Tough Easter Week for Miss Miss

March 25: Day 3 of suspected Norovirus, she's tolerating low flow pedialyte, but the heaving and cramping when she's awake are pure misery. She wants to be held constantly, and with so much other stuff going on and her crying my nerves are fried.  

At 2pm, Justin headed out to go to work, and she melted into a (even bigger) puddle of woe, turned on the big brown eyes and said, "Daddy read me a story?" He scooped her up and they went to the Papa Bear chair and read for 20 minutes, then he tucked her in with her pink blankie and quietly departed. More than one girl at this house thinks he's a hero.

March 26:  Yesterday made the top 50 most difficult days of my life. Audrey was nearly hospitalized for her repeated vomiting since Wednesday, and I found out that little Gideon needs antibiotics for a nasty tooth infection and they have to pull the tooth, which won't grow back until he's 12. That's the very short version. The long version involved a lot of stressful logistic managing, a lot of driving in heavy traffic zigzagging the town numerous times, 4 trips to the pharmacy, a lot of incorrect directions, and a WHOLE, WHOLE LOT of mom guilt and anxiety.

For those who might be interested, here's a more detailed longer version:
My sweet happy 6 year old Gideon has been mentioning a couple times a day for a week that a tooth kinda hurts (then going right back to his happy-go-lucky activity). I would have had him in to the dentist earlier in the week but Audrey has been throwing up repeatedly since Wednesday morning, probably caught a nasty strain of norovirus at the Curiosity Museum on Monday despite my carefully washing her hands multiple times during our visit; she's been crying to be held pretty much all day every day which has really fried my nerves. I finally got Gideon in yesterday morning with sick Audrey cradled in my arms only to find out the tooth has a nasty abscess requiring antibiotics for 48 hours before they can even numb it to work on it, and then they can't save the tooth, has to be extracted, and won't grow in until he's 12. 

When Gideon got to choose a prize from
the box at the dentist, he chose this sparkling
ring and immediately put it on my finger. 

My guilt over not getting him in sooner had me in tears throughout the day, and then after a very stressful middle of the day I finally took Audrey in to the doctor wondering if Zofran might help her nausea. She's been tolerating a low pump flow of Pedialyte despite heaving up spittle every few minutes, but her guts are obviously painfully inflamed. 3 days of pedialyte was right at the edge of where the doctor was comfortable without sending her to the hospital for iv nutrition--she's lost a lot of weight this week that she can't really afford to lose-- and we had to go through some crazy hoops to get her blood drawn after normal business hours last night, but in the end, her liver numbers were OK and she was approved to stay home and try half strength formula after a night of Zofran. After that flood of relief life got a lot better. We even watched a movie as a family last night while Audrey slept in daddy's arms. As I helped Gideon get ready for bed, kneeling in front of him, he leaned over and laid his forehead on my forehead, and his nose on my nose, and just rested there and smiled for a minute. I totally melted with an overwhelming sense of healing love.

March 27: When in the pre-dawn twilight you reflect that your household has been on hold but the calendar has marched on, when no new clothes were bought, the eggs aren't decorated and the baskets aren't assembled, when no traditional activities were attended and the plastic eggs aren't filled with candy yet, when the house is only half cleaned and the St Patrick's Day decorations are still up and the deviled eggs aren't made, sometimes you're surprised to find you're weeping with a light heart full of joy anyway because it's Easter morning, and Hallelujah, He lives! We have everything we need and far, far more. Thank you, loving family and friends, for the wealth of joy you bring our hearts. He is risen!

March 28: Audrey was still very ill on Easter morning, so the rest of the kids and I went to church where I felt refilled conducting the choir's beautiful performance of Consider the Lilies (Eden and JJ even sang in the choir after JJ helped pass the sacrament), while Justin and she cuddled on his chair at home. We worked together with a lot of help from Aaron to clean and start preparing dinner, and then while the ham warmed and Justin and I were filling eggs and baskets in the back room, suddenly a child opened the door despite my cries of "don't come in, we're still making surprises!" only to turn around and find it was Audrey! She wasn't quite full strength but had so much personality back that she was able to enjoy hunting for eggs and her basket, and sitting with us at the dinner table afterward. The sun even came out at about 6:45pm for our egg hunt. All of my Easter wishes came true.

April 4: Wonderful update on Audrey! This past week since recovering from that horrible bug, she's become the Very Hungry Caterpillar, asking for and eating volumes of food we've never seen before. Although she still has a ways to go before weaning the feeding pump, yesterday while we visited cousins she shocked us by eating an entire hot dog (just the frank, not the bread) and then ASKING FOR MORE. That's an absolute lifetime first! Earlier in the week she ate several French fries and about a sixth of a hamburger, all without incident. So thankful and proud!