It Isn’t Covid*

When we decided to send the kids back to school, I knew they’d get sick at some point.

We’ve been so healthy at home isolated in our little bubble, and I knew that reintroducing them to the wonderful cesspool that is elementary school would inevitably bring sickness back into our home.

I just thought that I might get more than a week in before it happened.

We’ve had some kind of nasty cold bug ripping through our house and it’s been such a long week. M and S had the worst of it. We are both fully vaccinated, but I was worried that he had a breakthrough case… and when she spiked a fever I knew they both needed to be tested.

At the same time, W’s sleep went from not great to horrendous. I moved into his room the past two nights to try and let M have an uninterrupted sleep (without me getting in and out of bed every two hours). Last night we peaked with me actually being in bed for less than two hours… for the whole night.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t tired. This morning I was so exhausted that I laid on the couch and cried just thinking about how I’d get through the day. This week has just been… a lot. The kids have all been back home since Monday, and it’s been several days of sore throats, extra worry and next to no sleep.

…but we made it. There was a lot of screen time and Chinese food for dinner, we made it. Everyone is in bed, and I finally feel like I have five minutes to myself (before I go to bed too).

I feel like I got my first real taste of having four kids this week, with everyone in my house not well at the same time. It was really hard, but we’re getting through it. I’m learning that hard things stretch me in what often feels like opposing directions… but I didn’t break.

And despite how hard it’s been, there has still been some good.

It’s not covid. Both M and S came back with negative results.

W, while a little congested, has missed the worst of it. He finally napped in his swing today, and I got to nap for a whole hour. It was magical.

Only S had the fever… and even though she didn’t feel well, it didn’t completely lay her out. (If you’ve been here for a while and know about her story with a fever + febrile seizure, you’ll know why any temp stresses me right out.)

And even though I am exhausted to my bones, I didn’t get sick. My throat is a little sore today, but I seem to have either missed or delayed the worst of it. Even if I do get it, M is already on the mend and at least we won’t both be down at the same time.

See? Not all bad. Today all the kids were driving me nuts and acting almost normally, so I think we’re through the worst.

And after several night of struggling to get him down, W just put himself to sleep in the crib.

I don’t know what tomorrow holds, but we’ll figure it out… even if it’s just by one hour at a time.

Weeks like this are so freaking hard, but as I trudged through it it reminds me that I’m stronger than I think I am.

…even on next to no sleep.