Monday, Dec. 14th - Sick Day :(

At 4:30 am, Bethany stirred in her crib, but thankfully went back to sleep.  I had actually been awake for a little while because my stomach was bothering me.  I lay there for 30 minutes trying to be very quiet so that Bethany wouldn't wake up.  By 5:00 I knew that I was not going to be able to wish that sick feeling away.  Thus began an awful day of vomiting and a bad case of the "runs!"  I wondered if it might be a stomach virus, but later Dan went down to breakfast with Bethany and asked around to see if anyone else was sick.  No --- just me.  Before lunch, Dan was feeling queasy, too, and we decided it must be food poisoning.  He and I were the only ones who had eaten our particular meal... it just seemed like if it were a virus that someone else of the 20 in our group would have been sick, too.

The day was long for me (only spent between the bed and the toilet) but maybe even longer for Dan who had all the care of Bethany to himself.  I managed to tell him how to mix up Bethany's formula before her morning feeding, and he took over from there.  Back a week ago in the Kunming Walmart, we'd chosen not to buy a stroller for Bethany.  We wanted to carry her as much as possible, and we didn't know for sure that she would like being pushed, anyway.  Emily had NOT tolerated anything but being held, and we'd managed fine with her.... but she could walk, even though we carried her a lot because she was so fearful.  Bethany is a heavy little chunk, and she can't walk!!  We'd been doing fine switching her back and forth whenever Dan or my back or arms were hurting.  However, today, Dan had no one to pass Bethany off to, and his back might never be the same!

I was sad to miss our day's outing -- the Guang Zhou zoo.  Of course I hated feeling terrible, but most of all I hated missing the time with the rest of the group.  The afternoon had only free time scheduled, but in the evening, we couldn't make it to the river boat cruise, either.

Thanks to two other kind moms in our group, I was armed with oral rehydration fluid, anti-nausea and anti-diarrhea meds. Later in the evening, I was able to keep in a small amount of food and drink, and was starting to feel a little bit better.  I was still extremely weak, and was getting concerned about being able to get around the next day.  I Skype messaged with Anna at home and Dan's mom and asked them to pray and get the word out to others to be praying.  I fell asleep almost right after that and woke up 3 hours later.  I already could tell that God was restoring my strength.  I slept on and off the whole night, each time feeling better when I woke.  Praise Him for His mercy!  I'm so thankful, too, for LOTS of friends and family who prayed us through that ordeal!