Violently Ill

Joshua has caught a bad stomach virus that is "going around" - I'm assuming he might have picked it up at the doctor's office when we were there on Friday for his well-baby visit, but it could have been at the gym when I was there earlier this week. Who knows for sure? It started with severe diarrhea for a couple days (nasty!), followed by violent vomitting yesterday and today (even worse!!!). Last night we called the doctor's office, and the on-call nurse called us back and told us to keep giving Joshua Pedialite in a syringe. Well, he's onto syringes since he hates his new reflux medicine, so he refused to open up to take anything in. Fighting with a sick little one is no fun, so we decided to give it to him in the bottle. He threw it all back up.

This morning we talked to another nurse (the gal last night told me to call back in the morning to get the doctor's opinion on whether this is viral or a reaction to his new medicine), and she said only give him a few sucks on the bottle, then rip it out of his little hands, giving him about a teaspoon every five minutes. Then two teaspoons every 10 minutes, and so on building up his tolerance for something in his tummy. It was heartbreaking as he'd cry each time we took the bottle away, but we were terrified when he ran out of tears and didn't have any wet diapers. They told us to keep him hydrated, or he'd have to go into the hospital to get an IV to make sure he had fluids. So, we've been building up his tolerance throughout the day, and he's been doing a little better. He's still lethargic and quite sick, but I think we've turned the corner. The nurse I talked to today had kids with reflux, and she was very comforting. She thinks that this is a virus that other moms have called about today. She also said she's dealt with emergency room waits with her own children, and she recommended that if he doesn't do well overnight, come in first thing in the morning with him rather than having a sick kid in a waiting room for hours, unless he's near death. So, we'll see. Pray that he feels better! Poor guy!

Shawn has been very helpful, I must say. He's been barfed on twice, and yesterday he cleaned up the worst of the mess (I won't go into details) as I bathed the Bean. We've done more laundry, scrubbed our carpets on hands and knees and took apart more furniture in the last couple of days, along with giving Joshua at least three baths when it was inevitable, etc. But, I'm most concerned for our little pale Bean. Get well, my love!