The Night of the Vomit
It was a pretty normal day; Louis had been a little out of sorts with teething but nothing too major.
He was off to his grand parents for the day, which he loves …they have abundance of toys, garden fun and I know nanny always gives him a treat!
When I picked him up later that day my mum said he had been as good as gold (always the way it seems at their house!). He was wandering around the garden, a little red faced with the heat, but Mum confirmed he had only been in the garden a short while. We ran through the usual checklist …did he poo — no, did he eat lunch — yes, did he drink water — yes.
At dinnertime he was a bit fussy and didn’t seem to want to eat much — refusing even a yoghurt which is rare. We bathed and milked him as usual and as soon as I put him in his cot, the all too familiar at the time kicking and screaming started …tonight he did not want to be left alone. After trying to settle him I gave in …too easily I’m sure …and laid him on our bed. He fell asleep a little while later, well after 3 failed attempts of me creeping out then back in to comfort him.
The hubby James was ill from what he thought was heat stroke, shivering, dizzy, feeling sick, so he was sleeping on the sofa.
I eventually snuggled up for a night with my Lou Lou. Selfishly as he was in my bed I knew I’d get undisturbed sleep — fantastic!
Then it happened.
I was woken from a deep sleep with the sound of Louis gagging, and then like a volcano erupting, vomit cascaded everywhere. I picked Louis up and the vomit continued, flowing through my hair and down my back, covering the bed we were now sat up on.
I screamed for James who must of nearly had a heart attack by my less then gentle awakening. Panicked we ran a bath to wash Louis who was looking at us quite distressed. He was absolutely covered in sick. Throughout my life the smell of sick has always made me want to be sick too, stemming back to a childhood car journey when me and my sister had eaten way too much pink candy floss (that’s another story) but, a bit like smelly nappies, when it’s your child it’s as if you build your own immunity to the smell! And thank god, as it was literally revolting.
We got him out the bath, noticing a massive lump of vomit still attached behind his ear (horrible), dried him off and cuddled him, trying to offer him a drink of water.
James striped the bed and changed the covers.
Phew. Ok panic over.
Until 2 minutes later when the vomiting started again! More flowing sick mimicking Niagra falls. In these unexpected situations I feel like all sanity goes out the window. James falls into panic and anger mode, I fall into calm and clueless.
We called the NHS helpline and were thankful that we were not advised to rush to A&E. This all happened the day after Louis had deeply scratched his back on the kitchen cupboard handle whilst making a smoothie (more on this later), so thoughts started rushing through my brain — was it related to this? or perhaps he had food poisoning from eating something bad like those Cheerios on the floor at messy play? (does your child eat them too?).
The Doctor called back a few minutes later and said he wasn’t too concerned and advised that we just monitor him.
So back to bed.
Lights off.
Ignore the lingering stench in the air.
Close eyes.
20 minutes later more vomit.
Replaced bed sheet and laid towels on the bed.
20 minutes later….you guessed it.
Towels removed. New towels laid on the bed.
Finally he went to sleep around 2am waking once more at 4:30am retching …a bit of vomit. This time I just wiped the area and went back to sleep — we had used pretty much all of the towels and bedding available at this point and I was beyond the point of caring.
Louis woke early around 6:30am. I thought he must be hungry so I gave him some baby biscuits and a bit of toast, which he didn’t eat. A few minutes later it all came back up.
I’d reached that point where my only option was to consult my right hand man, Google. Baby vomiting, tummy bug, what do I do?
* Give lots of fluids
* Don’t give solid food or milk for 8 hours after last vomit (Whoops! Wish I’d read this sooner)
* Check nappies for urine
Ok, I’ve got this!
So the day turned into a snuggle on the sofa day …two films for Louis, one for mummy. He only seemed to want to be with me until James decided to try and get some work done …at which point daddy’s laptop was much more fun!
We cuddled, watched TV and finally he began holding down his food later that afternoon. It started with a rice cake, then a few oat biscuits and ended with some plain pasta.
The flat became like widow Twankey’s laundry (if you don’t know this reference you have never seen the pantomime Aladdin!). By 5pm, 5 wash loads later, hubby running back and forth from the tumble dryer, the smell of vomit was finally fading and life was going back to normal.
Actual event date 8th August 2018, Louis 18 months old
