Nasty Bug

The last 36 hours have been pretty full on. 

After Daniel and Eliza's nap (around 4:30) we hopped into the car to head around to the Howies' house. Around halfway there Daniel called out 'It's burning'. He says things like 'it's hot' when he talks about the sun shining on him while he's in the car so I just said 'Yes, the sun is hot'. But then he was vomiting everywhere and crying. I immediately pulled over and got out of the car as he was sick again. I called James to let him know and got the wipes out of the bag to try and clean him up. He was very upset (as you'd expect) and there was stuff everywhere so I decided to head home and give him a bath and then clean him up at home. Windows down, Daniel had calmed down a little bit, and we headed home. I called Jens on the way to let her know that we wouldn't be going as Daniel had just been sick which she was appreciative of.

When we got home I brought Eliza inside (fortunately she was pretty happy hanging out in the capsule), started to run the bath and then got Daniel out of his seat. He had settled down but was still upset at having sick all on him. I stripped him down outside and then he walked inside to the bath. After a rinse he then got out and had a cuddle. I dried him off and got him dressed, hoping it was just a one off. He was chatting like his normal self and moving around the place until he was in the kitchen and told me 'It's burning Mummy' and then he was sick again. Poor little guy. I was holding him until he settled down, gave him some water to rinse out his mouth and cleaned him up. James arrived home and started to clean out the car (I tried but just couldn't cope with the smell). Talking with him I heard Daniel start to cry again in the back room, yep he'd just been sick again. I ran to hold him and he just clung to me, crying. We cleaned up the mess (James was so amazing with rushing back in each time he heard Daniel be sick to help clean up) and just sat with Daniel cuddling me. We then gave him a bit of water to help him feel better.

As he settled down I told him to let me know if his tummy started to burn again, just so we could be ready. Pretty soon after he started to get upset and was then sick again. I gave him another bath as he got a fair bit on himself and he was pretty content just laying in the water. We left him in there while he was happy. After his bath I again dried him and within a few minutes the poor guy was sick again. I tried to have him be sick in the toilet but he got quite distressed at that telling me 'No Mummy. When I'm older' (we've been talking about toilet training and saying when he's a big boy he will use the toilet) so I just kept going back to the kitchen as I knew the floor was easy to clean there. The poor guy was not keeping any water down and he had vomited up basically everything he'd eaten that day (gross I know). James and I were getting pretty worried about him being dehydrated as he'd been at the park in the morning for 3hours, the weather had been very hot and now he wasn't keeping any water down. When he'd been sick for the 8th time James and I decided that we'd take him to the hospital just to be on the safe side. I was so worried about putting him to bed as I didn't want him to be sick there. All Daniel wanted to do was head to bed (something he never volunteers to do! Mr Procrastination) so it was very out of the ordinary for him. We called up Dad, who was more than happy to come around and sit here incase Eliza woke up, and took a bottle out of the freezer. We then called up the Heath Direct number (such a wonderful source) to see what their advice was. Daniel was just next to me, lying on my lap, moving around. Part way through the call he was sick again so I had to put the phone down and just hold him. James took over the phone call and kept chatting with the nurse. They said that it could be treated at home but definitely if he deteriorated, had dry nappies, or continued to be sick then he'd need to see a doctor. They told us to just give him small sips of water (which Daniel was wanting a lot more) and hopefully that would stay down. The lady was very helpful but after the phone call he was sick again and it was quite mucussy. We decided to take him to emergency as we didn't want him getting dehydrated and he was also being very lethargic just before being sick - eyes rolling around, floppy on my lap, etc. It was also 7pm and he normally is in bed at 6:30 so he was very tired! We felt we were probably being melodramatic, but we felt it was best to be safe as this was new territory.

We headed to the hospital and Daniel was sick again in the car. James parked in the drop off bay and we went into triage. The nurse asked us different questions and was shocked that he'd been sick 10 times since 4:30, saying 'wow, so a decent amount'. There was roughly a 2 hour wait to see a doctor but they were organising a bed for him. While in the waiting room, Daniel was sick again. He was so tired but wouldn't go to sleep. He just wanted to be on me, in my arms. James parked the car and came back and we waited.

