Swine Flu and a Cold, Wet Weekend

Well, I have so many thoughts going through my head I’ve had a hard time deciding what to share and how to organize it, but I think I finally decided to just give an update on the past week, though it’s not all that exciting.

So, you guessed it from reading the title. Swine flu! Just call me Porky. Or Porky’s mom I guess. And there are 4 Porky’s. Kaitlyn got it first. Bless her heart. She just picks up everything. So she went to the doc last Tuesday and confirmed Type A Flu, which means H1N1 at this current time. It doesn’t help that my parents keep reminding me how many people have suddenly died from this. Don’t you just love it? I’m doing all I can but I have to keep being reminded of this because my own natural worry isn’t enough. The real truth is, I’m shocked at how mild it was. Slight fever and a little tired. Kids alternated staying home. All 4 caught it really fast. And I’m glad which means hopefully it will be over and done with and we can get on with our lives.

Now that I have 4 kids, I’ve noticed that what goes around, comes around, and then goes around again. By the time it’s gone someone’s caught something new and the cycle continues. So hopefully this is done with. Got 3 of the 4 kids on Tamiflu and they felt better pretty fast. So fast, in fact, that they didn’t miss much school and we were able to still go out of town with the older two for a football weekend!

Now, let me tell you I was nervous about going. First I had to make sure the babies were feeling okay enough for me to leave them with Mike’s parents. Mike had to make sure his parents were okay with being around our sick kids, even though they were all feeling fine. And lastly, I had to make sure this trip wouldn’t be too much for the big girls, given they were getting over the flu. Weather reports looked good for Fort Worth so I figured, it can’t hurt to sit at a football game for a few hours in some mild weather. Not too hot, not too cold, the fresh air would do some good. I vowed not to let them go in a bouncy house or do anything that would overexert them. I was even looking a little bit forward to it.

So Saturday we headed out. Drove into the rain which we knew was coming, but it wasn’t supposed to go all the way to Fort Worth. It did. It was a long, rainy drive. Our friends Steve & Amy were having a tailgate that they had to move to their home. We still went but I was worried about the girls being inside someone else’s house. Forget Frog Alley. Who wants to go do fun festivities in the dreary and cold rain? But the girls at least managed to get a balloon animal as we headed into the game. We all had our rain gear on and the rain had cleared up but we knew it wasn’t over.

Second quarter it started pouring. We sat in it about 5 minutes and finally decided to take cover. After halftime, even though the rain stopped, the girls begged me to go to the car. I thought that was a pretty good idea. They really didn’t need to be out in all that mess any longer. So we went to the car where they watched the Smurfs and Enchanted on the DVD player. Thank goodness for modern conveniences! And it was a good thing we left too because their feet had been soaked without me realizing it and they would have been well on their way to catching pneumonia, which is actually the big scare with the swine flu. Once it seems to be nearly gone, it can come back fast and develop into pneumonia. So this is the stage we are in now – waiting to be in the clear. I’m praying like crazy we have seen the worst and it is behind us. But I will feel better when the week is over!

I’m sure so many would think I’m crazy for dragging my kids out in all that given the circumstance. It was not the intent. And for some reason my husband does not understand that just because they’re feeling good that they are not in the clear. He told them that rain or shine we were going to tough it out. I looked at him like he had three eyes on his head. (I should mention that Mike played for TCU back in the day so he is a die-hard fan. I went there for grad school but I’m an Aggie at heart.) And then yesterday it rained all morning and the entire way back. All we wanted were a few cute pictures on the campus. Against my motherly wishes, they got a few yesterday in the cold drizzle that at least turned out pretty cute. As you can see they felt fine, good enough to act like goofballs! (Though they were coughing in the cold air!)

So that was our somewhat disappointing weekend though it was still nice to get away, see friends and family up there. Oh, and we stopped in Aggieland (“the Aggie city,” as Mackenzie called it) and had some yummy Freebirds burritos on the way home . And all the kids did great. But was it ever nice to get home and out of the rain! Better luck next year!

Oh, and this is my brother Taylor, a junior at TCU, with my dad and step-mom who were also in town and we met for breakfast Sunday morning.