Preparing for the Stomach Flu

The other night as we were driving home from out of town friends, our youngest complained that her belly didn’t feel good.  A few minutes later I heard a cough and knew instantly what it meant. 

We pulled over and began clean up.  For once I was thankful for our less than clean minivan as it provided numerous things for us to use as barf bags and clean up rags for the remaining hour drive home. 

Once home, we got her clothes in the wash and got the kiddos ready for bed. 

Scott and I began preparations with militaristic regime and efficiency.   We instantly had the kids get all of their beloved stuffed animals and blankets off of their beds.  Each kid was allowed to sleep with one blanket and their washable lovey.  I wanted to limit the amount of laundry that would need done if the inevitable occurred. We convinced my son not to sleep on the top bunk.  We gave each kid a bowl “just in case” and we braced ourselves for a long night ahead. 

My poor little girl was sick most of the night.  She went from every 10 minutes to every 30.  Finally at around 4:30 her misery seemed to end and I was able to go back to sleep for a few more hours, while Scott got ready to go to the airport for a day long business trip. 

Once the kids were awake, I took things slowly.  I let my daughter drink water, but only sips in 10 minute increments.  I’ve learned the hard way that if you let them gulp down too much water on an empty stomach, they only throw it all up again. 

I set a timer and each time it went off she was allowed to take another sip.  After an hour or two of this, with her holding it down, I let her drink more. Once it seemed that she was able to keep down the water, and after much begging for food, I let her eat some toast and dry cereal.

So far so good.

As for the others, I was pretty convinced they could fall at any time, so I did my best to prepare for it.  I scrubbed down the bathroom and washed all the linens from the night before.  I let them eat, but kept the menu bland and didn’t allow them to have dairy. 

The biggest risk with the stomach bug is dehydration.  So, I did my best to keep the kids and I hydrated incase we  were to fall next.  I made a chart with each of our names on top.  I told them we’d each get a sticker for every glass of water drunk that day. 

This worked perfectly for my competitively driven children.  All it took was seeing their sibling get a sticker to induce the other child to quickly drink his or her glass.  By day’s end my son had drank 6 glasses of water and my daughter had drank 5. 

This worked so well, I am thinking of having a water chart up every day to help remind us to stay hydrated! 

It’s been over 48 hrs since my daughter first showed signs of being sick.  As I type this, Scott is working to put the car seat back together after we took it apart to wash the straps and liners.  (What a royal pain those car seats are)!

Much to my great surprise, no one else has showed any signs of being sick.  I am thinking if we wake tomorrow with an event free night, then we are in the clear. 

I don’t think any of our preparations prevented the rest of us from getting sick.  Though we did wash our hangs after every time we touched her and kept the sanitizer close at hand.  I was also very careful to keep my hands away from my face.

I do, think however, think that if we had gotten sick, our preparations would have proved useful.  Being prepared worked for me this week.