Raising Them Up: Sick and on Vacation

There is a sickness in my home. I am not sure exactly what is lingering in every nook and cranny in the house, but it is mean and relentless. My little D got sick 10 days ago with what seemed to be a cold. He was having trouble sleeping and wasn't eat all that well due to his stuffy runny nose. C had a runny nose for a day or two but then improved very quickly. I got sick a couple days later (8 days ago). For me, it started as a horribly sore throat and a throbbing headache. I was concerned that it may be strep throat, so I went to the doctor to get checked. He said it was just a cold. So, poor D was still sick and now I was sick as well.

Our friends came in town to go to Myrtle Beach with us. We had been looking forward to our little getaway for about a month so a simple "cold" wasn't going to stop us! We certainly enjoyed spending time with them here at our house and once we got to the beach. Our condo was on the Cherry Grove pier in North Myrtle Beach and we stayed on the 10th floor. There were roof top pools on the 9th floor, so we had a great view of the beach, the pier, the beautiful pools....too bad it poured rain!!! We never even got to put on a swimsuit, haha. The day we got there, the weather was decent, so we took the kids down to run on the beach for a few minutes. And then the day that it rained, B was able to take C down there to run around a little more and collect a few shells. It just wasn't swimming weather.

In the meantime, D and I were still sick. Poor baby actually developed a high fever on the first night and then didn't nap or eat well the next day. I tried to keep the fever down with tylenol and motrin but he clearly didn't feel well...plus he wasn't eating well. After a call to my aunt who is a pediatric RN, I decided to take him to the ER there at the beach to get check out. I am really glad I did since he was diagnosed with an ear infection, pink eye, and an upper respiratory infection. He was given an antibiotic and eye drops and was on his way. He didn't sleep through the night for 3 nights because he would wake up every time he coughed. I'd get up to rock him which would then get my cough all activated. Needless to say, neither of us got much rest. He seems to FINALLY be feeling a little better and actually took a whole bottle today (he hadn't been able to take one since his ear and stuffy nose bothered him so badly), and he is now sleeping well. I am still hacking up a lung frequently and still got a bad headache this morning. After a nice long nap this afternoon and a different cough medicine, I actually feel somewhat normal this evening. Maybe...just maybe we are finally getting over this horrible sickness!

Sickness aside, we had a great time with our friends and just wish we could have stayed longer. Two nights at the beach just wasn't long enough! We love them and would love to have been able to spend some real time down on the beach or at the pools with them. Plus, I couldn't really hold their little baby any since I was sick! I need to see her again when I'm well! B had to come home after one night since he had a big day at work on Tuesday. He had to go to the "Promotion Board" to basically get drilled with questions by some high ranking officials. He did great and is now "promotable" to be a NCO (non-commissioned officer for you non-army folks). This is a really big deal around here. He had to study and prepare his class A uniform and make sure everything looked Army perfect! Hopefully he will now actually get promoted sometime this Fall/Winter!

I wanted to include a few pictures of our little getaway... There are not many of D because he was too sick to do anything fun and none of me because I felt (and looked) like blah the whole time! So most are of little C :-)

This was from our balcony. Notice the ocean, the pier, and the roof top pools behind her. It was really pretty.