I am earning a new Mommy Scouts badge over here.
And not one that I want to earn.
Yup, the dreaded “My Toddler Has a Stomach Virus” Merit Badge.
Ali woke up during naptime crying. I went upstairs pat her back and tell her to go back night-night (happens a lot during naptime). But once I got up there, she began to get sick, and continued to “sick” all over the bed, the formerly-beige carpet, her pillow, her beloved DoggieBear, ME, the bathroom, and the sink for quite a bit.
I’m sure at this point it is obvious that I’ve never dealt with a toddler besieged by a stomach virus before, or I’m SURE I could have limited the collateral damage a bit.
Oh, and as an aside, I have most definitely found the first drawback to all of those bold beautiful colors of home-juiced fruits and vegetables. NOT nice to carpets.
She cried and held me for a long time, and when she finally woke up enough to get ahold of herself, her analytical side came out.
She looked at the floor and said in her best “I’m trying to solve this mystery” voice, “Somebody spilled something all over Ali’s floor!!”
(Yes, it sounded JUST like the three bears. I fully expected her to say, “And there she is, right there!!!”)
I explained “You spit up, honey, because you don’t feel good.”
After about half an hour of my vain scrubbing-the-carpet attempts, she looked at it again and said, “Ali spit up.”
“Yes, Ali spit up, honey. You spit up because your tummy hurt and spit all of the food in your tummy on the floor.”
Excitedly, she said, “Ali has a baby in her tummy?!?!?!”
“No, honey, you had FOOD in your tummy.”
“Oh. Ali had FOOD in her tummy.”
Later on, Chris came home and helped with my FURTHER attempts to clean the carpet (I had him stop off at Lowe’s for more cleaner). I was trying and failed to keep Ali out of it. She stepped on the wet carpet, backed up quickly, and said, “Ali stepped in Ali’s food.”
ew. That just gives spit up a different vibe. Not to mention the food.
She got special treatment since she had been sick and got to watch a bit of TV (Wheel of Fortune – she loves the letters). After WoF, Dancing with the Stars came on, and since she had been dancing to the WoF music, I figured that I should let her watch the first dance to really be impressed. Here is the proof that she DID feel better for a bit:
Later, when I explained that she couldn’t sleep with DoggieBear tonight because he needed a bath, she explained to herself, “DoggieBear fell in Ali’s food”.
Not QUITE how it happened, but close enough.
She’s already woken up crying a couple of times, but no more “sick” has occurred yet. Your prayers for our making it through the night without stepping in any more “food” would be appreciated.
Update: We made it through the night with no further “sick”. She did wake up many times during the night crying, though – not sure why. She’s still asleep, so we’ll see how she is once she wakes up. Thanks for your prayers!
Second Update: Actually, she DID get sick in the night, just not enough for me to see in the dark. She still feels very badly this morning and is very feverish. . .
Oh my gosh! Stomach viruses are the absolute worst! I am SO sorry and hope she is feeling better soon (with no more throwing up tonight).
Poor thing. I hope everyone made it through the night and Ali is better today.
I have had 2 stomach viruses this year and they weren’t fun.
Jackson thinks “getting sick” is called the hiccups. I’ve never bothered to correct him.
My advice with stomach bugs is to let her sleep with you, and have a bucket right beside you at all times. It really does help the process when you aren’t running to the bathroom constantly.
Hope she feels better soon!
Oh no! Call in the Lysol reinforcements! I had this not long ago–it is evil! I pray Ali gets better soon and that you and hubby don’t get it.
So very sorry for her and you. I will pray for the tummy to be better. give her a kiss please. LYB
Oh poor baby! It is so hard when they are sick. I feel so bad when my little one wants me to “make it better” and there’s nothing to do but wait it out. Hope she feels better soon!
That’s the worst illness to watch our children have, in my opinion. Bless her heart. It sounds like she got hit pretty hard with it. We’ll be praying for her and that you and Chris don’t get it.
In the for-what-it’s-worth department, vinegar is often helpful in cleaning up the results of a stomach bug. We put it straight on the carpet. The smell is horrible, but it cuts out that vomit smell that always seems to wind up deep in the carpet.
Hope she’s all better soon!
I hope Ali feels much better quickly. I’m personally a chain vomitter, or at least a post-vomit gagger. My husband was always a huge help when the kids got “sick”. It’s no fun cleaning that stuff out of carpets either.
Bless her heart (and yours). I’m so sorry, it’s no fun I know.
I just got your comment about the yard sale. It is May 2.
I’ll take dirraeha, fevers, even random rashes over a throw up virus. Oh it just makes my heart hurt to see afellow mommy have to go through that. I always thought I would never be able to cope with another human beings throw up, but apparently there is supernatural strength for that as well! ha. I really wonder if Mary ever had to clean up Jesus’ throw up.