Tuesday, December 13, 2011

They Don't Teach This in Childrearing Classes

You know how you take childbirth, breastfeeding, and child-care classes to prepare you for things you will face as a parent?

No one taught me what to do when my child is up all night vomitting and my husband is out of the state.

Yes Blaine got his first tummy bug last night and I was alone.

Here are the strategies I used:

Make sure to call husband who is warm and asleep in his hotel room. Just to fill him in with the miserable conditions at home. If you are losing LOTS of sleep and are VERY miserable, maybe call again. I only called once so things must have been only semi-miserable. ;)

Stop changing the sheets after the third set have been puked on. Just cover puke with a towel. Repeat with new towel when necessary.

Only bath child at 3 am if so much vomit is in his hair that you can't handle the stench while you are sleeping beside him.

Only change his jammies and / or your jammies when so much vomit is on them that the wetness is causing hypothermia.

There you have it! We survived! No more vomit since 4 AM and the diarrhea he has had today so far has gone in the potty [score!!].

Hope Blaine is on the mend and I REALLY hope I don't get it! Today I have waaay too much laundry to do! He puked in my bed AND in his! :(

12 comments:

Kari said...

Aww so sorry you had to deal with that...and single parenting too. :( My worst fear is for myself to get sick while single parenting...followed closely by LD getting sick. I hope you don't catch it either and I hope you're both able to get good naps in today to restore your energy and health.

Kate said...

I feel your pain!!! We had this nastiness a couple of days ago, and went through five sets of sheets in 4 hours. Thankfully it was short-lived - I hope Blaine's is too!!

Stacy said...

Oh you poor thing! I have been dreading the first tummy bug, and praying that J doesn't get it while Hubs is out of town. So sorry that happened to you! But thank you for the tips :) Hope Blaine feels better and really hope you don't get it!

Melissa said...

Oh no!! I'm so sorry!! I hope he's feeling better:) and get some sleep soon.

Abby said...

Boo for dealing with a tummy flu - and especially all on your own! Amazing! So excited for you to go back to work! My background is math too and I've always wanted to teach, but never did. Exciting!

Kara said...

Wow, you are tough! I would have called my husband lots of times and made the kid sleep in the bathtub. :)

Elizabeth said...

Oh my- I am so, so sorry. I do NOT miss the days of being covered in vomit! I hope sweet Blaine is feeling much better and both of you have gotten some rest!

Mom on the Run said...

That sounds awful. I am so sorry momma! Hope little man feels better :)

Tara said...

oh man. That is not awesome. I had one morning of that with Sadie once. It was like you just finished cleaning one thing and it gets puked or pooed on. Hope Blaine is on the mend, poor thing.

Jill said...

Oh my goodness! I am glad he is on the mend. What a lousy experience!

Janelle said...

Yuck. Sorry :(

Leslie said...

I know I'm late to comment but what a yucky night you had to deal with. My biggest fear is Lainey's first real illness. As a former teacher, kid puke has never been my favorite thing to deal with. I imagine it will be a LITTLE bit easier when it's my own kid throwing up the chunkage, but I dread it nonetheless. I'm sorry it happened on a night when Nick was away. I guarantee Lainey will puke on a night when Nick is at the hospital. And I also guarantee that regular phone calls WILL be made to the missing daddy! :)

Anyway, I just caught up on several of your blog entries...I'm in such a pregnancy funk and waaaaay behind on everything!! Blaine is cute as ever! Lainey might have to rob the cradle someday. :)