WARNING--This Post Contains a Lot of Poop

I cried a lot on Thursday.

It started with a highly frustrating and discouraging phone call to the Department of Workforce Services. I was on the phone for over an hour and by the end was barely keeping it together. I hung up and just sobbed. Then I got the baby out of her crib only to find out that she had pooped through her entire outfit.  I changed her and texted Dustin in class and begged him to come home.  I was not handling life.  Of course my sweet man came right home.  We spent the rest of the morning running around town gathering paperwork, printing documents, and faxing them off. I ended up having to go in to work over an hour late. In the mean time, Lia's diarrhea was continuing. Miranda texted me as I was on my way home from work with the news that Lia had puked.  She puked again during dinner, and you guessed it--more poop.  Which had me in tears again. Dustin give Lia a blessing before we put her to bed, which made more tears....I went to bed with a huge headache.

At 5 in the morning, I woke up to her crying.  I went in and discovered that she had pooped multiple times in the night, and her pajamas were soaked.  I changed her and discovered that all that poop had created a nasty painful diaper rash.  Poor girl cried and cried as I cleaned her up, and once we were done I decided to give her a bottle to keep her hydrated, since we had given her a bottle before bed and she had kept it down.  Lia ate a few ounces hungrily, then suddenly started gagging. Before I could react, puke everywhere.

Dustin heard the ruckus and came in to help clean up the new mess. Neither of us was comfortable with laying her down on her own in her bed all sick for the rest of the morning, so we took turns sleeping with her, Dustin on the couch and me in the bed. I didn't get much sleep the rest of the morning. 

Friday was pretty bad.  Lia hates Pedialyte so we were having a hard time keeping her hydrated.  For most of the morning she just laid on the couch with Dustin or I, which is so unusual for her.  I got work off and Dustin didn't have class, so we spent the morning changing diapers and clothes and cleaning up a lot of poop and puke. Miranda came over in the afternoon to take Lia and I to the doctor, since our car is in the shop (still.....). The doctor said she most likely has some kind of stomach virus, and the only thing we could really do for her is keep her hydrated. I thought he was going to tell us she was very dehydrated but surprisingly she was doing okay. She also has a bacterial or staph infection which is causing a suspicious rash on her belly and back.  She's had it for almost a week but we never took her in for it, because she had no other symptoms (until Thursday). The doctor did give us some antibiotics for her rash. Lia took a long nap when we got home, and when she woke up she was feeling much better.  By 7 o'clock she was keeping her bottles down and walking all around and talking like usual.  I put her to bed, and Dustin and I had a couple hours of much-needed down time before going to bed ourselves.

It's not like Lia's never been sick before.  She had RSV at 7 weeks, and an ear infection last summer. But this one was so much worse, for both of us.  It is so hard caring for a baby with diarrhea and the pukes.  They need constant attention and it is so much work to keep them clean and fed, and they are so miserable and whiny and clingy.  Dustin and I didn't eat much because we were so involved with Lia, and you can forget about the dishes and house.  It was such a disaster. I was so happy and relieved when Miranda did my dishes last night.  I almost started crying again because I was so thankful that I had one less thing to worry about. I did, however, get a lot of laundry done....

Lia is doing much better this morning.  She still has the runs.  It's noon and I have changed her outfit three times and her diaper four or so. But she is keeping food down and acting like her usual happy self, which is such a relief.  Dustin and I were able to get the house cleaned up. Things are better.  Lia is on her way to recovering, just like Dustin said she would when he gave her a blessing.  I am thankful Heavenly Father was watching out for our family.

And I am very thankful Thursday and Friday are over.