Stomach Bugs
Last week did not go as planned.
Monday was good, I started knocking some things of the lengthy to-do list and felt confident I could get things back under control by the end of the week.
1:30am Tuesday morning, I awoke to distinctive sounds of a cleanup operation in progress. Eventually woke up enough to head upstairs and see if assistance was required. Comforted Mr6 while David was busy stripping his bed and generally cleaning up vomit (amazingly, without waking Ms3 in the lower bunk)
Moved Mr6 into the guest bed for the remainder of the night. David stayed with him as he proceeded throw up every 20-30 minutes until around 6:30am when a small amount of sleep was finally achieved. I got up to begin the day shift.
There were a few more incidents through the day, but we seemed to past the worst of it. Hardest part was convincing Ms3 not to play with the sick bucket. On one occasion I had to hastily locate it after discovering it was no longer in position.
Wednesday. Everyone seemed recovered enough to get on with life. Mr6 was still recovering away from school, but otherwise Ms3 went to childcare, David to work, and I bustled around doing stuff. Poor Mr6 got dragged around to Osteo and Hand specialist appointments which were too hard to move.
Ms3 was coughing at childcare again so I agreed to collect her early and made a doctor appointment for her in the afternoon. This has happened before, verdict on the cough was that she had no signs of infection, lungs were clear, probably just a minor persistent cough after the last cold and nothing to worry about. This is exactly what I expected.
Going back a step, her cough seemed to be getting better so childcare told me not to worry picking her up immediately. Instead I arrived at around the end of nap time so she could enjoy a rest. We arrived to find clean-up in progress as she had just thrown up.
Bundled her into the car and drove to the doctors, but didn’t quite make it in time. She threw up while searching for a parking spot.
Cleaned up with the nappy bag supplies and changed her clothes again (she had lots of extras because she’s toilet training. Happily we were able to go straight through to the doctor who handed us a sick bag just in case.
Just before leaving the sick bag was used and disposed of. We obtained another bag.
Managed to get back home before the next vomit - got her out of the car and bag in position just in time.
Found message on my phone from David, he was heading home early not feeling well. And another saying he was pausing for breath at Laburnum. Couldn’t offer to pick him up with a sick pre-schooler on my hands, and by the time I got to my phone again he was already home.
David went to bed, Ms3 was snuggled in a blanket on the couch where I held the bucket in position as required at regular intervals. Between time, I buzzed about cleaning as much as possible while I still could.
Hanging out the washing, it was my turn to start feeling odd and I knew my time was running out.
So, Wednesday afternoon saw David mostly sleeping with occasional bathroom visits. Me sitting in the lounge in a torpor, interrupted regularly by my own bathroom visit or the distinctive cry from Ms3 which gave me the adrenaline shock needed to leap into action with her bucket.
Mr6, who found Ms3’s illness just as distressing as his own, went upstairs and mostly avoided us except when he came to chatter in our direction. I don’t think anyone was listening. Fortunately his appetite had not yet returned so I only needed to fix him a small snack in the short interval of functionality that followed a bathroom visit. Other such times went to cleaning up.
By 9:30ish Ms3’s intervals were getting longer. One memorable episode had us synced up, fortunately I had 2 buckets handy at that point.
“Finished!” says Ms3.
“No you haven’t, you just wish you were. See? Told you so.”
“Finished!”
“Really? I haven’t. Nope, neither have you.”
“Finished” she croaks.
“Really this time? Here’s the cloth….”
“… Well, that was unpleasant wasn’t it? Let’s clean this cloth.”
At around this point David was looking slightly more mobile, so we traded places after the next interval. I left him to spend the night in the chair attending Ms3 on the sofa, and Mr6 dozed in the other chair in solidarity.
Thursday…. I don’t really remember except that both kids seemed well recovered and bouncy again. David and I were not.
Kids and I managed a light dinner of pasta with bolognaise sauce and got people bathed and into clean beds. I’d done a bit of general cleaning in an exhausted haze, was still worrying about reinfection when I gave up and went to bed.
Friday I had intended to send both kids back to school and childcare, then they both had huge temper meltdowns after breakfast and I summarily ordered them back to bed. This resulted in David finding all three of us snuggled in my bed when he returned from the shower.
I don’t know about them, but I dozed a bit, and eventually they got up. David had just told childcare Ms3 wouldn’t be in when she decided she would, in fact, be going.
I emerged to find her dressed, bag on her back, ordering dad to hurry up with filling her water bottle. Ms3 is not to be argued with.
So, I stayed home for more rest and cleaning, David also rested and saw the doctor for a certificate for work. Mr6 stayed to rest, but seemed pretty bouncy again. He made me play chess with him, and talked non-stop for the entire game. I pleaded brain fatigue so dad was stuck playing the next game and found the endless chatter equally exhausting.
By Saturday I was basically recovered, but it would be a few more days before the state of the house approached habitable again.
