Tough Girl

This was supposed to be a post about how TJ is such a tough little kid.

I had planned to host a playgroup last Wednesday.  The eight babies span a one-month age difference, with TJ representing the midpoint (believe it or not, she’s one of three in the group with the exact same birthday!).  She’s also the only girl, and perhaps because of this, one of the smaller babies in the group.  Despite these facts, she is the resident bruiser.  At our last gathering in December, while the boys peacefully sat on their moms' laps or lay on the floor, she sat on her own, leaning over her playmates to snatch toys right out of their hands and/or mouths.  This was before she was crawling.  Now that she only operates in two modes -- standing and grabbing, or bee-lining on hands & knees -- I can only imagine what havoc she will wreak on the poor boys at our next play-date.  Since I was hosting, I thought I’d grab my camera and snap this wild woman in action for you all to witness.

But alas, my plans were foiled.  TJ woke up in vomit on Wednesday morning, and things deteriorated rather rapidly.  I’ll spare you the gruesome details, but by the end of it we had made four trips to the pediatric unit at the nearest expat hospital, we had a dining table full of various pharmaceuticals, TJ had endured a range of blood tests, and received diagnoses including cold virus, blocked sinus membranes, double ear infections, and mostly a nasty gastrointestinal bug.  At its worst, in a moment I hope to never repeat as a parent, we had to rush TJ over to the hospital for her to be rehydrated via IV.  After that, she slowly began improving.  We spent a day on the couch to recuperate, where she continually slept on my chest, too weak to sit up or even stay awake for longer than thirty minutes.  Still, she had ceased vomiting, was able to breathe through her nose, and was back to nursing.  We were on the mends.

Then the bug hit me.  I woke up in the middle of the night victim to the same stomach virus.  TJ now had to endure her mama staying in bed for two days, unable to breastfeed due to her own dehydration, unable to allow her too close lest she projectile vomit once again and send TJ into a fit of screams, unable to cuddle away the alternating looks of horror and confusion as she attempted to understand what was wrong with this person who suddenly wasn’t so familiar anymore.

Through it all, I must say, she’s been a champ.  Experiencing vomiting – and then dry heaving – for the first time almost without complaint.  Handling the doctors poking and prodding and frantically searching for a non-collapsing vein.  During the hour and half with an IV hooked up to her arm.  Enduring the many many many syringes of medicine I’ve had to force down her throat.  Persevering through myriad trials and tribulations of feeding.  Continuing to seek cuddles even when mama became a monster and daddy was a bundle of stress, dealing with two sick ladies and a huge pile of work.

I think this still might be a post about how TJ is a tough little kid.