Dirty Laundry Blog by Jennifer Hynes

In the corner of my left eye I see Blue Bear in the laundry hamper. Not the original old stinky Blue, but the new soft clean blue I bought as a backup. I wanted to reach down, pick him up, and cuddle him while I laid down in my bed. I wanted a Blue Bear, something to comfort me like the babies have. It’s been a rough week. On Wednesday I came down with sickness number one. A horrible, painful, gastrointestinal thing that left me with a swollen colon. I dealt with it, I mean there was a moment I thought my organs would burst and I was dying and that I lay crying wondering how I was going to take care of Jack and Fiona. I also thought for a minute that I was imagining the whole thing. Maybe it was all in my head? Maybe I was under more stress than I thought and I was going crazy again. But I went to the doctor and he said he’s seen many patients with this same bug. He was pleased with my health, was that is, because when he sees my blood test results today he ain’t gonna be too happy with me anymore. I had my blood drawn Saturday morning, the usual tests, CBC, Glucose, and Cholesterol. I thought I had been doing good but my cholesterol is the highest it’s ever been in my life. This used to really scare me because of my family history of heart attacks, this time I’m not going to let it get in my head. I guess I’ll just eat vegetables only, forever. After my blood was drawn we went to the mall. The babies had runny noses, the mall was still closed and was deserted. The sound of the carousel echoed through the place giving it an eerie walking dead feel. I started to realize the babies’ noses were running really bad and that we had probably infected the whole place, how long does the cold virus last on public surfaces? All of the sudden I started sneezing and sneezing and sneezing. I thought it was allergies. We got home and it became clear, Jack, Fiona, and I all had a nasty cold. I needed my Blue Bear. If someone were to ask me “what’s the most challenging part of raising twins?” it would be taking care of Jack and Fiona when all three of us are sick. I laid on my bed and cried Saturday afternoon after I put the babies in their cribs, I longed for someone to swoop in and take care of all of us. To make us tea with lemon and honey and feed us chicken soup. Someone to wipe the boogers off Jack and Fiona’s faces for me, the boogers that made their way into their mouths and onto their blue bear and tiger. A disgusting sight for sure. But I knew in two hours or less I would be the one who needed to get up and take care of all three of us. Babies need their parents even more when they are sick. Jack said “mommy” a million times this weekend and held onto me tight. Fiona coughed until her eyes were watering, it was so sad. But again we made it through. My body got up and took care of the babies, took care of myself, and my Dog. I couldn’t make dinner last night for my husband though, I told him he was on his own and he made himself shrimp! I thought that was pretty cool.