Flu/Mama questions

Yesterday, I got the flu. Actually, that's not true according to the CDC. Yesterday, I got a stomach bug. It was awful.

It started with Isaac last week. But when he tossed his cookies, I thought it looked strange. I asked him what he ate and he said "Dog food." WHAT!? Was my thought.

Apparently, even when a boy is 6 you have to still worry about the occasional strange choice of food.

He quickly took the statement back and said he didn't. But I was convinced he had, and made himself sick. Especially since he was fine after that (Isaac is always that way. He never seems to get held down by any particular illness for very long.)

But a few days ago Giovanna woke up saying her tummy hurt. Sure enough, she was sick a few times that night. But the next morning she was fine. A few days went by, and I thought we were out of the woods.

Jacob actually had 2 days off in a row this week. He had some plans on Monday, but we had all day Tuesday!! This is very exciting, and something you don't know you take for granted until you don't get 2 day weekends.

We needed to move the chicken's to a new (bigger) system in the garage (they're getting big already!) . We were going to clean our cars, the garage, and I don't really remember what else was on the list. But just getting to spend a day at home - woo hoo.

Until I woke up Tuesday morning. Augh, nothing was exciting about being sick. If you've ever had terrible sickness when pregnant, this is EXACTLY what that was like. In fact, I started to get worried near midnight, I couldn't keep even water from sucking on an ice chip down. I called my doctor who said to give it 24 hours, and let Shiloh have a bottle or two (since I have 2 gallons of breastmilk in the freezer!) to give my body a break. She asked if anyone else had been sick and I said "Yeah my kids, but they were over it so fast. I haven't had water in over a day and I just feel awful." She laughed and said "You're not a kid anymore, they bounce back quicker." Wha??? When did that happen. I still think of myself as so young. I guess I'm not. Weird.

Well, turns out little miss Shiloh does not nurse at night for nutrition as much as comfort :-) She decided to skip a feeding entirely, sticking her tongue out at the bottle and just played (waving her hands around, cooing at them, and trying to eat her nightgown) until she fell asleep. When she woke up the second time she ate 2 oz but wanted to play. Turns out drinking from a bottle doesn't put you to sleep the way Mamma does. So.. I nursed her for about 2 minutes and she was right out. I decided to just nurse her the rest of the night. That was much easier.

I'm really hoping that she's receiving antibodies to this stomach bug through my breastmilk. Does anyone else have experience like that? Did you get sick but the baby stay healthy? Also, from not having any calories yesterday or water (I usually drink about a gallon of water a day) my milk supply seems to have taken a big hit. We're nursing almost every hour and a half! Should I be worried? Will everything return to normal? Or will my milk supply come back plus some and I'll have extra for a while? Should I give her a bottle to help fill her tummy? Help me out, ladies who know stuff about nursing!

**Edited to Add: I almost forgot one of the whole points of my blog!! I wanted to add how even though last night when I was feeling awful and like I might be dying (of course, I'm not sure what that feels like. But last night I had a good guess) that I was so thankful that even though I did get sick, it was on a day that Jacob was home. We rarely get 2 days off together, and having him here when I don't feel well is worth more than words can describe. His job is not always flexible and I felt like that was really God's grace for me yesterday. He was also able to rearrange so he could go in later this morning to be sure I could get some extra sleep this morning and I was up and on my feet. How I am so blessed!!