We are super fortunate that we live out in the middle of nowhere and managed to avoid Covid throughout all the lockdowns and when the country was at its highest peak. However, it was inevitable. We would catch it at some point, and here we are, nearly three years after Covid first appeared, we have all had it now.

As I’m sure with everybody else, we have no clue where we’ve got it from. However, I’m glad to say that none of us were too badly affected by it. Seth and baby Jonas were the first ones to show signs, quickly followed by Gavin, the next day (who was the worst affected) and then myself 12 hours later. Tobias and Hamish came down with it two days after that.

Two weeks before the autumn half term was when it started for us, and each person only tested positive for three days in total, so thankfully after 10 days, everybody was clear from the first person starting to the last person ending. All of the children only had snotty noses and a cough. Gavin was bedridden with headache, muscle aches, sickness and flu like symptoms, but I’ve never known Gavin to be made bed ridden by any illness in the past and I’ve been with him for 10 years. I was bedridden for two days. However, I did have Jonas with me the whole time, which makes me think my recovery would’ve been prolonged having to look after him for that time.

We didn’t check anyone with the test kits until I came down with symptoms as we just thought it was that time of year where colds and such like we’re floating around or starting up. My test came positive immediately, so we then proceeded to test Gavin, Seth and baby Jonas, who all tested positive too. On the Monday morning when the children were due to go to school, we tested them in the morning and they both came up with positive tests, but had no symptoms until the day after the first test.

The second day of the illness was the worst for me. The fatigue was worse, dizziness awful and there seemed to be a slight change in taste of certain things, like a metal taste in your mouth. The symptoms were aggressive and would come and go. Gavin and I both commented that we may feel better one day and free of a symptom only for it to come back the next. We found paracetamol, ibuprofen and lots of water the best remedies.

From our experience, it was short lived (thankfully) but wiped through us all! It’s hard to parent when your ill, so lots of movies and snacks were needed. We isolated during the illness and I’m thankful it stopped with us and we didn’t pass it around (to our knowledge). It’s getting to that time of year where colds etc are starting so I would definitely say if you have any unusual symptoms, get a test as soon as possible. Over the counter pain relief helps and plenty of fluids & rest are good if you are managing your symptoms at home.

Much love Rebecca