Sick, sick, sick

We opted out of any and all flu shots here at the Moore household for various reasons, so I have been hoping and crossing my fingers (and really trusting the Lord) to make it through flu season without the flu, especially with a toddler and pregnant mom included in this three person family.

Thankfully, we have made it this far with no flu---thank you, Lord!! But we are suffering from very bad colds around here. I noticed on Sunday afternoon that Ada's nose was a little runny and by Monday night, things had taken a turn for the worse. In fact, little Ada spent half the night asleep in my bed. That has happened, once, yes, once before in her short life. She is not able to sleep in our bed. We have tried it countless times in an effort to expedite the bedtime process in the middle of the night or at times when sickness has taken over her body. She always tosses and turns and shifts and then sits up and asks for Ada's bed. Well, she made it from 11pm- 3 am on Monday night, and then sure enough, she sat up and asked for Ada's bed. Up until 3 am, I was reliving those newborn days--one night in particular.

When she was about three weeks old, I was in Scottsboro for some much needed help from Mom and Ann (have I mentioned that I didn't respond well to the newborn stage?), and mom had to go out of town, so I spent the night at Ann's house. She was living in the rental house at the time, and there was no extra room, so Ada and I took Ellie's bed, and Ellie slept with Ann. I was nervous that night because it was the first night that I felt completely on my own with Ada. There was no Scott or mom to relieve me if I had a mental break down in the middle of the night (I am half joking). Anyway, Ada slept okay that night, waking up every couple of hours for her bottle of pumped milk and a dry diaper, but I lay in bed afraid to move a muscle for fear I would wake her up, and needless to say, I slept none. It was a long night, and I was happy to see morning because I was able to stop pretending that I was going to fall asleep. Ann fixed a big pot of coffee, which helped tremendously that morning.

Well, Monday night, I had the same experience. I was desperate for Ada to sleep, knowing that sleep would help so much in the healing process, so I found myself being pushed out of the bed by a 22 lb two year old. At one point, she was stretched across the middle of the bed, snoring, and I was doing everything in my power not to fall to the floor. I was quite relieved when she made her 3 am announcement that she wanted Ada's bed. I then slept soundly for four hours, and I was reminded of how precious four solid hours can be in the midst of sleepless nights. You know what I mean? In those first few weeks of motherhood when you announce to your husband, and to whomever else will listen, "I slept for four hours straight last night!!!!," and you are so thrilled about this. I think this week is a trial run for me, a reminder that I can do the newborn thing again, that I will survive.

Last night, when Ada was finally asleep for the night, and it looked like it might last all night, I was rudely awakened by a very strong storm outside my window. I can't sleep through storms like that. For the next two hours, I kept hitting Scott on the side, asking him if we should check the news--he wasn't worried about it, by the way. I finally moved to the couch, and I slept for maybe another hour before Ada woke up for the day. I found myself battling the same throbbing in my throat, head, and ears that I am guessing Ada has been dealing with all week. Luckily, Scott took the day off to work from home, and he allowed me to go back to bed for a couple of hours.

I have to say that if this is the worst it gets the flu season, we will take it!!