Skip This Post if You're Not Fond of Vomit

It would be nice if I could have had the option of skipping this whole day but... doesn't work that way. My day started at 4am when Ben woke me up to say he had thrown up. This was not entirely unexpected news, since he'd been complaining of his tummy hurting the evening before and Joel had also seemed to have a stomach bug Sunday night/Monday though he had thought it might have been something he ate. Apparently not.

Anyway so fortunately Ben had made it to the bathroom, so I put him back to bed. And then I put him back to bed 20 minutes later when he came to tell me he'd thrown up again. And half an hour after that. And so forth. And so on. At 6am, with Joel already heading to the gym I told Ben just to climb into bed next to me since all the back and forth upstairs to put him back to bed was getting a little ridiculous. So then he proceeded to use my bathroom to throw up at 20-30 minute intervals.

Joel took Rebecca to preschool since Ben was quite obviously not up for a car ride, but around 9am Ben decided he wanted me to take him to the grocery store for gatorade, ginger ale, chicken noodle soup and saltines, which is a special treat for our kids when they're sick because they don't usually get to have soda or gatorade otherwise. Despite my misgivings I agreed and we made a quick trip to the store. Ben was tight-lipped and decidedly gray for the entire trip, and as soon as we walked in the door back at home he ran to the bathroom and threw up again.

The vomiting continued at about 30 minute intervals all morning, and then slowed to about once an hour, and I am happy to report that the last incident was at about 1pm. Since then he has had chicken noodle soup, crackers, and lots of gatorade and ginger ale, so I am hopeful that he is beginning to recover. He'll be spending another day home with me though tomorrow. I don't think he minds. He seems to think that spending the day home vomiting is better than going to school. Another day of that would probably change his mind.

Rebecca woke up this morning saying, "my tummy hurt... my tummy hurt...." but has had no evidence of the stomach bug yet. I myself have been feeling queasy all day. I am not sure if I have a touch of "the bug" too, or if listening to my son retch 15 times (and cleaning 3 toilets, 1 bowl, and several unintended vomit receptacles) has just started to get to me.

Here's hoping for a better tomorrow.