un-fucking-believable

We have the stomach flu. AGAIN. Gabe came home from the toddler program with a report of diarrhea, but I thought maybe it had to do with the raw cupcake batter I let him eat the night before. But then last night he had another bout of diarrhea, and then at 2am I was woken up by him crying. A horror of horrors met me when I ran into his room. Vomit. Everywhere. Diarrhea. Truly everywhere. EVERYWHERE.

It was so bad I threw out the pajamas he was wearing because I couldn't possibly imagine putting those in my washer. I had to wake Josh up because Gabe was so hysterical, I couldn't do everything I needed to do by myself because I couldn't put him down. We had to bathe him at 2am, strip the bed, start the laundry, remake the bed, line the bedroom with towels, dress him again, and somehow make the upstairs stop smelling like death. Josh decided to start spraying the beds and air with vanilla scented air freshener, which just made the upstairs smell like vanilla shit. It was awesome.

This morning, I woke up with the stomach flu too, but thankfully it hasn't been that bad. Gabe has been okay, for the most part, since last night. He is whiny and mopey and won't eat anything, but I can deal with that. We are just watching a lot of television from the comfort of the couch, and I'm just trying to keep everyone happy and keep Gabe from touching Josie too much.

Then, because we wouldn't want things to get boring around here, my friend called to tell me that at a birthday party on Saturday, Gabe was exposed to the chicken pox. Gabe hasn't gotten the chicken pox vaccine because my pediatrician doesn't believe in it, which is a whole other post for another day. I'm fine with Gabe getting the chicken pox, or at least theoretically I've always been fine with him getting chicken pox, but I didn't expect that to be when I have a newborn at home. I guess that is the problem with the chicken pox, you don't get it when it is good for you, you just get it. Whether it's convenient or not.

After a freak-out on my part, I'm trying to stay calm. There is nothing I can do at this point, except do my best to keep Josie from possibly being exposed. The incubation period is 10-21 days, so we have a long wait ahead of us. Chatty Cricket, because she took pity on me, even called her own pediatrician to get some advice but the advice was the same. Wait it out, hope Josie doesn't get sick, and hopefully if either one of them does, it won't be serious.

I'm definitely stressed. I'm definitely not happy. And I am definitely sick and tired of all the sickness. I hate that I'm spending so much time during Josie's first weeks worrying about whether she is going to get sick or not. It is enough to make me consider pulling Gabe out of his toddler program, but I can't do that. I need the time, he adores the school, it wouldn't be fair. It just stinks.