A nurse took us through to a room and gave us half an anti-nausea tablet that would dissolve in his mouth. This tablet is one that is normally used after chemo treatment for patients (so a strong drug) but they had found that giving it to children who were vomiting excessively helped avoid the majority of patients being put onto a drip. When we put it in (with a lot of difficulty) he was then sick again so that didn't work. She decided to try the other half in a bit of water and gave it to him using a syringe. He was happy to have that (fortunately he loves having panadol that way). She told us to wait 15mins and then give him a syringe of water every 15mins after that and see how it goes. We had to note down when he had water and if he was sick. That medication was AMAZING! He was not sick again (until much later). Daniel didn't want to lie on the bed. He didn't want to go to James, he just wanted to be with me sitting up in my arms. Kinda nice to be needed that way, but also really hard as I don't like him being sick, I don't like sick being on me, I don't like being around sick. Each time we told Daniel to just close his eyes and have a rest he'd say no, even when he was exhausted. He wanted to drink more water but we couldn't let him. The poor guy didn't understand. We read a couple of books, looked at the pictures on the wall, talked about the mobiles hanging up, sang a lot of nursery rhymes and songs, chatted about lots of things. Daniel did so well. Another nurse came and asked us to get a urine sample so we sat there with his nappy open holding the little cup. The poor guy was so dehydrated, that never happened. They wanted it to check for an infection. Eventually a doctor came to visit and was glad that Daniel hadn't been sick again since having the tablet at 8. He checked Daniel's ears and they were fine. He checked Daniel's temp and that was fine. He checked Daniel's pulse and that was fine. He listened to his chest and that was fine. Daniel wouldn't let him check his throat, but the doctor was ok with that. They put some 'special stickers' on Daniel's hands just incase they needed to put in a drip (but Daniel didn't know that was the reason so was happy to have the stickers). Around 10:30 Daniel had some diarrhea (which unfortunately the nappy didn't catch - lucky Mummy) so they were pretty sure that it was a bad case of gastro. Worst case it can hang around for 2 weeks (no thank you!). He said we had 2 options -
1. We could take him home (he hadn't been sick for the few hours since the tablet) and he can sleep in his bed. Take the tablets and give him 1/2 a tablet 3 times a day as that seemed to work.
2. We stay at the hospital and hook him up to a drip to get the fluids back into him. 

Just as the doctor was saying this, Daniel was sick again :( 
We asked him what he suggested and he said he would take Daniel home, give him another tablet and hopefully he would sleep it off. Give him little sips of water and in the morning just give him some dry foods - weetbix, crackers, etc. Daniel clung to me on the way home and fell asleep in the car seat straight away. He was so tired, the poor little guy. When we got home, Daniel was still so tired. We woke him long enough to give him 1/2 a tablet and change his nappy. Then we tried to have him go to bed. The poor little guy just lay on the ground, put his head on his hands and wouldn't move. I ended up picking him up, putting him into bed (with towels on it just incase) and he rolled over and went to sleep. It was now midnight. I climbed into bed and then Eliza woke up. I fed her and Daniel woke up a couple of times during that. James went into him and just settled him. After I fed Eliza he again woke up unsettled. I went into him, gave him a hug and then he rolled over and went to sleep. He then slept until 6am where we woke up, called out for me and then fell back to sleep. At 7:10 he got up and came into our room to say hi.

Today, Daniel has been a lot better. He's been able to keep water down, he's had 1/4 piece of toast and a few crackers so his appetite hasn't been there but he's been able to keep it down. He's been a bit clingy but also shown normal Daniel responses. Thank goodness he's a lot better.

I now totally understand how they say when you need to cope with vomit, you tend to be able to when it's your kids. I don't normally cope when someone's sick. I can't stomach it. Yesterday I had Daniel be sick on me, had him go to the toilet on me and I survived. It was hard.  It was scary. It was full on, but I needed to be strong for Daniel and I did it. James said he was proud of me for coping. But definitely don't want to have it happen again some time soon!

Now just hoping that we will be able to avoid it too. So far so good!