"Clinton would lay across my chest almost lifeless, he'd start to squirm as if to look for that perfect position that would offer him some sort of relief, he'd get clammy, he'd give his best attempt to cry, a large gurgle would come from his belly, he would spew, he'd cry a little, then feeling better he'd offer a little smile...then we would rinse and repeat. I changed clothes four times and Clinton had two baths"
I think Tristan contracted a similar stomach bug (not from Clinton, obviously, since they live in Tennessee) and we had a very similar experience over the last few days. It all started on Tuesday afternoon on Victor's day off, of course.
Victor had just finished feeding Tristan lunch, consisting of a chicken stick or two, a few crackers and some apples and chicken (sounds yummy, huh?). Throughout the entire mealtime he had to coax Tristan into eating, which we don't normally have to do. Well, I guess there was a reason he didn't want to eat, because within seconds of Tristan finishing his food, everything he ate, plus the food from the day before, came flying out of his mouth. It looked like a volcano erupting with tons of molten lava, and it wasn't just once or twice, no it was over and over again.
He was still in his high chair when the eruptions began so we wheeled him into the bathroom, removed him from the chair and he got a bath. I cleaned the high chair while Victor gave him a bath...I know, I know, this may sound a little backwords, but give me a break, I'm pregnant afterall! Finally, he was cleaned up with fresh pajamas and we thought we were in the clear. WRONG! The eruptions began again.
At this point we decided it was time to go to the doctor. It was nearing 4 o'clock in the afternoon by this time so we had to convince the doctor's office it was urgent that they see us today and we quickly got in the car and drove down to our pediatrician's office. Before getting inside the office, Tristan had another small eruption in the car. Luckily he didn't have too much more to throw up and what was left landed on me, so at least the truck doesn't smell!
After leaving the doctor with some recommendations to stay away from milk for the night and let the bug run its course, we went home and let Tristan rest. He slept through the whole night and seemed to be his old self in the morning, so I gave him some milk. For about an hour afterwards all seemed well and I thought we were definitely on the road to recovery, then the eruptions hit again. His tummy was gurgling and everything came gushing out, again.
So, we spent the rest of the day avoiding milk. Instead, I tried to give him Pedialite (an electrolyte substitute), but he wasn't really interested in drinking it and seemed to be in a good mood. He took some long naps and was acting like a normal 13 month old, at least it was "normal" for him. Once again, I decided to try the milk again at night since he pretty much hadn't eaten or drank anything all day. Finally we had success, he managed to keep 4 ounces down during the night into bedtime.
But, I shouldn't have counted my chickens before they hatched. Tristan woke up around 3:30 a.m. and I decided to give him some more milk, I figured he had to be hungry since he hadn't eaten all day. He drank a few ounces and went back to sleep. Around 4 a.m. more eruptions began. Luckily he was sleeping in our bed and I don't always fall back asleep when I am awaken in the middle of the night. I heard, and felt, him throwing up in the bed.
This had to be the worst spell of all. This throwing up went on until 9 a.m., at which point he just didn't have anything left in his little tummy and it was so painful for him, but I think it was almost just as painful for us to watch our poor baby be so miserable.
We took him back in to the doctor and she told us to definitely not give him any milk for awhile, but that he had to drink the Pedialite, even if it meant I had to syringe it in his mouth. So, that is what I did until he decided he would drink it from a bottle.
So far he has drank around 26 ounces of Pedialite (and it's 10:30 p.m. and he's asleep) and hasn't thrown up again. Hopefully tomorrow his appetite will increase, he will keep his fluids up, eventually returning to the crazy baby we know and love!
I'll keep everyone posted!
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