the plague...

...or gastroenteritis is wreaking havoc on my family.

On Wednesday at approx. 9:00 p.m., only one hour after a completely normal bedtime, Olivia woke up screaming. I knew something was wrong because she never wakes up only an hour after falling asleep...not unless she's sick of course. I walk into her room and she's covered in her dinner which happened to be this (see below) and pasta sauce:


Needless to say the clean-up was horrendous. Dennis was working which was a huge bummer since he usually deals with the clean up while I deal with sad little Olivia. To make a long and disgusting story short, my poor little girl threw up probably around 14 more times that night. The last time was at 4:00 a.m.

The next day I went to work (I had an important meeting or else I would have called in sick.)
I called my mom and she said Olivia was fine, just lethargic. By the time I get there at 1:00 p.m., she had just thrown up her lunch. And then a few hours later she threw up again. I called the doctor (I actually called the night before too and the on-call Dr. told me to call if the vomiting hadn't stopped by morning) and the nurse told me that this crazy strain of gastroenteritis is going rampant around our area. Oh and it's incredibly contagious so wash your hands, blah blah blah. She said that about 75 % of their calls the last 48 hours were for this exact same thing!

So the next day, I call off Olivia's party. I just had this nagging suspicion that I was going to get sick too and there was just no way I'd have her birthday party while we're both sick and contagious.

Friday, at 5:00 p.m. I started to feel nauseous. I knew it was starting. The whole night I was up with dry heaves and diarrhea. Sorry to be so graphic. My brother got it too, so bad he threw up all night and the whole rest of the next day. We stayed at my parents so I wouldn't be alone dealing with this. At this point, my brother hates me and we are both hunkered down in the living room looking like a couple of diseased people on their death beds. That day Olivia started feeling better, thank God.

Saturday: my brother and I still are dying...Olivia's party would have been today. :(

Sunday: we missed Parker's party today. :( So sad, it was Brobee themed which Olivia would have LOVED. I am feeling a little better, just weak as I've only had about 4 crackers in 2 days. Olivia threw up once today and is still looking a little pale. She just went to bed. Please pray that God lets her get through the night without vomiting. I can't take much more of this sickness!!!!!

Here is a link about gastroenteritis. It is pretty general since there are many strains of this virus.

http://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/viral-gastroenteritis

Please be careful everyone. Wash your hands a million times a day if you have to. Don't touch shopping carts and wash your little one's hands after playing at the park. I would hate for anyone else to get this.