I may have mentioned that we brought the family circus on a road trip. I may have briefly mentioned that we brought a bug with us and shared it. I certainly did not do justice. At that time there were 4 out of 7 kids I believe? Well let’s start this again…
Day 1 arrival – it’s apparent that one 2 year old has encountered a nasty degree of hand foot mouth disease. Moderately contagious. She had thrown up about 4 days before and the originaly rash was just thought to be a release of the fever from that bout. She screamed for the last hour of the trip but after a little Benadryl was just fine. The rash subsided quickly.
Day 2 – the first puking began at the wee hours of the morning by the 18month old. She never woke anyone up so by the time dear mom got her in the morning she was pretty well dry. Dear mom ran her to the tub for a good washing. Out of nowhere, two brown tug boats start floating through the water, immediately recognizing their shape, dear mom pops the 18month out plops her on the bathmat and began to do some careful “poo fishing”. After a mild disinfectant and a new bath, dear mom turns around to see that the next number 2 out of the 18month old was more soup than sandwich. With a white bath mat the damage was permanent. Poo puddle won the battle and it’s out with the bath mat. One more puke at the breakfast table, a phone call for confirmation that she was welcome at daycare and off they went.
Day 3- the 3 year old woke up in a really, really cranky mood. “I don’t wan’t to go to Anna’s (daycare). I sick”. well of course he was sick, he just watched his sister be sick yesterday – kids pick up on stuff like that fast. So dear mom, loads him in the car to drive him to daycare. A phone call about 20 minutes later tells me that funny, it turns out he really was too sick to go to Anna’s and had proceeded to throw up all over the car. I guess the body knows. The 3 year old comes home for the count and spends the day watching movies and puking in the saddest daze. Sitting cross legged on the couch, with his mini pail on his lap, he blankly stared at the TV muh too nauseous to turn his head.
Day 4 – rough day. The 2 year old who had the hand foot and mouth catches the stomach flu. She gets it the worst. My poor, poor daughter. She puked and puked. She got to the point where she just walked around carrying a giant garbage can that matched her size. Everywhere she went, she brought her bucket – never too careful. We believe her tally was upwards of 20+ times. “Her poor cry of it won’t come out, I need help” just broke my heart. So I’d get her to guzzle the water and till she could puke. It offered temporary relief. But oh, the poor girl.
And the first Adult fell that day. Dear aunty got a mild bout that knocked her down for the better part of the day. 4 out of 11 and counting.
Day 5 – another two down this day. I got it pretty awful. I had the pleasure of strenghtening my ab muscles from the inside out a good 8 + times in a morning. And my 5 year old only got a small taste of the flu that kept her near a bucket for a portion of the day. I’ll tell more about this day in my next post – I proceeded to a beautiful picnic in the park and my first attempt of Hot Yoga that very day – dumb, dumb, dumb.
Day 6 – one more down – the 7 year old woke up puking on Day 6. 7 out of 11… what a household. She was off to spend the day at her other family’s. Nothing like sharing. She made it down the driveway in the van and we watched the doors burst open and the poor girl just make the bushes.
Day 7 – a restless night brought rise to a morning of the poor 2yr old fighting nausea. We’re not sure if she was having nightmares of puking or really was ill, but regardless she was back attached at the hip to her bucket. She managed to bring her big bucket up the stairs when she woke up and kept it with her for the better part of the day. She’d lay on the floor unhappy at everything. She just couldn’t get comfy.
That’s a quick outline of the week with respect to the extremely contagious stomach bug. Through it all we learned:
– always have a spare bucket ready. It’s guaranteed that
when you are rinsing out the bucket, they need it again.
– kids quickly learn any skill they need – how to lean over a bucket, ask for
someone to hold their hair and never, never turn your head when you are
vomiting.
– high capacity washing machines are a must
– popcorn is a must not
– milk is a never. No matter how much they cry over it.
– car washes can rinse out vomit, but not get rid of the smell
– if a kid already puked in a car, just use that car until the flu is gone…
no point getting a second vehicle contaminated
– if they say they are too sick for day care, they might just really be.
– adults can adopt new reflexes- we can move pretty fast to the precursor
sound of puking
– 6 bathrooms is barely enough
– it’s easier to manage a bad case of the stomach flu when you are managing
with people you really enjoy!
And those are the highlights of the week… we’re still here, we had a near miss with two adults yesterday who were on the verge but seem to have recovered after battling the bugs with some Bourbon. The count remains at 7 out of 11.