3 Kids + Stomach flu = No fun!

The stomach flu has invaded our lives like an unwelcome guest and will not leave us alone!  We haven’t had it as bad as other people I know, but this is the third time this winter we have been struck with it.   It showed up in the wee hours of the morning on a Wednesday.  Joel woke up crying and covered in vomit.  He occasionally wakes up in the middle of the night crying and I normally just go lay down next to him and he falls back asleep.  That was my plan when I heard him, I didn’t think anything was wrong until my hand and my pillow touched his bed and it was wet.  I thought “how could his diaper leak onto his pillow, he must have been sleeping weird” then I noticed the smell and grabbed my flashlight and realized what we were dealing with.  Joel and I spent the remaining hours of the night sleeping on the floor in my room while Maisy (our dog) slept in the bed with Brad.

Joel spent the next day in a play pen, except I called it the sick pen, on an air mattress so Cecilia could not bug him and so he hopefully kept his germs to himself.  Luckily he only vomited once and was fine other than being a little lethargic which is nice once in a while.  The pen did work to keep Cecilia from bugging him, but unfortunately it didn’t keep the germs from spreading.

Joel in the sick pen

Thursday everyone was fine and the babysitter agreed to watch the kids.  On the way back from the school program Vincent told me his stomach hurt and he needed to throw up.  I informed him that there was no puking allowed in mommy’s car and he needed to wait the four mile drive to our house.  He agreed and waited until we were in the living room and he could aim for my feet!  Then he was fine until midnight and then the poor kid got so sick and ended up needing a shower and spent the night on the air mattress on our bedroom floor.  I gave him a puke bucket and told him that every time he vomited in the bucket instead of the floor he could earn a coin.  The bribery worked because he made it to the puke bucket all night.  I hate vomit so I was pretty happy for less clean up. 

Around 1 am Cecilia woke up vomiting! I spent the next several hours getting puked on at least 4-5 times.  It was bad!  I took Cecilia in our bed and then abandoned ship after she vomited on my pillow.  I took her crib mattress and she joined Vincent on the floor.  I was on the floor too with one of the few remaining clean blankets in our house.  Once again Maisy and Brad were in the bed.  Lucky for me the kids stopped vomiting mid-morning but I had to take the day off work because no one was pounding down my door to watch vomiting kids.  I would have much rather been at work!

Maisy happily sleeping on our bed

Joel started feeling better on Friday while his siblings were still feeling pretty bad.  At one point I put Cecilia in her crib for a nap and I fell asleep on the living room floor while the boys watched a movie.  Apparently Vincent and I fell asleep.  I woke up to Joel throwing pretend fruit and vegetables at my head as he said what they were.  It wasn’t until the tomato hit me in the head that I finally got up!

The kids all took turns in the sick pen and liked it!  After more laundry and garbage and cleaning than I care for the house was cleaned and everyone finally started feeling better by Sunday.  On the bright side the kids hardly ate all week so I didn't have to do very much cooking.  Unfortunately we have unintentionally spread this terrible germ to people we know and love and for that I am terribly sorry!