A Story (hey I even included a picture)

Once upon a time there was a little family of three who lived in a little red brick house. They were all very happy until early one Saturday morning the little boy, whose name is Andrew, woke up with a little tummy ache. And then the real fun began. (Warning - this post is about a sick child. If you don't have kids but plan on having them one day then tread cautiously. If you do have kids, we'll you've probably "been there done that" so read on and think "thank goodness it's not me this time".)

The past 24ish hours have not been fun in the Davis Casa. Andrew came into our bedroom at 5:00 a.m. Saturday morning complaining that his tummy hurt. Let me tell you, it was all downhill from there. He threw up 12 times (I think, I kind of lost track) yesterday. From noon to 5:00 p.m. it was every 20-30 minutes. It wasn't pretty. On the upside, we made to the toilet every single time. Go Andrew! Nevermind, that I'm having back spasms from running back and forth from the bed to the bathroom with a 30 lb 3 year old. At 5:00 p.m. I gave him Benadryl. Yep I'm a good mama like that. The thing is, I read somewhere that it helps with motion sickness so I figured it might help with nausea (?), and we really needed a break, as he was definitely mildly dehydrated. So I googled it (you know I went to the authority on all things medical), figured the worst that would happen is that he would puke it right back up, and gave it to him. I don't know if it helped or if it was just coincidence, but he kept it down. After that, he kept down Gatorade. Yes I know, it should've been pedialyte but he hates pedialyte, and if you haven't ever tasted it, try it. That! Stuff! Is! Nasty!

So anyway, he drank the Gatorade and watched Gnomeo and Juliet. Which is very cute by the way. At ten o' clock (like how I wrote ten o' clock out?) last night he ate 3 crackers and then crashed. He didn't wake up until almost 9:00 this morning. At which point he insisted on eating butter toast on an empty stomach. I tried to talk him out of it. I tried to tell him that he should drink some Gatorade and eat dry toast. But no ma'am, he wasn't having it. He wanted butter toast and water. Well actually, he wanted butter toast with jelly and milk, but I drew the line at the jelly and milk. If he was going to puke it up, I didn't want to deal with purple jelly and milk (I forewarned you this was about a sick child). Well the butter toast and water didn't sit well. It stayed down a total of about 20 minutes (and I had just disinfected the toilet. Man!). But after forcing him to drink Gatorade for a couple hours, he asked for a banana. He ate the whole thing and kept it down. Hallelujah! He then got out of bed for the first time since yesterday morning (except to puke), and I gave him a bath. Now he's playing, and I think, finally on the mend.

Here's the thing, before I had kids, I didn't think much about them getting sick, but kids get sick. We've done everything from puke to croup to fevers of 104+. Thankfully, most of the time it doesn't take much more than a few days, lots of love, and in some cases a round (or ten) of antibiotics to get them better. When I refer to the antibiotics, I am referring to Andrew's ear  and sinus infections. The child is a little over three and a half and has had three sets of tubes. He has a very round and very large head like his mother, and so his eustachian tubes lay flat (and I'm not being mean, I'm just being honest). Thus making it very hard for fluid to drain. Thus leading to lots of antibiotics (not good) and eventually 3 (very expensive) sets of tubes. But out of all the illnesses that come and go, the one I fear the most is the stomach virus. Why? Because kids puke everywhere. And they touch everything. It is very hard to keep those germs contained. But I've done my best, and washed my hands 6.5 million times (and used half a can of Lysol and a quarter of a bottle of bleach), and slept with a sick baby (what's a mother to do?). So I'm praying (a lot) that I don't get it.

And that folks is THE END.