Tips for Surviving the Plague

I am sitting, one leg under me, the other dangling from the overstuffed green chaise lounge I bought at the consignment store down the street. I am leaning over the glowing broken screen of my laptop as the sky darkens behind half closed curtains. A baby lies in the space my legs have created, his little head laying on my thigh held in place by my right elbow and my breast, which he nurses in his sleep.

This is how I write.

The floor is covered in a giant Dekbed (or comforter if you are American), it has pillows around it's perimeter to keep the twins from escaping (they escape anyway) while they practice rolling over, crawling and crying for help when they break through the barriers or get stuck.

They haven't used it much today because as the snuffly snoring of the wee twin on my lap attests, they are sick.

Sick. Sick. Sick.

I came down with it 8 days ago, it's moved through my face, throat and upper respiratory system. My youngest was next in line (he is laying against me as I write this). He's been sick for 4 days, then came his twin brother two days ago and last night the older girls started sniffling and whining, finally culminating in a screaming fit from the 4 year old who wants me to (and apparently thinks I'm magically able to) "MAKE IT GO AWAY." She woke up both twins (one of whom was actually downstairs sleeping with his dad.) I gotta hand it to her, she has range.

This three kids crying at the same thing? I hate it. And not just because it sends off every biological imperative in me to FIX THE PROBLEM, but too, because when there are three going off at once I can't even identify the problem. All I know is three of my children are in distress and the best I can do is not add to it (which is not always successful.)

Eventually, I got her calmed down as her brother cried in bed. I got him calmed down in time to switch off with dad, trading twins and nursing the saddest one down to sleep. I've been nursing almost non-stop for 38 solid hours.

I'm beat.

But I've got tools. Things that keep this from making me hate life. I've got a little kit that makes my kids think I'm made of awesome,  makes me feel useful and actually HELPS in it's own small (OK, sometimes not so small) way and I'm going to share it here with you, today.


It's called Aromatherapy.

Wait...I know what you may be thinking, don't walk away yet, seriously. Plants are awesome and heal. That is where all our synthesized medication comes from, Plants. In fact something a lot of people use and take for granted when they get sick, A popular name brand chest rub (It's called VICKS...shhhh), is based on and utilizes aromatherapy for soothing head colds. Eucalyptus and Menthol, two major ingredients in the chest rub (and many cough drops) are awesome for this purpose and I've found 9 times out of 10 aromatherapy (or the use of essential oils to treat illness) works better than just about anything else.

Here are Four Essential oils I'm never without and a brief bit on how I use them to help me not cry endlessly when minor illness (or major head colds) rear their inevitable and ugly heads.




Eucalyptus

I have three bottles of this around the house. It is amazing and clears up a stuffy head like nothing else. It's not a cure but it is an effective treatment and it smells really herby and spicy and reminds me when my mom would rub my chest with that well known name brand chest rub and bring me hot tea when I was a kid. I put a couple drops on the floor of my kids room when they are in bed, or you can add 1-2 drops in a humidifier (without adding the other crap - like TURPENTINE - you'll find in that name brand chest rub I mentioned). You can also add a couple drops to a cotton ball and stick it inside your kid's (or your) pillow or use a diffuser. My favorite method, and what made my sons stop screaming when snot was running like a faucet down their poor chubby little faces…add a few drops of it (and sometimes some chamomile) to the bottom of the bathtub, plug the drain and turn the shower on to FULL HOT (just make sure it's not spraying in your face or out of the tub - I say this, because I've done it. It's no fun, trust me.) Then I sit on the toilet lid and let the room get all steamy and work that crap out. LIFE SAVER. There are a few precautions. NEVER PUT IT DIRECTLY ON SKIN. It Burrnnnnnssss. Don't use it when your babies (autocorrect made "babies" into "rabbis" - SO GLAD I caught that one) are really tiny as it's very strong and as with all essential oils - keep out of reach of the kids.-


Chamomile

One of the more expensive oils in my arsenal it doesn't take much to make a big difference. I usually use a few drops of it in the bath and/or in a carrier oil (like sweet almond) and rub it on my head/ chest or any place that is sore. It's an amazing analgesic (pain reliever) and is very calming to the nerves. One of a hand full of oils that are safer to use on smaller kids, Chamomile is slightly sweet and herby and should be blue in color.


Tea Tree

Tea tree is a great anti-everything…anti-fungal, anti-viral, anti-bacterial, anti-biotic. I use it with vinegar and distilled water (see link for a recipe below) in a spray bottle to sanitize my kitchen, surfaces and bathrooms. It's got a sharp, astringent, almost peppery smell and works well for healing wounds, controlling yeast and basic beauty care. There are a lot of great recipes online for treating fungal infections of the foot (and vagina  - yes I said vagina, get over it), making face wash (I buy a pre-made one that I LOOOOVE) and other great ways to use this multi-purpose oil around the home.


Lavender

If I could only have one oil for the rest of my life, this would be it. Period. I have lost count of how many bottles of this I have. I pick one up every time I have a few $ because I go through it so often and I tend to give it away whenever I can, I believe in it so much. I keep one in the first aid kit, one in the car, one in the kitchen (because for burns this is THE BEST…keep reading for more on that), a few in my medicine cabinet and one in my cleaning products area (I mix it with the cleaning spray I make sometimes.)

It's another anti-everything (anti-fungal, anti-viral, etc) It's healing attributes are astounding. It treats wounds, particularly burns (even chemical burns…Google "Rene Gattefosse" who nearly lost his arm to a chemical burn and found out how awesome lavender is at the same time) remarkably well, healing even very bad burns in days usually with no scarring. I've given this to friends who had burned themselves in the kitchen, some who had never used any sort of "alternative" medicine before and had them come back to me a few days later asking what kind of magic this was. Really, Lavender. Period. It is a super plant. It is also one of the only essential oils you can put directly on your skin and is one of the few that is good for treating young children and babies. I use it to treat scrapes and cuts instead of the common antibiotic ointment and get better results! (Please look up precautions on this and all essential oils before using them on your children!There are several links at the end of this blog to help you.)

Diffused in a room it can calm nerves, clean the air, relax or invigorate depending on what is needed and as a bonus, it smells SO GOOD. It relieves nervous tension, symptoms of stress (which often occur with injury) and depression. You feel good and you heal good. This is the #1 essential oil and a good first one to try if you are curious about using essential oils for healing. A drop or two goes a long way and it's is a very inexpensive and commonly available oil.


I have other things in my arsenal, like chamomile tea, honey, sea salt, aloe and more. When I'm not draped in babies or fielding four sick kids I'll write more. I have found these things either easy to grow (lavender and aloe for example) or are easy to find, cheap and very, very effective. My children now ask me to use many of them as soon as they get a booboo (yes, I said boo-boo, get over it) or feel a sniffle coming on and It's something that I find is a joy to share with them. They learn about these amazing plants and I get to pass on parts of my own childhood and ways of self-healing with them. It's very empowering and often enjoyable to have such wonderful things to help me through such rough times. Now if they just bottled sleep, I'd be golden.


Essential Oil Safety.

How to identify and buy high quality essential oils.

Disinfectant spray w/ tea tree and vinegar.