The Stomach Bug
We are on day 4 of a nasty stomach bug with our 1.5-year-old. My husband got it first. It took him eight days to clear it and he was basically non-functional for half of those days. My little one threw up over his feet the day after he was fully recovered. One big waterfall of white milk on the floor. Then a few instant returns of food we tried to feed her at dinner. No thank you - this stomach isn’t open for food at the moment.
After three days of vomiting, we have now landed in the diarrhea phase. Fun times. Cleaning up vomit and diarrhea isn’t great to begin with. But it is the crying of pain that is getting to me the most. The poor little monkey is clearly uncomfortable yet determined to go for walks (her favorite thing in the world). Once outside, she took a few steps to the car, and then tried to rest her head on the bumper. That was such a sad but clear sign that I scooped her up and put her to bed.
It is supposed to be day two of our vacation. We haven’t really found the vacation spirit yet in between the clean ups and the comforting. Now I am not really good at getting into vacation mode to begin with, so the silver lining is that it gives me something to do. But at the same time even I realize that it is a shame we can’t go for that hike on the mountain (she would clear out the gondola pretty quickly with one fart), or that we can’t take her in the canoe (thoughts of diarrhea in a canoe make me gag).
Friday, technically still a workday for me, was particularly bleak as the little one was really feverish and a thick layer of forest fire smoke suffocated us outside. It is hard seeing the bright side of things on such days. Tired from a night of cleaning up vomit, changing sheets and singing lullabies, I tried to get things done at work while my husband cared for our sick toddler. I managed to do a literature search for a new research project that on better days probably would have taken half of the time. At least I could check a box. I ordered groceries, another check. And I finally filled out the contact form to inquire a PR and graphic design company to build my website.
When it was time to start dinner, my husband took out the cauliflower (the main ingredient of our vegan dish) and discovered it had gone bad. It looked funny and in a house with stomach bug recovering stomachs, we couldn’t take the risk. Let’s order pizza (because that would be so much better for our frail stomachs). After going through a 5-min online ordering process, a notification popped up that the vegan meat was out of stock at our pizza branch. My husband and I looked at each other and started laughing. Nothing would go well today, so maybe we should just give up. But since we had to eat something, l made a side salad and put some frozen burritos in the grill. It turned out fine.
At night, I thought about the day. I have made a habit of listing three things that were fun or for which I am grateful, as it helps me fall asleep. It was hard to make this list that day. But I managed.
• It rained for 10 minutes so that the smoke cleared and we could go for a walk with our little one
• I finished two tasks that I had postponed for two weeks
• We turned a frustrating dinner experience into a laugh, and then had a nice dinner
I managed to get through this bleak day just fine. And there is always the hope of good sleep so that tomorrow, things will be better.