit might go), and we went to sleep…at 4 a.m.

At 6 a.m., my husband got home from work and said it smelled weird. I was so annoyed since I had made completely sure everything was clean. But I was too exhausted to care, so I just slept. A little bit later, "mom..." a little voice said. "I peed." I got up and took her to the bathroom. Oh, she didn't pee, my friends. That smell my husband talking about was most definitely diarrhea everywhere. Maybe she was too scared to go to the bathroom, or maybe she was too tired to realize she had to wake up and go, but either way, it was now the next cleaning project I had. Fun. AT LEAST we were in the easy clean-up zone.

I cleaned her up, did more wash, and we just relaxed. She threw up one more time that morning, and then slept for four hours. She woke up, relaxed a little and was totally, absolutely fine. 24-hour stomach bug done. Hallelujah. The next morning, my twins woke up healthy as can be. Excellent. Can you imagine throw up with twins?

Fast-forward to later that afternoon; I no longer had to imagine. The girls had just finished their naps and I went to get them. Throw-up was EVERYWHERE. I need you to take the word “EVERYWHERE” quite literally. Imagine what “everywhere” ACTUALLY means. Now times it by two. TWO. It was on their faces, in their hair, all over their clothes, on the slats of the cribs, on the sheets, on the rug, etc. They had touched it with their hands, so anywhere their hands could reach… there it was. TIMES TWO. Awwwwweeeesome. Luckily, my husband was home and didn’t have work that evening. He tackled the room cleaning; I tackled the twin cleaning.

The hours from then until bedtime were rough. However, this time, I was an expert. And, let's be honest, I had to be at this point or twins throwing up at the same time was going to kill me! No longer would we hang out in rooms with any type of rug; hard, easy-to-clean surfaces were my new best friend. Mostly we stayed in the kitchen, and just hung out on the floor. I brought some pillows and towels in, used the towels as blankets, and made little beds to relax in. Thankfully, they were both sick at the exact same time, and we all know that is a huge blessing. So, when one twin threw up, I knew the other one would moments later. I kept my eye on each one of them like a hawk. The second they made any facial expression that amounted to what would happen next, I was holding them with bowl in hand.

One of my twins threw up AT LEAST 16 times. I lost count after that. And the poor girl couldn’t even keep her head up to throw up in the bowl. She had to have help. It was the saddest thing ever.

When the throw-up sessions had become few and far between, and my twins had become the most tired little things you had ever seen, my husband and I just held their poor little bodies. They both threw up a few more times until they fell asleep. Luckily, they made it through the night unscathed. They woke up begging for drinks, and managed to hold it all down. HALLELUJAH! And, let's just say, for the rest of that day, I'm just glad they were still in diapers so that any other bodily messes were simple clean-ups. ;)

So what tips can I give you? If you haven't learned this already, be glad if your twins get sick at the same time. If throw-up is involved, pin their hair back, have a few changes of clothes (you want to keep them clothed to keep them warm), and stay close by those babies. Forget anything else you had planned, and just stay with them. I mean it. Keep them in places that are easy to clean. And definitely use the signs from one twin to figure out what will happen next with the other.

Mostly, good luck. Can sick season be over yet?

Mama Jackie