The Bug's Stomach Bug :(

After three used trash bags, two baths, three toddler pj shirts, two pairs of toddler pj pants, four mommy shirts, one daddy shirt, three mommy pants, two loads of laundry, three stain treated patches of carpet, two stain treated couch cushions, and lots of tears, we have survived Jackson's first stomach bug! I got hit in the middle of the night Tuesday and am just finally feeling 100% today. Josh stayed home from work on Wednesday so I could work on recovering. Thursday I was feeling better so I sent him to work, but asked Mary Jo and Mark to keep James home since I wasn't feeling super yet. Good thing I only had my own little guy since he exploded with puke out of nowhere Thursday afternoon! I had just hit the point in the afternoon, right after Jackson's second nap, where I wasn't feeling so hot so I was laying on the couch "supervising" playtime. He brought me a book, I opened it and read the first page, and got peaches and sweet potatoes exploded all over me :( Poor thing was a little startled, but he really wasn't that upset. That was good since I had NO idea where to start the clean up process. Paxton was awesome and patiently waited downstairs behind the baby gate for the clean up to be complete.

I decided a bath was a good option. So I changed us out of our pukey clothes and popped Jackson in the bath. He was pretty happy in there and I was hoping that was it for him, since I had only gotten sick once myself. I had him smelling so nice again and had just sat him up on his changing table to put on his shirt when he erupted a second time. It was maybe even a little worse :( This time it really upset him. Since he only had his diaper on, I put him back in the bath. After rinsing him off and quickly getting some clean clothes on him, I sat him in his crib while I started on disaster cleanup. He got sick again in his crib one more time before I was able to get him laid down to try for a nap. This time I just changed his shirt. How many baths could we really have?! I also realized that the time had come to regret only purchasing one mattress protector! I thought it was ridiculous when Babies R Us recommended registering for two or three. When Jackson was really tiny (and the messiest, I thought) we laid lap pads under him when he was in his crib. I never had a reason to worry about the mattress protector since I had two things on top of it! Huh. I added that to my list of Resolve carpet cleaner and Pedialyte. I had gotten his room pretty clean. I started on the first floor and the laundry and had just gotten going when I heard him cry from upstairs. I found him getting sick a little again. By this time there wasn't anything coming up. I decided it was better to keep him with me instead of wondering what was going on upstairs. I wiped his shirt off and brought him downstairs. I had called Josh right away when Jackson first got sick and he was on his way home. He came in right as Jackson was in the midst of heaving a few more times. Jackson couldn't seem to go five minutes without getting sick. He had the saddest little face when I held washcloths under his mouth. It was like he was asking, "Why can't you make this stop Mommy?" SOOOO sad!!!

I finally called the doctor because I was worried he wasn't slowing down. Our favorite call-back nurse called us back and explained that there is a stomach bug going around and we shouldn't expect it to last any more than 24 hours. Phew! She gave us instructions for reintroducing food and drink and checking for dehydration. I'm so glad I called since Jackson couldn't settle down for quite a while. At first he would get his energy back for a few minutes and play before feeling sick again. After a little while he just wanted to sit in our laps. I moved downstairs to the family room with him and he sat with me for a few minutes. Then he climbed off my lap and I think he was going to play. Nope. He sat on the carpet, rolled over, stuck his bum in the air, and passed out on the spot...for almost four hours! We had just turned on the space heater, so it was just the buglet and the space heater! What a sweet (and pathetic) little guy!

He woke up on his own just before 9 and was super thirsty! It was almost worse to not let him drink all he wanted (doctor's orders, and my own knowledge from personal experience) than to feel helpless while he was sick :( He LOVED the orange Pedialyte :) We changed him and laid him in his own crib and he slept until 5:30 the next morning with just two wake-ups for a sip of something to drink. He was a champ yesterday! He seemed hungry for anything and everything and was back to eating more normal food than I was!




Today he isn't quite as perky. Josh said he was pretty clingy this morning. He has had more naps than usual, shorter in lenght the last two days. He seemed especially tired after his last one today. So much so that he didn't want any lunch. Hmmm... I'm sure his system is just resetting itself!

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Josh stays healthy! He has been awesome at taking care of both of us and it would stink for him to get sick in return!