The Icky Bug

Well, folks, I think the flu finally hit our house. If not that, them some other icky stomach bug. It looks to be short lived, and for that I'm thankful.

My child has been so healthy in his short 2 years of life. I can count the times he's been sick on one hand, including this time. But it looks like this time of year is bad for us. Last year he was getting over his very first time being sick, and with the chicken pox no less.

Yesterday morning Zachariah woke up early. Matt went in to check on him and quickly called for my help. He thought he'd thrown up, because there was something all over his face. He hadn't, it was just slobber. But Zachariah went back to sleep (as did I) for a few more hours. I got up and got my shower, and then a little later heard Zachariah crying loudly. I knew he wasn't feeling well, because he never wakes up like that. He was gagging a little, but that was all. He cuddled on my lap for a long time and didn't want to move. I finally got him up and dressed, but he did not want to eat anything. This is very unusual for my child who loves to eat all the time. He pretty much laid around until lunchtime. I asked again if he was hungry. Then he started looking in the kitchen for something to eat. He finally settled on a peanut butter & honey sandwich and applesauce. He ate most of the applesauce and half of the sandwich. Luckily he'd had a big cup of orange juice at this point too. He had a low-grade fever in the morning, but I knew it wasn't bad so we just had to wait and see. Just before lunch he threw up a tiny bit on my shirt. Easy clean-up, I just put the shirt in the washer and got a new one on.

After lunch he took a nap as usual. He slept for about 3 1/2 hours which is longer than normal for him. When he got up, I could tell that he had a fever. I took his temperature and it wasn't too high, but he did have a fever. I gave him a dose of Infant Motrin, and he laid on my lap for a long time. After about an hour he was up and running around almost like his normal self. He was happy when Matt got home from work and played with him for a while.

Just before Matt got home I started feeling icky. I didn't feel any better or worse all evening. I finally was hungry enough to eat something around 8:00. And by this morning I feel OK. Matt knew I was interested in eating, and he wasn't interested in leftovers for dinner. He ordered a pizza, and by then Zac seemed really interested in eating. He ate about 1/2 a piece of pizza, which is less than he normally would but we were glad he had an appetite. It seemed like he was all better.

Shortly after dinner he came and laid on my lap again. I joked with Matt that this looked like a kid who wasn't tired at all, because that's what Zachariah was telling me. He got down for a few minutes, then he came beside the chair where I was sitting and laid his head on me. I thought he felt hot, like the fever was coming back. Then he threw up on me and the blanket on me. Ugh. The poor little guy started to freak out because he made a "mess mess". I was trying to reassure him that it was fine, we'd clean it up. Matt, acting quite fast, was getting things to clean up the mess. And then Zachariah projectile vomited across the floor. It was on him, me, the blanket, my chair, and who knows where else. He was crying at this point. I think it scared him. It's the first time he's thrown up. Which means it was our first time dealing with it. I have to say, Matt was a pro. It didn't seem to phase him at all. I was trying to get it off me and off the kid first of all. So I put Zachariah straight into the bathtub, and Matt just went to work cleaning up. We made quite a team. Zachariah got ready for bed after that. His fever was down by the time he got sick and I bathed him. He was hungry before bed though, I'm sure he lost everything he'd eaten for supper. So he had a graham cracker and was tired and ready for bed.

Luckily he slept all night. And he woke up in a good mood and hungry this morning. It seems he's feeling better. Although he's yet to play with toys or run around. He's sitting on a chair watching a Thomas DVD he got for Christmas. He seems content and happy. I can tell he's not quite back to normal, but I think we're past the rough part. He doesn't normally watch much TV, but I'll let him sit and watch Thomas all day if it will make him feel better.

When I talked to Matt this morning, he said he's not feeling great. He has achy muscles and has a tension headache. We're hoping it's only from the shots he got yesterday (4 in preparation for his trip to Africa), and that he's not getting what Zachariah had.