A stomach bug visits in the night...

Warning:  If you have a sensitive stomach, I recommend skipping this post.  It includes graphic description of what my life is like when the kids have stomach bugs. 

Sooo, last night was a doozy.  The boys have both had a bug for a day or so now, plus we just got back from Seattle on Monday, so we were behind on both sleep and laundry going into this.  It didn't get any better.  Here's how it all went down:


8pm - Lexi climbs in bed with Kelly while I get myself and Edward ready for bed.  Lexi is complaining that her back hurts, which is odd.  We were thinking maybe a growth spurt. 

8:15pm - Lexi passes out while Kelly reads her a story.  This has never happened before and shocks us, but we roll with it.

8:30pm - Edward and I go to bed, I scoot Lexi aside so Kelly & Benjamin can sleep on the other side of her.

10:30pm - Lexi wakes and cries out for me.  I leave Edward (totally asleep) and go to snuggle her - this is not uncommon.  As I do, I notice she smells bad.  Awful.  Like puke.  I wonder if she got a little something on her clothes.  Which I now notice are damp.  So I start picking her up to go change her shirt.  Kelly turns on the light to see if there's any other damage...and oh there is.  Puke everywhere. The bed, Lexi's clothes, the pillows, my shirt.  Puke everywhere. 

Sooo, Kelly gets up and puts Ben in the little bed with Edward while she tries to change the sheets.  I strip off my shirt and take puke-bucket Lexi to the bathroom and start trying to clean her up with washcloths.  Somehow she is not smelling better no matter what I do.  Then she turns her head.  There are chunks of vomit in her hair.  At this point I nearly lose my dinner, and I have a strong stomach.  I start stripping Lexi for a bath, which she does not want. 

10:45pm - Kelly has finished stripping the bed and started making it up again, Ben is crying, Lexi is crying and stinky, and the bathtub is running when the lights suddenly go out.   The bathroom, guest room, and bedroom all go dark.  Damn circuit.  I go downstairs, topless, to flip the breaker - it won't flip.  The short is still active.  I run back upstairs and turn off everything I can think of on that circuit, and run down to the tune of sobbing children to try again.  No dice.  Kelly is bathing Lexi at this point, and she points out that she was making the bed at the time and there's a sketchy outlet behind the bed.  So I unplug the alarm clock from the sketchy outlet, run down, and flip the breaker.  Success!! We have light!!!

Kelly has Lexi cleaned up at this point, so I get her out of the tub, dried off, and into her Dora pajamas.  She is apologizing continuously, in spite of my reassurances that it is NOT her fault that she is sick.  I get out some towels to put on the bed.  Then Lexi pukes again.  On the towels I just pulled from the closet.  And on me.

11pm - More cleanup ensues, I start a load of laundry (we're nearly out of towels) and we all manage to get into bed.  Lexi is very upset that I took away her Dora shirt (casualty of the second puke incident) but to exhausted to protest very hard.  We all crawl back into bed.  I bring a bowl in hopes of catching future incidents. 

11pm - midnight.  Lexi is up 6 more times.  Not much left to come up, thankfully, but still, a miserable little girl. 

Midnight - 2am - Lexi is up 3-4 more times.  Is begging for water, but can't keep it down.  Continues to apologize frequently.

2am - 5am - Now we're just waking for water, which stays down as long as she only sips at it.  Better.  Except for the once where I fall asleep and she guzzles half a sippy.  That one comes back up. 

5am - I get up with Kelly and the boys.  Lexi stays, pretty much passed out.  I'm hoping the worst is over, at least for her. 

and now I'm stuck in that place where I feel fine (albeit tired) but know that I'll probably be puking myself within the next day or so. I'm taking vitamins, washing hands, etc, but it still feels kind of inevitable....