Monday, January 3, 2011

A not so happy new year.

Allie rang in the new year by puking. And puking. And puking. Unlike others who welcomed the new year in this manner, she was and is still sick. Plus, she's three years old!

This has to be the oddest stomach virus I've ever seen. In my experience, you vomit and vomit and vomit and then you slowly get better. With this nasty virus, you can go hours or days without vomiting and then it returns. After throwing up Thursday afternoon and a few times overnight, Allie went from Friday morning until the afternoon without doing so. Grammy emailed me to say that Allie had eaten toast. And then she had some lunch. And then she was coloring. I arrived home early from work to find out that she had just thrown up.

She acted fine after and started begging for crackers so I gave her some. She kept them down for two hours and then threw up everything. The poor thing passed out sound asleep on her big kid bed, which she did not want to sleep in, before I could even get Em in the tub. And then the scary stuff started. She was throwing up in her sleep and choking on it.

I slept with her downstairs and it was horrible. She threw up so much that she didn't even have the energy to sit up. I would hear her start to gag and I would have to pull her up and put the puke bucket in front of her. She was basically just vomiting bile at that point so I would give her a teeny tiny sip of water whenever I could. I was trying anything to keep her from becoming dehydrated. I had arrived home from work around 2:45 Friday afternoon and Allie had not peed since I don't know when. All throughout the night, I kept asking her to just sit on the potty and she wouldn't.

I almost cried when she asked, "Can I have a lil sip of water to rinse my mouth out, please?"

Saturday morning rolled around and I was exhausted. I barely slept because I was so afraid she was going to choke. Anytime Allie coughed, I jumped. She finally peed for me and then ate half a popsicle and drank some juice. She threw all that up a half hour later. We called the pediatrician's office, who told us to watch for dehydration. I so badly wanted to go back to bed but Allie was being super clingy. She ended up taking three naps on the couch, I fell asleep for a bit while Rich had Em and Anna outside.

So Allie started eating a little bit more on Saturday and keeping food and fluids down. She wasn't really too hungry on Sunday but ate a bit and spent most of the day on the couch. We assumed that she was finally getting better but I felt like our house was a time bomb. Who would be next and when?

Rich brought Em and Anna to his mom's house Sunday afternoon for lunch. Both girls seemed normal although Rich mentioned how Em had complained of having a tummy ache. Okay. Okay. That happens. Em came running into our bedroom at 1:45 this morning. I brought her back to her big kid bed and told her I would sleep there with her. Now, my intent was to sneak back to my own bed once she was sound asleep.

She was extremely restless and when she did finally fall asleep, I couldn't bear to leave her. She was holding Little Lion with her right hand and Minnie was cradled in the crook of her left arm. Something didn't seem right. We "slept" for two hours and then I realized that she was awake and had been moving almost the entire time I had been there. After she told me that her tummy hurt, I was on high alert and could not sleep. I heard a small burp and grabbed her out of the bed, running to bathroom with her in my arms.

So now Em is puking. Anna's been sobbing hysterically. "Mommy! I want Mommy." Allie wakes up and insists on sleeping with me and Em. She could care less that Em is throwing up. I bring them both downstairs. Another night of half sleep.

Anna started puking this morning. And Allie, after two and a half days of vomit freedom, puked again. The pediatrician's office told us that it could last for a week. Allie is on Day 5. This couldn't have happened at a worse time. Beginning at the end of this week, I have a HUGE project at work. HUGE. This is my busiest time of the year. Plus, sick days are for the calendar year. There's no carryover. Imagine if I burn through all them in January. Ouch.

My head might explode.

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11 comments:

Wendy said...

Oh Sarah, I'm so sorry they're all so sick! If they can hold anything down, will that take some Carnation Instant Breakfast, or maybe some Pediasure? Poor sweethearts.

Samantha said...

Oh my goodness, I really hope that everyone will quickly be on the mend.

Anonymous said...

oh my gosh. i just got done a stomach bug, much like allie's in the way that i just threw up all night to the point where i had nothing left in my stomach and bile just kept coming out. i really hope this passes! good luck!

Meg S :) said...

Sending healthy, good, work productive thoughts your way! We are just now getting over the flu and I can attest nothing is worse than watching your poor babies be sick!

Hope everyone feels better soon! :)

Tracy said...

Oh my, I'm soooo sorry. You definitely need to watch for dehydration. I was sick a couple months ago and after only 1/2 day of vomiting was admitted to the hospital due to severe dehydration. Wendy had a great suggestion with the Pediasure and when our kids have been sick like this we've been given "anti-nausua" medication which worked just enough to get some fluids in them. Watch those little ones closely and hang in there!! My prayers are with you and the girls!!

JEN said...

Ugh. Thoughts and prayers coming your way. It sounds like it could be Norovirus.

Tina Michelle said...

Oh I hope they feel better soon!

Anonymous said...

I am so sorry your family is going through this - my twins had it too (at the very same time - would puke within 10 minutes of each other) and it lasted 12 hours - I cannot imagine it lasting days and days - I just want to wrap you all in a big hug! I know it's so terribly exhausting for the parents and it breaks my heart that your girls are going through this. I hope you all get better really soon! As a side note - our pediatricians office told us not to feed them anything until for so many hours (can't remember how many but it was a LONG time) after they last threw up and only give them small sips of water every 1/2 hour or so ... that was soooo hard because my twins were begging for more but if they got food or more than a sip of water they would just throw it up.

Lisa said...

that sounds awful!!! I hope everyone feels better soon.

Sarah said...

Thanks everyone. It is horrible b/c they will beg and beg for toast, water, etc so we finally give in. Sometimes they keep it down for hours - sometimes not.

Mandy said...

I hope your girls are feeling better. My 1 & 3 yr old had the same thing 2 weeks ago. They would be almost better, down a pedialyte pop then start throwing up again. I also had that sleepless week worrying they would choke in the middle of the night throwing up. So sorry your girls are all sick. Hope you all get a good night's sleep soon.