May Stomach Flu

I haven't blogged for a while, duh. The day after my last post, actually that very night, Gwendolyn came down with the worst stomach flu I have EVER seen in my life!! I was really getting back into the swing of blogging, then the whole sick thing happened. I know this is late, but I need to blog this mostly for my own personal records.

It all started at 1am in the morning. I was going to bed and thought I would check on the kids. I heard Gwenie coughing(she had been coming down with a cold). I went in there a found her sitting up. I smelled the air and realized she needed a diaper change. Then I realized not only was she in a desperate need of a diaper change, but she had thrown up all over herself and her bed.

I got her out of bed and began the cleanup. I just thought she had thrown up from all the mucous in her stomach from her cold. I got her all changed, got clean sheets on the bed and she threw up again. I cleaned it up and had her come downstairs with me. As I was putting a load of laundry in she threw up on the stairs. Then she threw up again and again and again.

She threw up on her pants, so I had to remove them. I gave her some Tylenol for her fever.

The little dot on the floor is what she thought of the Tylenol.

The "stomach flu setup."

I had to sit by her making sure I caught her puke every time. She was going about every 15-20 minutes.

Still puking a lot at 7:30am, having had no sleep and still smiling.

8 am, she had puked 25 times by this point(yes I counted). I called the Dr. and the nurse said, "Well, I guess we could look at her if you wanted us to, but there really isn't anything we can do. Unless she gets lethargic, then you will have to take her to the emergency room." I knew that would be the response, but I thought I would at least check.

The puking slowed a bit, she was finally able to sleep for a couple of hours.

Mark came home early to help out, as I was not able to tend to the other kids. Gwenie woke up thinking she felt great(after puking 30 times). She insisted on getting dressed to go outside with shoes and all.

She threw up again and realized she wasn't going anywhere. She was so tired and had a really high fever.(Thursday)

This was the bedtime setup in our room. Mark brought her mattress in and we bought some hospital pads to help contain all her, um, fluids. She insisted on wearing her shoes for the next two days, even while sleeping. I suppose it was the one thing she COULD wear.

The next day, she was very lethargic, but still actively drinking. She had thrown up 35 times at this point. She didn't walk at in the last 20 hours or so. She was so weak.

She was in and out of consciousness all day. She wouldn't take any Tylenol or anything, so we had to bring her fevers down the old fashioned way.(Friday)

I felt so sorry for my floppy little doll of a 2 year old. She ended up puking a jaw dropping 38 times!! You probably think I am lying, but there is no lying going on. I counted it, I was in disbelief as the number went up.

Saturday afternoon, she was a little more awake, but hadn't walked since early Thursday. I brought her on my bed to hold her for a little while. Then she threw a "very little movement" tantrum, since she was so weak.

Mark went in to get Rosaline from her nap and found that she had a surprise for us. She had thrown up, a lot. We gave her a bath and wrapped her in a towel. She was so pale and sick, but very happy.

See what I mean? Very happy, even posing for the camera.

She only threw up three times, I was thankful...except...

Her issues were more downstairs than up. I was, however, grateful for hospital pads!!

Mark and I were finally having a nice sleep(despite having to change Rozzy a few times during the night). Gwendolyn was still sick(downstairs area, no longer throwing up), but she was back in her room. Rosaline was now on our floor on her mattress. Liam woke up crying to us. We came to find out that he had thrown up, all over his bed. I cleaned it up, fixed his bed up with hospital pads and a bowl for catching. I explained what he needed to do, how he would know he was going to throw up, etc... But, he didn't quite listen. He completely missed the bowl and hospital pads and got it all over his blanket, sheet, floor, toys(funny they didn't listen to me when I told them to pick up their toys earlier, now I am the one to suffer), etc... Another cleanup.

We setup the DVD player in his room, explained the importance of the sacred bowl, and he did much better. He only puked 7 times and was very cheerful about the whole thing. He even ate that night. Should we even expect that boy to give up food for any period of time for any reason? I think not!

The girls and their sleepy time together. I thought this was so cute and funny. Little sickies. Yay for getting better!! (too bad she had something very similar last week, throwing up twice and having some downstairs issues). Again, I am thankful for hospital pads. They sell them at RiteAid!!