4/11/13 - "Forecast: Baby Showers (...and sick toddlers)"
Well, lesson #1 for a noob blogger (especially one that only posts once a week): never advertise next week's topic; a lot can happen in a week. This week's blog is a case of good news/bad news, and I'm going to break from tradition and start with the good news... as that's the order of events.
The good news is the baby shower was a huge success. Amelia got so much stuff that we probably won't have to buy her anything during her first year of life. Many people contributed to this celebration, and I wouldn't even know where to start with the credits. But one person that definitely deserves mentioning is Marlana Swafford. She was absolutely diligent and relentless in making this so fun, stress-free, and successful.
Baby showers, as Joanna and I have learned, don't just happen. For Joanna, they're particularly stressful. She doesn't like accepting gifts. Roman had two baby showers; and, while we received more stuff than we could ever hope both times, the events themselves were rather stressful. No one showed up to one; they dropped off presents and left. And the other one was a family ordeal, and Joanna just wasn't comfortable around so many people she didn't know. I suppose Poland doesn't do the baby shower thing like we do.
Now, I know I'm a man and usually that doesn't give me a license to discuss baby showers; but, I think I've learned a thing or two about them. Here's some things I've learned. 1) Accept the gifts. For someone like Joanna, this can be difficult. She feels like she's mooching. But, these aren't gifts. They're statements from friends and family that they want to be a part of this new life. It's a sentiment, not a gift. 2) Surround yourself with people you're comfortable around. Invite as many people as you want, but MAKE SURE that the people that you can be really silly with are there. They are your default social escape. 3) Have a plan, but don't worry about sticking to it. Don't be so OCD that you can't make changes on the fly. The objective is for everyone to have fun. If time doesn't allow for all the games and events to happen, then skip some. If everyone is having fun anyway, then who cares. 4) It's the 21st century. Bring your husband, and invite some guys. I didn't realize that men went to baby showers; I didn't go to either of Roman's. But, I was at Amelia's. And I had a blast. I discovered that the more diversity the better.
I'm sure there's a lot more than I'll ever know about successful baby showers, but these pointers are the extent of my knowledge on the subject. In summary, THANK YOU to everyone. It was fun :)
Now, to the bad news. On being sick. I dropped Roman off at mom's on the way to work on Sunday, and I noticed that he was hanging his head. I thought he was just doing a "kid thing." I left him with mom and went on to work thinking nothing about it. A couple of hours later, mom calls me to tell me that he's throwing up... and badly. Joanna and I work at the same place; and, in an event like this, it's usually a coin toss on who leaves to pick him up. I suppose we could leave him at mom's; lord knows she would take good care of him. But, we all know that he's just more comfortable in his own bed. On this particular day, I chose to leave, because I had a head cold anyway (I had been debating on leaving anyway -- which is something I very rarely do).
So, I picked him up and took him home. And he threw up so much. He's never been that sick in his life. We thought it was a 24 hour thing. But 24 hours later, no improvement. So I read online that it could be a 48 hour thing. But 48 hours later, no improvement. He never ran a fever, and most of the time he played somewhat normally. But we couldn't get him to eat, and he rarely drank. And we were worried. So the next morning we made a doctor's appointment.
He slept with a large, plastic bowl that he used to throw up in. One night, I woke up to the sound of the toilet flushing. Without waking me, my two-year old son had gone to the toilet and flushed his own vomit. I can't tell you how much that pained me. I was at the same time heart-broken and proud in a way that only a parent could fathom. I went to the bathroom with him and cleaned him up (now, I won't lie, most of the time Joanna did this -- but this particular time I did). I put him into bed next to me, and he just lay there with his eyes wide open. I understood, I think, at that moment how the parent of a child with cancer must feel. That utter feeling of helplessness. I realized that I would gladly have my hands tied behind my back while someone knocked the shit out of me if that would have taken away my child's pain. And that was just a handful of nights. My heart goes out to those of you with children that have chronic illnesses. It really does.
After a visit to the doctor, we found out that it was some kind of intestinal virus that usually lasts 48 hours, but can last up to 7 days. It's prevalent in the area right now; so prevalent, in fact, that the medicine that was prescribed for his nausea was so in demand that not a single pharmacy in Paducah carried it. We had to wait until the next day and after calling nearly every pharmacy, we finally found it at CVS.
And then... Joanna starts vomiting. My pregnant wife now has it. After seeing all the problems Roman had, the last thing that we could possibly want to happen happened. She, too, made a doctor's appointment; and, as with Roman, there's nothing that can be done for a virus except to ride it out and try to keep hydrated.
Well, that's where we are. It's been nearly 24 hours since Roman threw up last (he's still not eating right, but at least he's holding down the little that he's eating). He has visibly lost some weight. Joanna seems to be in better spirits; I don't think she had it as bad as Roman (THANK GOODNESS!) And, my head cold/allergies (whatever the hell it was) is much better today (if that's even worth mentioning after this past hell week). This morning is figuratively much brighter than it's been thus far this week. I hope this trend continues, because we have a birthday party to plan coming next week for one brave, little Mickey Mouse-loving boy. And I want him not to worry about a thing...
