An excerpt from my letters to Reese.
January 3rd, 2025, 7:25pm
This will be too much information, sweetheart. Yesterday, at 3:30 am, I woke up with the stomach flu. It was . . . a nightmare. Over the next seven hours my body emptied itself, in all the ways it could be emptied. Afterward I was feverish, still nauseous, weak. The bathroom looked like a warzone and at one point I basically rolled myself into the shower and let the tub fill up with the water pounding on me while I used the shower liner to shield my face so I could doze in and out. Water went up my nose at one point and jolted me awake.
This is a challenge of single parenthood – no one else is in the house to help take care of the baby. But it’s also why my parents are heroes. I called your MorMor before 6:30 am and she was over within the hour to get you up and get you ready for daycare. I had already been up with you once a few hours earlier, after the first time I’d thrown up, and that was stretching my capacity.
You spent last night at the cottage and all day today (as you would have anyway, you’re always there on Fridays). But you’re back with me tonight. I’m doing much better. My fever broke overnight and though I’m weak and living off saltines and Gatorade today, I was able to do a few loads of laundry, bleach the bathroom, and wipe down the rest of the surfaces in-between watching episodes of Schitt’s Creek when my body demanded I lay back down.
I’m hoping you do not get this. Actually, I think you might have given it to me. Your teachers said you were off at the start of the week and you had been spitting up more frequently (something your rarely do) and had upset digestion for a day or two. So maybe you passed it to me and it just hit me a lot harder. I hope so, because I don’t want you to go through what I just did.
You seem to be fighting something still though – teething, stomach issues, just not into the formula I’ve started supplementing your breastmilk diet with? – you haven’t been sucking down bottles like usual and definitely had less to eat today. But you gnawed on teething crackers before your bath and seemed happy this evening, if not tired. You didn’t nap very well today and you went to bed thirty minutes earlier than usual. I hope both of us sleep well tonight.
With Love,
Natalie