Vomiting bug strikes!

Monday was a regular day. I took the girls swimming, to the library, even hung out at the airport for an hour so SJ could watch the airplanes. They both fell asleep by 7.30pm and with my monthly ‘visitor’ due I was exhausted and ready for a good night’s sleep.

8.00pm Dan goes out to get a take-away for dinner. SJ vomits all over her bed. It’s in her hair and everywhere. Fortunately my friend, who’s staying with us at the moment, hears me on the monitor and comes up to change the bedding whilst I get in the bath with SJ.

When Dan returns he says he felt really sick in the car and soon after seeing SJ unable to hold down water he vomits.

Anyway, I won’t go into all the gory details. But SJ was desperate to sleep and kept trying – only to be woken every 20 minutes or so by her body trying to vomit.

Dan was feeling really rough.

By 11pm I’m feeling tired – but there is one more surprise in store. My oldest daughter wakes to a start involuntarily vomiting over her bedclothes. She is then up all night.

We all camp out in the lounge with buckets and towels. A long night indeed!

By midday today the girls were able to hold down a few sips of water – they’ve yet to show interest in solids. The washing machine was whirring all day.

I really hope the girls sleep well tonight. They went to sleep well and I was so ready for sleep. But unfortunately, just when I thought I’d miraculously escaped the bug, I started vomiting!

So here I am. Desperately tired, in need of sleep, but after 20 minutes of drifting off I’m woken by my body convulsing – delightful!

By the time my body does settle down – around midnight at least – what’s the betting one of my little charges is needing Mummy in the wee hours of the morning?!

I phoned the medical emergency phone-line at midnight last night and got an extremely helpful response as to what to do – just sips of water starting two hours after the initial vomit. No food until eight hours after the body is able to hold down water. When reintroducing solids, do so in small amounts and with only bland foods. When I asked how long this bug would last for the response wasn’t encouraging: up to 48 hours!

Roll on the weekend and please make tonight go fast. I want to get back to normality!