Jacob came to my bed at 1:00. I had just woken up from a bad dream, all covered in cold sweat, with a pounding headache and severe stomach cramps. Jacob complained about stomach ache as well. I asked him whether he needed to throw up. Nope, he said. I tried to go back to sleep. Jacob tried to go back to sleep. He couldn't, and lay in bed with his eyes wide open. Something about that didn't seem right. I went to fetch the vomit bucket (why, yes, we have a vomit bucket - don't you?). I handed it to him, turned out the light, and only seconds later, I heard a wet sound...
He got half the bed, Doug's bedside table, the floor, the wall. A bit of the bucket. It was pretty impressive. Oh, and himself, of course. I cleaned him up. I pulled off the linens and covers and tossed them into the washer. I scrubbed the floor, the wall, the table. I gave Jacob medicine and tucked him in. Made him drink some water. He fell asleep.
My stomach still hurt.
I couldn't sleep.
At 5:30, I heard sounds from the bathroom. David was the next victim. Wash, rinse, repeat. Only, he spared his bedclothes, so that was good.
At 6:00 my alarm rang. I went back and forth whether to get Alan up for school. When I tried to wake him, just to ask how he felt, I could hardly raise him. I let him sleep. I figured, if his brothers vomit, so will he.
At 7:10, the bus for school left. At 7:15, I heard frantic running. Good call, Mom.
At 8:40, Leah.
I still have stomach cramps, severe headaches, a dry mouth.
David is feeling under the weather but has stopped vomiting.
Jacob and Leah are their usual perky selves and spent the afternoon at my Mom's - it's very nice to have your Mom close by. She brought some essentials, including a warm water bottle for Alan who was shivering with cold.
Alan would not stop vomiting. Eight hours of vomiting 2 to 3 times an hour. The moment I made him take a sip of water, he barfed. I stopped giving him fluids. He had watery diarrhea. I called the doctor. He suggested to wait a few more hours, then he'd pull the plug on this. Alan is very susceptible to stomach bugs, and he has been having an undefined, low-grade infection for the past weeks that we can't pin down.
After eight hours, he fell asleep. Finally. He slept for an hour, and when he woke up he was hungry. He ate half a rice cake, then drank some sips of water. Later, he had some broth. Right now, he's back to normal, but weak. I'll leave him home for one more day tomorrow.
We think it was a bad case of fried sausage we had at a fair. Neither of us liked it but I told the kids to eat up because we don't throw food out. Lesson learnt. Sorry, kids. I didn't mean to poison you.
Oh, me? I still have those monster headaches. Food poisoning is no fun. My stomach still hurts but I feel much better. I had an hour of sleep in the afternoon which helped a lot. Now for a quiet night, and we shold all be back to normal tomorrow.
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