Not One Was Spared!

I've been dominating the blog lately and was therefore hoping that Jon would write the next post but this story is probably more dramatic from my viewpoint. I'm good at being dramatic, you know, but I promise not to add one bit of exaggeration.

If you read our last post then you are aware that Natalie was sick last Thursday and Friday. Although she seemed sluggish on Saturday, she appeared to be on the mend. We had a low-key day, not much on the schedule.

Saturday evening Jon and Jared (our neighbor) decided to have an X-box night. Jared has the X-box, Jon has the manly T.V. so I guess the combination is a typical man's ideal of fun. After Jared arrived they decided to call Justin to join them. They got the system all hooked up and had just begun playing when I heard Jon say, "You guys go ahead, I'll be right back." I knew right then that something was wrong. Then I heard it. I rushed to the bathroom to find Jon in a cold sweat, hovered over the toilet. I asked if he was alright and all he could do was moan, "I must have what Natty's had." It came on so fast, he'd been fine just moments earlier. I offered to excuse our guests but Jon opted to clean himself up and gracefully pretend that nothing out of the ordinary had occurred. He sat down to a bottle of water and hoped that was the end of it.

About 30 minutes later I heard crying coming from upstairs. It was Alyssa getting sick. I cleaned her up and came down to tell Jon the news. All this time Justin and Jared continued playing, oblivious to the happenings of our family. Jon struggled through a few more minutes and then made another mad dash to the bathroom. Evidently those video games are quite engrossing because our guests were still completely unaware of Jon's plight. Jon eventually had to admit why he was not playing the games. He offered to let them keep playing and he just lounged on the couch. In the meantime, Alyssa got sick again.

Justin and Jared left and we headed straight to bed. I got about a half an hour of sleep when I was awakened with more crying. This time it was Natalie. She'd gotten sick all over her bed. I cleaned it up and was beginning to feel my own swells of nausea. Natalie got sick again shortly thereafter and Alyssa followed. I was beginning to think the night would never end. Each time I heard the crying I would look at the clock to find that no more than thirty minutes had passed.

At 3:00 am I woke to Alyssa's, "Mommy?" I sat up to find her walking into our room. "I need to go potty but I can't because it's all dirty. Caleb threw up all over the potty!" I told her to use my bathroom as I dragged myself from my bed once again. By this time my own nausea had turned to knife pains, the kind that indicate my turn to be sick was at hand.

It was all I could do to keep the tears back. The scene in the bathroom was horrifying and as badly as I wanted to just leave it until morning, I knew I had no choice but to clean it before going back to bed. In the midst of all of this Natalie woke up again, couldn't be consoled and I finally resorted to bringing her to bed with us.

By the time morning came we were all completely exhausted. Not one of us had escaped the nasty bug! We couldn't attend any of our church meetings but instead spent the majority of the day sleeping. We ate little more than toast as our stomachs couldn't handle anything more. By evening we were all beginning to feel better and were slowly regaining strength. Though we still don't have our full appetites, we are otherwise back to normal.

Could the day have been any worse? Only slightly. A member of the bishopric called in the early evening to extend a speaking assignment. I really don't like speaking but if I had to choose to have my entire family sick in one night or have to speak in church, I guess I'd choose the speaking assignment. But on this lucky day, I got both!

I called the carpet cleaner today. Let the sanitizing begin!