Little G’s First Illness

So last night (very late last night) Little G came down with his first illness. And wow, what an illness it was! Disclaimer: 6 month old vomit and diarrhea here we come.

Shortly after his 11pm feeding, he was falling asleep so sweetly in my arms (a rarity for my little ball of energy). Then all of the sudden the geyser erupted! Milk gushed from him rising as high as 2 1/2 feet, no lie. It came out of his mouth, it came out of his nose. I’ll be honest here, for a split second there was internal panic. Would it ever stop? And if that is coming out, how is the air getting in? Then it was over.
At this point he is now covered I am covered and the Boppy is covered. The couch and carpet however were saved by my clothing (sarcastic, yay!) Poor little G then completely covered and dripping began to scream. What a way to wake up!

We changed his clothes, I changed mine and we took his temperature. I’ll let you guess where we took it. 99.3 not too bad. Then I picked him up, big mistake. So again, I was covered and he was covered. The carpet though, still beautiful. We cleaned him up again. From this point on we kept him near a bucket on the tile floor. In between  throwing up he seemed happy and content though. At 1am he threw up some yellow. Not know that this was ok, I called the Nurse hotline that my insurance has. Apparently the yellow just meant that his tummy was empty.

The nurse didn’t seem too worried but said to call the doctor in the morning and told me what to do until then. So from 1-5am I had to wake up every 30-60 min and feed him for 5 min. This was to make sure that he didn’t get dehydrated. After that I could feed him on one side every hour. Let’s just say I am EXHAUSTED!
Around 8am the diarrhea started…poor little guy. The doctor said to give him Pedialyte by the half ounce to ounce until his appointment at 1:30.

Thankfully the doctor said he was well hydrated and to keep up what we were doing.
All of this would have been easier if I had been doing the laundry and not being lazy. All in all Little G has worn 9 outfits, I have worn 5 and D has changed 2 shirts. Basically Little G is down to 1 more sleeper. Needless to say I am doing laundry now.

Little G is happy and hopefully on the mend. But…I  think I will learn a new level of exhausted this weekend.
Things I have learned from this:

• To keep a baby with a stomach bug hydrated, feed small amounts often.
• Signs of dehydration can be dry gums and/or tongue.
• At minimum a baby should make 3-4 wet diapers in a 24 hour period.
• Fevers are not only decided by the number of the temperature. Even if it’s low and the baby is lethargic or floppy, that is a problem. Pay attention to the baby’s temperament.
• Pedialyte is safe to give to a baby, within reason of course.
• A sickness like this is very contagious, make sure to wash your hands after every diaper change.
• Vomiting will likely stop first, but the diarrhea will last for several more days.
• Yellow to even a greenish tinged throw up just means that the stomach is empty.
• Trust your instincts