And that was the great family illness of 2018.
Monday was good, I started knocking some things of the lengthy to-do list and felt confident I could get things back under control by the end of the week.
1:30am Tuesday morning, I awoke to distinctive sounds of a cleanup operation in progress. Eventually woke up enough to head upstairs and see if assistance was required. Comforted Mr6 while David was busy stripping his bed and generally cleaning up vomit (amazingly, without waking Ms3 in the lower bunk)
Moved Mr6 into the guest bed for the remainder of the night. David stayed with him as he proceeded throw up every 20-30 minutes until around 6:30am when a small amount of sleep was finally achieved. I got up to begin the day shift.
There were a few more incidents through the day, but we seemed to past the worst of it. Hardest part was convincing Ms3 not to play with the sick bucket. On one occasion I had to hastily locate it after discovering it was no longer in position.
Wednesday. Everyone seemed recovered enough to get on with life. Mr6 was still recovering away from school, but otherwise Ms3 went to childcare, David to work, and I bustled around doing stuff. Poor Mr6 got dragged around to Osteo and Hand specialist appointments which were too hard to move.
Ms3 was coughing at childcare again so I agreed to collect her early and made a doctor appointment for her in the afternoon. This has happened before, verdict on the cough was that she had no signs of infection, lungs were clear, probably just a minor persistent cough after the last cold and nothing to worry about. This is exactly what I expected.
Going back a step, her cough seemed to be getting better so childcare told me not to worry picking her up immediately. Instead I arrived at around the end of nap time so she could enjoy a rest. We arrived to find clean-up in progress as she had just thrown up.
Bundled her into the car and drove to the doctors, but didn’t quite make it in time. She threw up while searching for a parking spot.
Cleaned up with the nappy bag supplies and changed her clothes again (she had lots of extras because she’s toilet training. Happily we were able to go straight through to the doctor who handed us a sick bag just in case.
Just before leaving the sick bag was used and disposed of. We obtained another bag.
Managed to get back home before the next vomit - got her out of the car and bag in position just in time.
Found message on my phone from David, he was heading home early not feeling well. And another saying he was pausing for breath at Laburnum. Couldn’t offer to pick him up with a sick pre-schooler on my hands, and by the time I got to my phone again he was already home.
David went to bed, Ms3 was snuggled in a blanket on the couch where I held the bucket in position as required at regular intervals. Between time, I buzzed about cleaning as much as possible while I still could.
Hanging out the washing, it was my turn to start feeling odd and I knew my time was running out.
So, Wednesday afternoon saw David mostly sleeping with occasional bathroom visits. Me sitting in the lounge in a torpor, interrupted regularly by my own bathroom visit or the distinctive cry from Ms3 which gave me the adrenaline shock needed to leap into action with her bucket.
Mr6, who found Ms3’s illness just as distressing as his own, went upstairs and mostly avoided us except when he came to chatter in our direction. I don’t think anyone was listening. Fortunately his appetite had not yet returned so I only needed to fix him a small snack in the short interval of functionality that followed a bathroom visit. Other such times went to cleaning up.
By 9:30ish Ms3’s intervals were getting longer. One memorable episode had us synced up, fortunately I had 2 buckets handy at that point.
“Finished!” says Ms3.
“No you haven’t, you just wish you were. See? Told you so.”
“Finished!”
“Really? I haven’t. Nope, neither have you.”
“Finished” she croaks.
“Really this time? Here’s the cloth….”
“… Well, that was unpleasant wasn’t it? Let’s clean this cloth.”
At around this point David was looking slightly more mobile, so we traded places after the next interval. I left him to spend the night in the chair attending Ms3 on the sofa, and Mr6 dozed in the other chair in solidarity.
Thursday…. I don’t really remember except that both kids seemed well recovered and bouncy again. David and I were not.
Kids and I managed a light dinner of pasta with bolognaise sauce and got people bathed and into clean beds. I’d done a bit of general cleaning in an exhausted haze, was still worrying about reinfection when I gave up and went to bed.
Friday I had intended to send both kids back to school and childcare, then they both had huge temper meltdowns after breakfast and I summarily ordered them back to bed. This resulted in David finding all three of us snuggled in my bed when he returned from the shower.
I don’t know about them, but I dozed a bit, and eventually they got up. David had just told childcare Ms3 wouldn’t be in when she decided she would, in fact, be going.
I emerged to find her dressed, bag on her back, ordering dad to hurry up with filling her water bottle. Ms3 is not to be argued with.
So, I stayed home for more rest and cleaning, David also rested and saw the doctor for a certificate for work. Mr6 stayed to rest, but seemed pretty bouncy again. He made me play chess with him, and talked non-stop for the entire game. I pleaded brain fatigue so dad was stuck playing the next game and found the endless chatter equally exhausting.
By Saturday I was basically recovered, but it would be a few more days before the state of the house approached habitable again.
And that was the great family illness of 2018.