Sunday, March 14, 2010

The First Time

Since I became pregnant with Sydney WAAAY back in 2008, I often thought of how I would handle cleaning up vomit.

If you have a weary stomach, stop reading here. You have been warned.

Since last Sunday, when Sydney was diagnosed with an ear infection, we have been giving her an antibiotic that smells like a strawberry shake. Why they have to make medicines for children in such a variety of flavors, I'll never understand. So, we have been giving her this medicine, since last Sunday. As expected, when reading the information sheet from the pharmacy, there is quite a list of side effects including nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. All week, she has had an upset stomach and I can’t tell you how many poopie diapers I’ve changed, not to mention poopie clothes. We’ve experienced this before with the other antibiotic’s she has been on, so no surprise. Well, last Sunday night, about 9:00 she woke up, which is unusual as her bedtime is around 7pm. I just figured she was in pain and she had quite a fever which we were fighting with Tylenol and Motrin so I didn’t think much of it. I got her diaper changed and sat down to rock her and then she puked. On herself and on me. Surprisingly, nothing hit the chair, the table or the floor, just me and her. Since that was the 7th, I didn’t think anything of it the rest of the week. On Tuesday, her fever was even higher, so another trip to the doctor found us getting a chest x-ray for her. It was normal, which ruled out pneumonia. Finally on Wednesday, her fever broke and at a checkup on Thursday her ear was much better but still not infection free. Since she was doing much better I didn’t think anything of continuing to give her the meds, counting down the days until we were done. Until last night…. I put her to bed around 6:30 because she was really tired. Went through the whole bedtime routine and she went to sleep just fine. Around 7:20, I heard her cough a few times on the monitor. A little later I heard her cough a few more times. Since she has had this head cold, coughing didn’t phase me and usually didn’t wake her up. Last night was no different. Since I have also been battling a horrible cold, sinus infection and a touch of bronchitis, I decided to go to bed early. At 8:00, I turned the clocks ahead to 9:00 and Frank got ready to go out for a movie. I got ready for bed, went into the bedroom and was shocked by the smell of strawberry shake and vomit. From what I could tell in the dark, only her sleeve was covered. I ran to find Frank and luckily, he didn’t leave yet. We decided to wake her up to get her changed. Now, as you already know, Sydney has a history of acid reflux and spitting up, so to see her sleeve covered didn’t really phase me again. Until Frank went to pick her up from her crib and we realized she.was.covered.in.vomit. Strawberry shake smelling vomit. The clean crib sheet I had put on earlier in the day was also covered. Gross. So, I got her stripped down and was just going to sponge her off. After realizing she was soaked all the way through her sleepbag and pajamas, I decided to give her a quick bath. She was fine the whole time and I could just tell she didn’t feel good, which made me concerned. Once I got her completely clean, and re-dressed, she started fussing and began again. All over herself and her changing table. I was a rockstar and instead of standing there like an idiot watching her, I sat her up, patted her on the back and caught the vomit in my hand. Yes, cupped my hand and caught as much vomit as I could with one hand. Go Mom! Frank got the crib changed up and we called the clinic. She only heaved one more time after that and then slept until 4:00 (post time change). When she woke up, she was sitting up in her crib waiting for me, I changed her, then proceeded to feed her for only 5 minutes, as directed by the nurse. Rocked, bounced, walked and rocked some more until an hour passed, then let her eat 5 more minutes. No more sicky and she fell right back to sleep and proceeded to sleep until about 7am. She was fine all day and you would have never known she was sick last night. I did give her the meds again tonight and am now anxiously waiting to see what will happen. She’s been out for an hour and so far so good.

I think I handled the vomit pretty damn good. I didn’t even freak out!

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