The Never Ending Stomach Bug...

Ugh.

Can I just say first how totally over everyone in our house being sick I am?!??!?! AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!

I just needed to get out that scream. Since a lot of my blog posts are on timers, even though a post goes up a certain day that doesn't really mean that that's what we did or something that happened THAT day or even a day or two before.

The last 10 days have been.....well.... totally sucky. I can find no better suited adjective.

Let's see. First, it started with Brooke. She got violently ill first. She was just 'off' at piano lessons that day. I thought she maybe had another headache (she had had the typically coinciding bloody nose earlier, so this was a safe assumption on my part). We continued at piano, continued on to bible study. She crawled up on my lap at bible study. Odd. She didn't want to play with the other kids. She actually ASKED to go home early. So we did. And about 30 minutes later (around 8pm), she threw up. A lot. Around 9pm, she threw up again. A lot. There was nothing left in her stomach. I thought maybe she just ate something?? I don't know. We all ate the same things though? So, then... starting at 10pm, she threw up...again. And every 20-30 minutes after that until 4am. Except nothing was coming out. Just violently dry heaving. I was close to taking her to the ER. She just wasn't stopping! Needless to say, we got NO sleep. But finally the last bout was near 4am and she went to sleep and stayed asleep. She woke up around 8am (staying home from school obviously) and felt better, but was soooo tired. Of course! So she went back to sleep and slept till nearly 1pm. Brad stayed home w her b/c, of course, this was the day I had Brenna (she wasn't at school) and had to take her to her other activities. Anyway, when Brooke woke up she was feeling better! Just weak. And uneasy about eating. And what a day for this to happen on. She had a dentist appt at 4p and her first softball practice after that. Ugh. So after she rested all day, felt better, and even ate a couple of little things ok, I decided she could keep the appt and at least GO to softball, if not to just meet her coach and watch or whatever. She felt totally fine at this point. The answer was a quick little 24 hr bug or maybe something she ate. Either way...it was over.

I thought.

She went to school the next day (it had been well over 24 hrs since being sick) and the following day all day she was fine. She came home, ate dinner, took a bath...normal stuff. Nothing out of the ordinary. Then, at 3am... (seems to become a popular time for us, as you'll see)... she threw up. Again. And again. It stopped then. And she was 'ok' again after that. But was still weak and not eating right. But she continued to get better after that. Weird. But whatever. It was over, for good this time.

I thought.

A full 3 days later. 3am. Brenna came to wake us up to tell us her tummy wasn't feeling good. And proceeded to empty the contents of her stomach on our bed. :(

So, again...changing sheets/clothes, etc at 3am. She went back to bed. And threw up again later that morning (later, meaning...around 5 or something. I forget the details from here). Again, Brad had to stay home with her b/c this was a day that I had appts and things to do at Brooke's school. Ugh. He went in to work just a little late, until I got back home and stayed with her. Now, Brenna. She was miserable. She wasn't throwing up near as often as Brooke. But she was pathetic. Lethargic. She literally slept the ENTIRE day. She had diarrhea pretty bad. But the vomitting wasn't near what it was with Brooke, or as frequent I should say. However, she really hadn't eaten anything. Just sipped water. An occasional cracker would make her toss her cookies, or....er, crackers, I guess. :/

The next day she woke up feeling better! My mom was even here visiting and she seemed ok for the most part. She still wasn't too keen on the idea of eating much. And that was ok. We weren't pushing it. But she was in good spirits! She was playing, etc... Finally talked her into eating something for 'dinner' that night. Still fine.

Until 3am. (I told you! Magic time for us, right?!) She threw up that dinner. A full 36 hrs-40 hrs since she was 'fine'. Ugh. More sheet changing, clothes changing, even a shower. Blech. Then the next day, I thought she could sleep in and feel better (like Brooke did). My dad had a planned trip up for the day, so I told him she had been sick but had seemingly gotten better...just still recovering. He wasn't worried about it and came anyway. As he was on his way, I woke her up....it was nearly 1:30pm! She was NOT herself. She was lethargic, still. She was grumpy. She was very 'off'. I knew I judged this one wrong. And Brad had been 'resting' with her....and now it had hit him! He had thrown up (unbeknownst to me) while they had been 'resting'. Of course, my dad was only 15 minutes away at this point so we just tried to make the best of it.

Brenna decided she wanted to eat breakfast, so we gave her some dry cereal. 2 hours later, it was all over the floor, our bed and our cedar chest in our room. SIGH! More laundry, more clothes, more showering...

My dad ended up hanging out with just Brooke and I, while Brad and Brenna went back to bed. :( Again, I was concerned b/c she was sleeping alllllll day. I even thought maybe I should get her up so she would sleep at night? But at 7pm...I went to my bed and told her, 'ok Brenna...its time to go to bed.' And she picked up her throw up bucket and went straight to bed and straight to sleep.

She hadn't eaten anything else since the last episode. But she was drinking water. Guess what? Yep. 3am. Throwing up water.

At this point, I knew it wasn't getting better for her, for some reason. So first thing the next morning, I called the dr's office... hoping to either get her seen or get something called in that would ease her stomach. Nope. Neither thing was available. No appts, no other doctors had available appts and no, they wouldn't 'call her in' something. :(

So we watched her be in misery all day long. At one point, I even made her (and Brad, who was also still sick!) go outside for some fresh air and sun...and this was all she did.

Pathetic right???

So anyway, I had to pick up Brooke from school, take her to all her stuff, ending the night on softball. Right before I left the house prior to all this, I gave Brenna a popsicle to try (crossing fingers!) and then didn't get home for several hours later to find out how she did with it. (and that's the red you see on her lips in the above picture)

Luckily she kept it down!!! Woo hoo!!! And continued to improve last night. And now, today (and this post is current - Tuesday night now), she is feeling MUCH better. She is eating some and ready to go back to school, etc. She was wondering why she couldn't go back to school today since she 'wasn't sick anymore'. Hard to explain that 24 hr rule to a 3 year old. ;)

Brad is still sick. He was feeling better, until he got his apparent second round today. So, I don't know. Maybe by Spring Break, we'll be better????

Thankfully, I have NOT gotten sick. Mom's can't get sick, right? I refuse to get sick. But I am left with all the cleanup, taking care of and still running the other kids to where they need to be. Last night, I finally had a breakdown - a "I can't take it anymore" moment. I'm better now. But, it has been rough. I told Brad..."I feel bad for y'all...really, I really really do, but at this point, I am tired." I have not been sleeping (too busy cleaning up puke at 3am), I have been constantly on the go, when I am home, I am cleaning up, doing laundry, taking care of whoever is sick at any given time. And you know, who knew that I could use an ENTIRE tub of laundry soap in one week's time? Yes, serious. Not exaggerating. Thanks to Brad's mom for bringing us more!

The silver lining? Hmmm... I guess that would be that we are hopefully getting this out of the way before Spring Break?? Ugh. Again, I emphasize. I am SO totally over this sickness. :(