The ongoing blog of the Tomchak family, in Wheaton IL USA

Nobody Told Me It Would Be Like This

By on December 20, 2009 in Photo Post, Text Post with 1 Comment
2009-12-04_img_2045

Aunt Toni with Sydney

As any parent knows, there are easy days and hard days. Our day today (including last night) falls under the category of OMG nobody told me it would be like this!

It started Friday night.  While eating dinner Brenda noticed that Andrew was looking a bit pink in the cheeks. We took his temperature and it was nearing 103. So we gave him Tylenol, took his shirt off and put a cold wet rag on his head. After an hour or so his temperature was down to just under 100 and he fell asleep on the couch with mommy.

2009-12-18_img_2225

2009-12-18_img_2221

Overnight he was up once because he wasn’t feeling well again, so we sat up with him until he was feeling better and then he was back in bed.

2009-12-06_img_2095

Sydney was also being fed throughout the night, about every 3-4 hours. The last time I went back to bed after a feeding was around 5am.

At 6:30 both boys wake up and as usual they sat with us on the couch in the living room for about 15 minutes. This is the one time of day that they like sitting and being held, as they slowly wake up. Brenda was holding Andrew and I grabbed Max and had him sit next to me. Right away I realized that he needed a diaper change based on the smell that consumed me when he sat down, but I was so tired that I sat there holding him with my eyes closed trying to catch a few more minutes of sleep.

Mind you, the smell was way worse then usual. So much so that it was hard to breathe through my nose, but I was just soooo tired that I actually started to fall asleep even under these conditions.

After about 20 minutes Brenda decided she could no longer take the smell and grabbed him to go get changed. As she was walking out of the room I realized the side of my shirt was a bit wet. Then when I put my had down to feel it I realized it was more then wet. Now, suddenly a lot more awake, I open my eyes and look where Max was sitting and see a huge wet stain on the couch cushion and back pillow. I look closer and realize that it’s a huge stain, and the stain has thickness to it.

As if quickly realizing Brenda was about to defuse a bomb, I jumped up and said “WAIT!”. But it was too late. She had already discovered that he not only had diarrhea, but it was all over the inside of his clothes and half way up his back. It was everywhere and smelled like sin.

Brenda immediately declared this a code red biohazard emergency and decided a simple diaper change was not going to cut it. So I ran into the bathroom to start the bath and in the mirror realized that not only was my shirt a lost cause, but my shorts and underwear were also soaked with large brown stains. So while I’m running the bath water, I realize I have to get totally undressed and quickly wipe down myself just to avoid wanting to throw up. So I disrobe and start wiping down with a towel and a few minutes later naked little Max comes wandering into the bathroom for his bath. He’s cute, but still stinks like pooh!

So I finish wiping off, quickly throw him into the bath to start soaking his nasty areas and run into the bedroom to grab something clean to wear. I get back to the bathroom and spend more time then usual making sure Max is very, very clean.

In the mean time, Brenda is running back and forth between the kitchen and living room trying to get the couch cushions as clean as possible, but by now it’s really soaked into the material and is surely going to smell no matter what she does to it.

So by 7:15 in the morning, Max is bathed and re-dressed, and the couch cushions are wiped down but had to be removed from the room until we figured out what our real cleaning plan was.

I thought I might take the cushion covers off and wash them in the washer, but when I read the tags on the couch it was very specific in saying not to do that. It seems only a professional can clean our couch, we’re not qualified.

Then I remembered that when we purchased the couch there was some sort of spot removal service included with the purchase. So I run down and pull the receipt/paperwork from the filing cabinet only to find out that our type bodily function stain is not covered. Even if I tried to push it through the using the warranty service, they don’t open until 9am on Monday, which means I would have to wait 2 more days with our biohazard situation. Not a good option.

Now it’s 7:45 and I search on google to find somebody that can do the job, and do it NOW! We end up calling and scheduling Stanley Steamer to take care of it, and they agree to show up between 9 and noon. I’m just hoping they’re better then the cable company.

They surprise us and show up before 10am, while I’m in the shower. So Brenda takes all 3 of the kids into their little bedroom and hangs out  (I join them after my shower) while the Stanley guys pull the couch apart and systematically clean every fiber inside and out. They not only clean it, they deodorize it and add a protective coating as the last step. So after about an hour and $340 later, they’ve cleaned it all including the throw pillows. We are instructed not to use the couch until the next morning so that the couch has time to dry.

2009-12-19_img_2237

They leave and I realize that since the room is in such disarray already, it’s a good time to clean the floors and vacuum up all of the dust bunnies, goldfish crackers, lost toys and missing puzzle pieces. That takes me the better part of a half hour as I move all of the furniture around and clean up with the garage shop vac. It’s perfect for this job. By 11:30 the living room is back in order and the kids area allowed re-entry.

All of this, and it’s only 11:30! I remember when we would sleep until 11:30. No matter how much people warn you that having children will change your life, there is just no way to truly communicate the depth of that change without actually going through it.

But when I ask myself would I change anything, the answer is always the same. Not a single thing. Even a day like this is well worth going through for the love of our little family.

It’s Sunday now and both boys are doing better. We figured out that Max has a really bad reaction to dairy (what we didn’t know is that it takes a few days to take effect) and Andrew has been in a good mood while still fighting a slight fever.

2009-12-19_img_2261

2009-12-19_img_2259

2009-12-19_img_2257

2009-12-19_img_2247

Tags: , , ,

Subscribe

If you enjoyed this article, subscribe now to receive more just like it.

There is 1 Brilliant Comment

Trackback URL | Comments RSS Feed

  1. Debbie Ollar says:

    Being a parent has many challenges but like you said it is all worth it. It reminded me of when Madison threw up all over me. We were both covered in it including our hair. Madison still remembers it till this day because that was the first shower we had to take together. I’m glad the boys are doing better.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Top