Sick Kids

Oh my gosh, how do parents of more than one kid deal when they are all sick at the same time? Baby A & B both came down with a cold last weekend, their first ever. I feel like all my hypochondriacal efforts at quarantining them for their first 7 months of life were worth it because taking care of 2 sick babies is EXHAUSTING. I read a parenting article that said most babies get 6-8 colds during their first year of life. Um, nope, that is not happening. I am not interested in spending the next 5 months as a human snot rag.

A is sicker than B. He was really being fussy and not eating well, so I took him to the doctor on Monday. Turns out he has an ear infection. Poor little guy :(  He is on antibiotics now and seems to be doing a bit better. But he has been demanding a lot of attention. Then I feel bad for B, because although he also is coughing and has a runny nose, he isn't being as fussy as his brother. So he's been spending a lot of time in the bouncy seat, watching me hold/console his brother.

Seriously, if I had more kids, what would I do? Keep with this same triage system and attend to the one who is squawking the loudest or coughing the hardest? During one feeding yesterday they were both having coughing fits and I wound up sitting on the couch trying to hold them both at the same time. That really doesn't work very well, but it did calm them down enough to eat a bit more.

Baby A has only been eating about half of what he usually eats. Maybe this will be B's chance to finally catch up to him, weight-wise! The doctor said that as long as he still has plenty of wet diapers not to worry if he's eating less. I guess it makes sense, since when I'm sick I usually lose my appetite, too.

They were doing pretty well with sleeping up until they got sick. Now they keep waking up all night from being stuffed up or coughing. Then I have to do my motherly duty and literally suck the snot out of their noses. It is gross! I can't believe this is what my life has come to.

Here's hoping they get well soon. But they've actually been taking longer naps that usual, so that's kind of a nice bonus.