The Dreaded Stomach Bug

Since having kids, hardly a school year has gone by without at least one middle-of-the-night puke fest from one of the girls.  This year is no exception.  The culprit last night was Madeleine, who wound up vomiting in her bed around midnight. 

That was NOT her only vomiting episode.  However, thank heavens, it WAS the only vomiting that occurred in the bed.  Madeleine had the foresight throughout the rest of the night to anticipate the vomit and let me know she needed to throw up in time for me to hold the garbage bin out for her.  Before each vomiting episode, Madeleine was a miserable, crying mess.  AFTER each vomiting episode, she was a chipper little chatterbox, clearly feeling immense relief over emptying her stomach. 

After one such puking, I brought Madeleine downstairs to clean her face and give her a sippy cup of water.  She started to guzzle the water down, obviously thirsty, but I had to hold her off so she didn't make herself barf again.  Instead, I told her I would give her a few more sips of water after we got up to her bedroom.  We started climbing the stairs, Madeleine scampering up on hands and knees in front of me.

MADELEINE: Mom?  Don't forget my WATER!
ME: I won't, but you have to go slow, honey, so you don't throw up again.

Next thing I knew, Madeleine began moving in slow-motion, sluggishly clomping her way up the stairs.

Close, honey.  I meant slow with the drinking of the water.  I didn't mean that you literally need to proceed like a sloth up the stairs to avoid puking.

Around 6am, I was in Madeleine's room with her again, holding the trash can underneath her face as she barfed into it.  Julia chose this moment to come bursting into the bedroom, then stood in shocked silence in the doorframe for a few minutes.  I was actually so focused on Madeleine that I didn't realize we had another little friend in the room with us.

MADELEINE: (barfing into the garbage can)
ME: Do you need to throw up more?
JULIA: (breaking her silence) What, does she have a STOMACH BUG or something??
ME: (hissing) Yes!  Get out!  I don't want you getting her germs!

Madeleine was able to get up and about for a bit this morning, before becoming frighteningly befuddled from sickness and fever.  This is the comment that convinced me she needed to get back up in her bed and take a nap:

MADELEINE: (standing up shakily) Mom?  Those little PINK things that are floating around in the air?  I keep trying to GRAB them, but when I grab them with my hands, they just FLOAT away!

So, yeah.  That was my signal that she wasn't well enough to be on her feet.  I took her up to her bedroom and snuggled her in bed, and she eventually fell asleep, but not before babbling away about all things under the sun.

Normal Madeleine is a kook enough as it is, so the line between everyday Kooky Madeleine and Madeleine-Experiencing-Delirium is kind of blurred.  However, this is the last thing she uttered to me before conking out:

MADELEINE: Mom?  It feels like I have BUMBLEBEES in my mouth.  I can feel it BUZZING.

Yikes.  This kid is having all sort of weird kinesthetic experiences while ill.  Thankfully, after a nap and a dose of ibuprofen, she is much more stable and has ceased seeing and feeling things that don't exist.  We're having a low-key day over here in the Rowe household, although I'm certainly feeling that little shard of dread in the pit of my stomach as I wait to see who else falls sick and starts puking.  'Tis the season for germy kids, I suppose!  And, hey, with all barf puddles but one landing in the trash can, I can definitely assert that it could have been worse.

Wishing you all a healthy, germ-free, puke-free Sunday!