Vomit Galore

There's a scene in a movie (the name of the movie escapes me) where there is a pie-eating contest. As the contestants stuff their faces, they start looking a little green. Then one pukes. Then another, and another, and another-- a total chain reaction. I call this chain-puking, and I am a self-professed chain puker. I've never actually vomitted upon observing someone else throw up, but I certainly have gagged. Like last night.

Casey was so excited about us putting up our Christmas tree, that he went down a little late-- maybe around 9pm. Jason and I stayed up to watch a bit of TV, and around 10pm, Casey called out to us. Jason went to check on him and told me I should "come see this." (Now after 7 1/2 years of marriage, you'd think he'd do everything in his power to help me avoid seeing that scene!) Casey had, in fact, puked all over himself, then rolled over in the vomit-covered sheets and gone back to sleep.

I was a bit miffed Jason needed me, but to his credit, he did all the throw-up cleaning up. And shame on me for not putting the plastic pad over the mattress pad the last time I changed Casey's sheets! It would've prevented the nightmare of getting the vomit out of the mattress. Anyway, I threw Casey in the shower (I actually got in with him). He threw up again in the shower. Then I helped him get on some clean pajamas and invited him to come lay down on the couch next to me. He did that for an hour or so, and then asked to sleep in my bed. I got him all set up in my bed, which lasted for about another hour before he threw up again. (And yes, I did leave him a bowl to throw up in, but the kid's not quite four yet, and this is his first real vomitous experience, so who can really blame him?) Fortunately, it didn't soak through the sheet, which we then pulled off the bed.

Jason suggested we sleep on the couch. Not the pull out queen sleeper, but the regular old leather couch. This worked for me for about another hour or so. By the end of that time, my head and my feet were supported, but Casey had shoved the rest of me into the empty space of the L-shape of the couch, and I wasn't sleeping at all. So I got up, made up our bed again, and transferred Casey back into it, I got into it, and Jason followed suit. Then I started the dry coughing (because of the cold I'm getting over).

It felt like I'd just fallen asleep again around 2:30am, when Casey woke up and wanted water. We padded to the kitchen together, me carrying his throw-up bowl, and he had a couple glasses of water. Half of which he gagged back up into the bowl. I begged him to take some pepto bismal, but he was not having it (though he did offer to take some fish oil-- how crazy is that?). I dissolved as much as I could and spoon fed him water. Then back to bed.

I slept restlessly until 5:00am, when Casey woke me up again, thirsty. This time he insisted it was morning. I know he was technically right, but it was still dark-- and I was not having it. He drank some more water, then went back to sleep.

At 6:00am, Marcie woke up hungry. I gave her a bottle, then she went back to sleep (miraculously). I crawled back in bed around 6:15am, and then Casey was up again at 6:30am, pointing out this time that it was light out. So we offered to let him watch TV in bed in our room. Which he did until 7am, at which time he wanted to watch something we don't have TIVO'd on our TV. So up I got. Which was fine, really, because I needed to get Marcie up and fed and dressed for her Little Gym class.

After Little Gym, Marcie and I headed to Costco to purchase new tires for the Camry. The cork was showing on one of them, which is very bad. Jason and Casey picked us up, we dropped off Jason at work, and then we ran home to pick up Pugasus for our vet appointment. From the vet, we went to the Toy Depot, which has an amazing (and way over-priced) selection of Thomas the Tank Engine toys because Jason promised Casey last weekend that we'd go there this weekend. And then both kids fell asleep in the car on the way home. I put Casey right to bed, but I had to wake up Marcie to feed her.

Jason returned home (with the Camry sporting new tires) right around the same time Casey woke up from his nap. Burning up. I took his temperature, and what do you know-- 102.6. Yikes! So be forced Tylenol down his throat, and watched his fever drop to normal over the next hour. And then Casey threw up again. He hadn't eaten anything, really, though-- so it was just liquid. All over the hallway flooring, the carpet, and the wall. Lovely. Lucky Jason got to clean it up. But Casey must have been feeling a bit better because then he asked for popcorn. And actually ate it. Nothing else, but popcorn is better than nothing.

He sat with us through dinner, though he didn't eat anything (despite the fact that we'd actually prepared him all his favorites-- pizza, white rice, and apple sauce-- and offered him others-- peanut butter on a spoon or chips--). At bedtime, he asked to sleep in his own bed, which I made up with the plastic protector this time. And that was almost three hours ago now. Keep your fingers crossed for us . . .