tummy bug #2, i despise you.

From my previous post, you all know how much I despise, fear and dread the stomach flu. We made it through Ava's first with only a few minor anxiety attacks on my part, and a lot of gagging on all accounts.

This week has been a little different. On Monday Ava had a normal nap, woke up playing and then a few minutes later surprised me and herself with the first offering. Over the next four hours she continued to throw up every 15 or 20 minutes... a heart-wrenching sight. The good news is this time around I was much more prepared and Ava too was better at giving me signals when it was time to lean over.

We went through 9 towels in 4 hours and then I had to put Ava to bed hungry and thirsty--arguably one of the hardest moments since she was born. I said goodnight and left while she cried, "milk! milk!" knowing I had to just let her fall asleep since she couldn't keep down even a sip. Thankfully she was exhausted and it only took a minute because I was in the living room sobbing. Ever since she was a baby one of my worst fears has been that she will go hungry (for whatever reason this has been a frequent nightmare of mine) so deliberately leaving her cry unanswered was torturous to say the least.

She awoke at 11:00pm and cried, "drink! drink!" so I let her have some gatorade. Of course she gulped it and then threw it all up within a few minutes. Thankfully I was able to get her back to sleep and by the morning she was keeping down liquids. Ava has thrown up two other times since Monday night--this virus apparently just keeps going and going and we are very ready for it to stop.

I thought that mommy and daddy were in the clear, but friday night Blair awoke at 5am and joined the ranks of the sick. Two down, one to go. This initiated my second round of sobbing for the week and intense prayer that God would spare me from realizing my fear for just a little while longer.

I have managed to weather other illnesses and may have bypassed this one--I'm praying. The Lord knows I'm not ready to face that fear. But I can safely say, we're surviving this tough illness-stricken winter and are looking forward to the first snow that we're actually healthy enough to play in!