When it gets hard having 4 kids...

I will get the question from time to time: How do you do it? Is it hard having 4 kids? I use to smile and say it was great and list off all the ways my life is more simple with 4 than 1 or 2.  Then I had someone get sick, so then my new answer became it is easy until someone gets sick.  It gets hard not only because I am caring for the ill child while maintaining some semblance of normalcy for the well children (though I have sort of just given in to letting everyone watch tv all day), but because I am worried more than usual if I am doing the right thing.

A couple of years ago when I was pregnant and Eric was deployed, Molly got a nasty stomach bug (though, come to think of it...are there any 'nice' stomach bugs?).  I learned a lot of valuable lessons on how to deal with that.  Most people know the "BART" diet (bananas, apples, rice, and toast).  I also learned that the real danger is dehydration.  However, what I did not know is that even more than a sip of water can lead to your child throwing up because their stomach lining is so inflamed.  I learned that the hard way as Molly would gulp a cup of water because she was so thirsty, and then immediately lose it on the kitchen floor.  Even just a drink would do this.  We had to wait 15 minutes between sips to see if she would keep it down.  15 minutes.  That is a quarter of an hour.  For a 3-year-old...who is thirsty.

So, luckily, a few weeks ago as some stomach virus rampaged through my kids' bodies, I knew a bit how to combat it.  Also, luckily, I had saltines and gatorade in my house so I did not need to run to the store.  Probably their Jedi tricks helped a bit, too: "You do not need to throw up all over the couch"

The series of events went like this:
Day 1: Molly gets sick
Day 2:  John gets sick (on me)
Day 3:  Day of rest when I mistakenly think it has passed
Day 4:  Molly gets sick again and I start washing sheets and wiping door knobs
Day 5:  Dom gets sick
Day 6:  John gets sick again
Day 7:  Will gets sick
Day 8:  Eric leaves for TDY and Molly is sick again (and again and again and again) and Will is really sick and I re-wash all sheets and clothes and scrub their bathrom
Day 9 Will is crying because his head hurts, his stomach hurts, but he is hungry. That was the scariest point for me.  Will is my stoic son and rarely shows much emotion.  So when he does, I know it is serious and not just to be shrugged off.  Luckily, a couple hours, sips of water, and saltines later, he was feeling much better.  He even ate a bowl of rice, which happens to be his favorite meal.

By Day 10, everyone was keeping everything down.  They were still not 100% for a few more days, but it was way better than it had been.

That was hard.