Oh, what a night. Oh, what a day.
In the last 18 hours, our home has been turned into a 24/7 establishment. It's most similar to a hospital or laundromat. Nurse Sarah & Nurse Adam have been on the clock nonstop taking care of a very sick patient. Laundry has been going wishy-washy constantly for the last 18 hours. We have been up pretty much all hours of the night and day taking care of our baby girl.
It all started around 1:30am. Alaina cried out for "Mommy" over and over. She hasn't been sleeping all that well lately, so I let her cries go unattended for a bit. After a while, I finally went in to check on her. Low and behold, in the middle of a vomit mess was my sweet little child. Oh it was terrible!!! The worst I've ever seen. No clean spot of the crib could be found. Alaina just sat there in her mess, holding out her dirty hands saying, "Uh oh."
I carefully carried her to the bathroom, touching as little of her as possible. She got a quick bath and was cleaned up really good. She shivered in the bath tub, bless her heart :(
Then I called for backup. Thank God, Thank God, THANK GOD Adam was home to help. I do not know how I would have managed if my backup nurse would have been off duty that night. He helped in every aspect - the cleaning, the fetching, the nursing and of course the loving :)
After her late night/early morning bath, we got her in clean pj's, then spread out blankets all over her bedroom floor to rest on. For hours, every 15-30 minutes, she vomited. She dry heaved. She was pitiful! She would sleep for about 10 minutes at a time, then wake up to throw up. She begged for "me-ci" (medicine).
She has gone through every pair of pajamas she owns, probably twice. Luckily, we had her baby burp cloths handy, so we used the heck out of them. We went through many towels and blankets and clothes. I had several "costume changes" as well. Her entire bedding - the linens, the matress pad, the bumper had to be thoroughly washed. The actual crib had to be cleaned. The guest bed had to be totally stripped, matress pad and all. I have lost count of how many loads of laundry we are totalling now - but it is surely over a dozen, maybe close to 2 dozen. Who knows.
Nurse Adam & I have been shift sleeping, like we used to when our baby was a newborn baby. We have been trying to squeeze naps in at all hours of the night/day. Our eating schedule is way off too. What time is it anyway???
Alaina's energy picked up a little about 4pm. All she could do at first is lay down and either sleep or watch TV. We have seen 2 movies (Up and Finding Nemo), 2 Baby Einsteins, several Mickey's, plus some. It's all there is to do! She has been a tad interested in coloring and reading from time to time. And she's never too sick to periodically check on her cats and baby dolls!
Poor thing. I think she's the sweetest she's ever been. Her voice is even extra sweet. She requests Mommy often. And Blankey Bear. And juice and water. She's requested strawberries and grapes too, but we're sticking to a bland diet for the time being. Even her chicken noodle soup didn't sit well with her at lunch. Dry cheerios has been the only thing she can keep down. She even fell asleep sitting up with her hand in her cheerios...twice!
Breaking News: Now the problem has shifted to the other end :(
TMI? Surely. Sorry. By the way, anyone hungry? ;)
As to the cause of the sickness, it could be a virus. But I am pretty sure her body is reacting to the food she ate for dinner last night. She has some type of intolerance/allergy that the doctors can't quite pinpoint. I've resorted to testing different foods myself to see what exactly she has problems with. Last night was an experiment gone bad, if you ask me. The foods in question - a hot dog and homemade potato salad. The questionable ingredient in the potato salad is eggs/mayo. Hot dogs are always questionable in my book. We rarely eat them, but last night was an exception. I feel terrible about it all. Hot dogs are diggity-dog GONE for now. Eggs will still have to be tested further. Stay tuned for more about Alaina's food allergy saga...
