Getting Back to Normal

Last week was one of those weeks you hope you never have to go through again...ever. We had to say goodbye to one of our dogs after she nipped (and broke skin) our neighbor. She's finishing up the required 10 day rabies quarantine at the Humane Society. It's very sad but we just can't afford the liability of having a dog that can't be trusted not to bite. Then the entire family came down with the stomach flu which also sent me to the ER for 7 hours since I could stop the vomiting-dehydration cycle on my own. Then, as you know, I lost the baby. It was a long, hard week where virtually no school or housework got done.

We're slowly trying to get back to life as normal. The day started with me having to wash my bedding because Josh threw up all over my bed again. We found the dining room table today and chipped about four days of dried food (compliments of the ever-so-messy Josh) off of it. The kids helped pick up the floor. I attempted to get the rotting smell out of our bathroom sink pipes and bleach the baby bath that was growing mildew in the uncleanable crevices that the manufacturer poorly designed into it. A very good friend came over this afternoon and washed about four days worth of dishes for me. Each time she filled the dish drainer, I got up and dried them off and put them away since she didn't know where everything went. I think she filled it four or five times. We thanked her by taking her out to dinner...besides we had no food in the house to feed ourselves so we needed dinner too.

We actually accomplished three hours of school today. We spent an hour and a half on history. We read a segment from Story of the World, did the map page, colored the coloring page, and each child read a library book on the topic. We did a half hour of science by completing a notebooking page on our trip to the circus; each child drew a picture about something from the circus and wrote briefly about it. Each child spent half an hour playing a fun math game on the computer. And finally, for our bedtime story, we read a very long chapter in our current read aloud that corresponds with our science. We are reading Where the Red Fern Grows and the kids are loving it. It was a very easy school day. Fortunately, we have lots of banked hours that we no longer need to save for March so any hours that we are short for CVA's requirements are covered.

The hard parts of the day were the reminders. Both Mika and Sammy were concerned about using our banked hours now since we needed them for March. I had to remind them that we no longer needed to take March off from school. Then there's the fact that I can't do life as normal just yet as I am recovering from a miscarriage. Recovering from a late miscarriage is very much like a mini post-partem recovery. Too much activity, I found out, quickly drains my energy and causes me other post-partem symptoms. I had to call my midwife to find out whether or not I would be able to keep our plans this weekend or if it would be too much activity for me so soon. She said I may be able to but I should listen to my body and perhaps modify my plans. She's concerned about prolonging my recovery if I do too much. I finally I still have to wear maternity clothes for a while. While I've lost all the weight I had gained, I cannot fit into my jeans so I'm stuck for now. My midwife said it would be a few weeks at least. We also discussed how much longer I would have to continue taking my anti-nausea meds...probably another week was the answer. I'd be happier if I could just go back to normal immediately. Get back into my normal busy life and forget about it all.

Generally, though, we are doing alright. The kids don't seem to be hit too hard by it. I usually weather things like this well. I don't know why. Some of my friends, the ones that know me the best, have their theories about why and have warned me that I may get hit hard by it later. Scott seemed better today. I think he took it the hardest.

Just an update. Tomorrow I hope to find time to post about the circus. I have some things to I want to share about it.