Solo parenting (even for a week) is not for the faint of heart! This was a rough week!
Sunday, 1:00 a.m.: Niall wakes up vomiting and this continues several times over the subsequent 12 hours.
Sunday, 10:00 a.m.: Kelvin leaves town again via car for an out-of-town trip with Tory (CEO) for a Best Practices medical conference in Calistoga, CA. Niall is thankfully better as the day goes on but still cranky, and I arrange sick-care for Monday, when I'm on call and Kelvin is gone. I do three full loads of vomit-laundry.
Monday, 6:00 a.m. both kids are up early. Niall is still feeling and acting sick, with loose stools and two accidents but thankfully, no more vomiting (the WORST bodily fluid, by far! And this includes the blood and amniotic fluid sprayed in my face more than once.)
Monday, 7:30 a.m.: Babysitter Maggie arrives to take care of sick Niall and I manage to get Iver to school, inherit a labor patient, and attend her rapidly-progressing birth at 12:31 p.m. I make it through a full clinic day without even rescheduling patients since she so courteously delivered over the lunch hour. One of my colleagues in FP is out of town and I'm fielding inbox messages and urgent calls, refills, results in addition to my own inbox work and patient-visit charting. There is another storm/high-wind alert and I pray that the power doesn't go out!
Monday, 16:00: My phone text messages stop working altogether (outgoing and incoming which I found out later), despite multiple reboots of my phone. I am trying to trying to relieve the at-home sick-care babysitter while coordinating pick-up of Iver after Jiu-Jitsu from Shannon's house by Gloria (overnight babysitter in case of laboring patients) while I'm still on call, hoping I don't get called for any emergencies and that the phone actually receives incoming calls.
(I'm still giving Pepper her up-to 18 doses of meds per day for her corneal ulcer. It doesn't look much better).
Thankfully, I did not get any overnight OB calls on Monday, and kids go to their respective schools on Tues as planned.
Tuesday night, 22:30: I go to bed a bit later than usual since I was finishing a great Netflix movie "The Swimmers" which tells the story of Syrian refugees Sara and Yusra Mardini, who fled the war in Syria via boat and one of whom (Yusra) goes on to compete in the Olympics.
Tuesday, 23:15: Niall wakes up screaming (?nightmare) and runs into my room. I walk him back to his bed.
Wednesday at 00:30: Iver comes into my room, stating Niall's second round of screaming woke him up. Both kids want to stay in my bed and end up sleeping with me.
Wednesday, 2:00 a.m.: Pepper the dog wakes up, whining, and needs to go out to pee since she drank a lot of water before bed after snuggling in blankets. Dog goes back to her bed.
Wednesday, 3:00 a.m.: Dog whines again, jumping up and wanting to be let into the bed as well. Dog gets put on our (very full) bed (THIS IS WORSE THAN OB CALL). I think I finally fall asleep despite getting kicked in the face by horizontally and diagonally lying children.
Wednesday, 5:30 a.m.: kids wake up (earlier than usual and despite the long night) ready to get started for the day.
Wednesday, 21:30.: I fall asleep during prayer at my regular Wednesday night Bible Study/community group on Skype.
Wednesday, 23:30: I wake up with all bedroom lights on, give Pepper her last meds (fourth set, all separated by 5 minutes) of the day, and let her out.
Thursday, 4:40 a.m. I wake up via pre-set alarm for my regular AM workout to beat the kids awake (they manage to make it until past 6 a.m.).
Thursday, 7:30 a.m.: Kids fight the entire way to school (which is less common than fighting on the way home). Niall is upset because Iver is singing along to the music and "looking" at him.
Thursday, 7:50 a.m. I have decided that Iver (8) is old enough to walk from his school parking lot to before-care without being walked all the way there. I did actually put the car in park before he jumped out (he offered to just roll out while the car was moving!). I get to work a few minutes late but not too late.
Thursday, 10:20 a.m.: My seventh patient of the morning arrives at her appointment time for her IUD, squeezed into a too-short appointment time and with her kids in tow, and passes out shortly after the procedure. (She is fine. But we need to flip the room for the second IUD for the day and are now running way behind). I wryly view an e-mail wishing me a "Happy Doctors' Day."
Roads and God willing (the 101 was closed AGAIN on Tuesday due to snow!), Kelvin comes back later today. I will have another call weekend this weekend before our (much needed!) spring break. Here's saluting all the single parents out there. It's been quite the week!
Addendum:
Thursday around 15:00: Kelvin arrived safely home
Thursday at 21:00: Either due to catching the bug that Niall had or due to eating that-pesto-was-not-still-good for dinner, I developed projectile vomiting that lasted all night. My sleep was interrupted not only by the vomiting but also the very itchy (off chronic prednisone) doggie and her intermittent whining for unknown reasons (Kelvin thankfully took care of her).
Friday at 07:30: after some five-year-old Reglan (an anti-emetic drug in our cabinet) left over from my last pregnancy (expired meds are different than expired pesto) and some sparkling water plus a popsicle for breakfast, I drag my weak self to work because I felt bad cancelling on a full Friday of family med patients (I was the only provider there in the afternoon), lying my head on my desk in-between patients and charting, blessing the Lord for one no-show. (I channeled my inner "Kelvin worked through appendicitis" and do recognize that in very few professions does this seem a reasonable way to work). I was able to take a midday nap at home and felt way better in the afternoon but YIKES! Vomiting illnesses are NO JOKE. I learned my lesson re: expired food.
Friday at 9:00 p.m. I crash and had the best night of sleep I'd had in a long time.
Saturday at 7:30 a.m.: I take over OB call and go in to deliver a mom's second baby.
