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The Stomach Virus Heard Round the Young House

Well, if I hadn't already earned my Mommy Card (and I'm pretty sure you do that first night with a baby when you stay up all night alternating between feeding, comforting, crying because you are tired, and then freaking out because baby is actually sleeping but you worry they stopped breathing)... I totally solidified my place in the club last week. In all honesty, by the end of the week, I was tempted to take that Mommy Card, tear it into pieces, and throw them all out a window while driving down the interstate at 70mph. Before turning around and picking them all up again and taping them together because I would never give up my place in the club.

Let's backtrack though. I'm going to give the account of the week that is less TMI than the story I could tell. Despite Instagram and Facebook posts that portray the opposite sometimes, parenthood definitely isn't all sunshine and roses. The week of the stomach bug really tested us. I never want to do that again (though I know we will one day).

It all started on Monday. Kenzie was fine all day. I would never have guessed anything was wrong. She went to dance as usual (sorry to anyone that might have also showed up with a stomach bug in the next day or so) and when we got home she was getting changed out of her leo when she started screaming from the bathroom. Lo and behold... she threw up everywhere. Initially, I thought maybe it was because her stomach was empty and the studio was HOT that evening. That is a combination that makes me feel sick and I was feeling a bit ill myself at that point. Then, she threw up again... and again... and again. This continued from about 7pm until 2am. Then she seemed fine for the most part. The next day she slept almost all day. She ate a minimal amount of food but otherwise seemed better.



Then, victim #2 was claimed. Me. Yeah, parents shouldn't be allowed to get that sick. It just isn't fair. Especially when you are already taking care of one sick child and one well one. It wasn't pretty. It was so bad that I remember telling Steven that I was afraid he might need to take me to the ER about midnight when I was laying on the floor of the bathroom and unable to stand up for too long. Again, it lasted from about 7pm until about 2am. I remember watching the time and counting down the hours until I wouldn't be sick again because I knew Kenzie's lasted about 6-7 hours. Mine was slightly longer but it still didn't last too long. The next day, I was exhausted. Thankfully, Kenzie was also still tired (which was a good thing in this case since I wasn't able to do much.) I know I fell asleep on the floor while watching the kids a couple of times. It never lasted long, but I couldn't keep my eyes open at times. Will was whiny but otherwise still okay....

Until about 7pm that night. Then he got sick. Same pattern. Lasted through the night until about 2am. I have never changed so many sheets. We eventually had to just put towels on his bed and tried to use one of our sheets to cover the mattress while we ran sanitize cycle after sanitize cycle on the washing machine all night long (which was a repeat of what we did on Monday with Kenzie). Our washing machine got quite the workout last week. Will slept on top of me most of the next day and took an almost 3 hour nap in his crib. This virus just took it out of each one of us. It was rough.



I then thought we were all good. We actually hoped Steven might escape without any issues since he knew to wash his hands a lot and be careful about who and what he touched (though I did too and we all know how that turned out.) We were wrong. Thursday night, the stomach bug claimed it's final Young victim. Steven was taken down about 7pm. Steven actually seemed to get it the worst. I might have just been weak, but during the night, while trying to get ice for his water, Steven got disoriented. He ended up in the kids' bathroom and on his way out, ended up fainting. I heard the crash but didn't know what it was. I sat up and called to him, and as he came walking towards our room, he ran into a wall and fell straight back onto the tile when he fainted for the second time. That might have been one of the scariest things I have ever witnessed. I'm not 100% sure I will ever get the image of him laying on the floor with a blank stare and hand twitching while I freaked out and tried to determine if I should call 911. He came to and I helped him get up. As I was walking him to the bed, he fainted a 3rd time but I was able to lower him to the ground. Once he came to that time, he was much better but he still had me worried. I was so upset that I made him let me go with him each time he got up that night to go to the bathroom to make sure he would be okay. Poor guy. His night was rough. For all of us. As with the rest of us, he wanted to sleep all day the next day. After that though, he was much better. His recovery seemed to go the fastest, but his night of the virus was the worst. Thankful for small things? I guess.

Now, we are all good again. Everyone is finally eating normally.We are back to running errands and playing at parks. We even made it to my brother's wedding on Saturday. At that point, we found out that at least 3 other people there were dealing with "bugs" as well. I also heard about a few friends that had similar sounding bugs the weeks before we had ours. Some of those people don't even live in the same state as us so we think there might just be some crazy bug going all around everywhere.

I have never used a washing machine so much in such a short amount of time. I'm also pretty sure I should take out stock in Lysol. The spray and wipes got an even bigger workout than they usually get in our house. I'm going to need to restock our antibacterial soaps throughout the house sooner than I planned but you gotta do what you gotta do. I don't ever want to do it again.... though I'm sure we will. At this point, I'm just glad it's over. If anyone else gets this, I'm so sorry. I feel your pain. =(

But eventually it all gets better. As evidenced by our very happy children this week. =)


Oh! And if anyone needs a quick fix weight loss solution, I highly recommend this stomach virus. Final weight loss tallies:
Kristen - 7 pounds (though I've gained 2 back)
Steven - 5 pounds
Kenzie - 3 pounds (and that is terrible on a 34 pound child)
Will - Undetermined but the kid didn't let a bit of throwing hold him back from eating. He can still put it away.

I'm just kidding... I would never recommend this virus.

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