The good news is the baby shower was a huge success. Amelia got so much stuff that we probably won't have to buy her anything during her first year of life. Many people contributed to this celebration, and I wouldn't even know where to start with the credits. But one person that definitely deserves mentioning is Marlana Swafford. She was absolutely diligent and relentless in making this so fun, stress-free, and successful.
Baby showers, as Joanna and I have learned, don't just happen. For Joanna, they're particularly stressful. She doesn't like accepting gifts. Roman had two baby showers; and, while we received more stuff than we could ever hope both times, the events themselves were rather stressful. No one showed up to one; they dropped off presents and left. And the other one was a family ordeal, and Joanna just wasn't comfortable around so many people she didn't know. I suppose Poland doesn't do the baby shower thing like we do.
Now, I know I'm a man and usually that doesn't give me a license to discuss baby showers; but, I think I've learned a thing or two about them. Here's some things I've learned. 1) Accept the gifts. For someone like Joanna, this can be difficult. She feels like she's mooching. But, these aren't gifts. They're statements from friends and family that they want to be a part of this new life. It's a sentiment, not a gift. 2) Surround yourself with people you're comfortable around. Invite as many people as you want, but MAKE SURE that the people that you can be really silly with are there. They are your default social escape. 3) Have a plan, but don't worry about sticking to it. Don't be so OCD that you can't make changes on the fly. The objective is for everyone to have fun. If time doesn't allow for all the games and events to happen, then skip some. If everyone is having fun anyway, then who cares. 4) It's the 21st century. Bring your husband, and invite some guys. I didn't realize that men went to baby showers; I didn't go to either of Roman's. But, I was at Amelia's. And I had a blast. I discovered that the more diversity the better.
I'm sure there's a lot more than I'll ever know about successful baby showers, but these pointers are the extent of my knowledge on the subject. In summary, THANK YOU to everyone. It was fun :)
Now, to the bad news. On being sick. I dropped Roman off at mom's on the way to work on Sunday, and I noticed that he was hanging his head. I thought he was just doing a "kid thing." I left him with mom and went on to work thinking nothing about it. A couple of hours later, mom calls me to tell me that he's throwing up... and badly. Joanna and I work at the same place; and, in an event like this, it's usually a coin toss on who leaves to pick him up. I suppose we could leave him at mom's; lord knows she would take good care of him. But, we all know that he's just more comfortable in his own bed. On this particular day, I chose to leave, because I had a head cold anyway (I had been debating on leaving anyway -- which is something I very rarely do).
So, I picked him up and took him home. And he threw up so much. He's never been that sick in his life. We thought it was a 24 hour thing. But 24 hours later, no improvement. So I read online that it could be a 48 hour thing. But 48 hours later, no improvement. He never ran a fever, and most of the time he played somewhat normally. But we couldn't get him to eat, and he rarely drank. And we were worried. So the next morning we made a doctor's appointment.
He slept with a large, plastic bowl that he used to throw up in. One night, I woke up to the sound of the toilet flushing. Without waking me, my two-year old son had gone to the toilet and flushed his own vomit. I can't tell you how much that pained me. I was at the same time heart-broken and proud in a way that only a parent could fathom. I went to the bathroom with him and cleaned him up (now, I won't lie, most of the time Joanna did this -- but this particular time I did). I put him into bed next to me, and he just lay there with his eyes wide open. I understood, I think, at that moment how the parent of a child with cancer must feel. That utter feeling of helplessness. I realized that I would gladly have my hands tied behind my back while someone knocked the shit out of me if that would have taken away my child's pain. And that was just a handful of nights. My heart goes out to those of you with children that have chronic illnesses. It really does.
After a visit to the doctor, we found out that it was some kind of intestinal virus that usually lasts 48 hours, but can last up to 7 days. It's prevalent in the area right now; so prevalent, in fact, that the medicine that was prescribed for his nausea was so in demand that not a single pharmacy in Paducah carried it. We had to wait until the next day and after calling nearly every pharmacy, we finally found it at CVS.
And then... Joanna starts vomiting. My pregnant wife now has it. After seeing all the problems Roman had, the last thing that we could possibly want to happen happened. She, too, made a doctor's appointment; and, as with Roman, there's nothing that can be done for a virus except to ride it out and try to keep hydrated.
Well, that's where we are. It's been nearly 24 hours since Roman threw up last (he's still not eating right, but at least he's holding down the little that he's eating). He has visibly lost some weight. Joanna seems to be in better spirits; I don't think she had it as bad as Roman (THANK GOODNESS!) And, my head cold/allergies (whatever the hell it was) is much better today (if that's even worth mentioning after this past hell week). This morning is figuratively much brighter than it's been thus far this week. I hope this trend continues, because we have a birthday party to plan coming next week for one brave, little Mickey Mouse-loving boy. And I want him not to worry about a thing...
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