Icky Sickies

UGH!!! I am SO ready for spring! Typhoid Alec strikes again. And again. And AGAIN. Right after we moved into our new house, he started things off with a lovely stomach bug. Passed it around to all the kids except for Joey, and then to me. A couple of weeks ago, he started off the nasty cold that's now made it through all of the kids. I've been doing nothing but wiping snot and eye boogers for days. I'm just waiting for it to hit me. Last night, he spent the night at my mom's as a reward for good behavior this week. (He got himself into some trouble at school the week before last. *SIGH*)

So we met them at church this morning and halfway through the sermon, Alec said that his stomach hurt. Great. So I took him downstairs. He said he thought he didn't have enough breakfast. Now, for those that don't know, I am convinced even without official diagnosis that Alec is hypoglycemic. (Actually, I think at least 3 of the kids are.) I won't go into his long history that leads me to this conclusion, but it suffices to say that because of his issues, these stomach bugs can turn into a vicious cycle for him. If he doesn't eat well the night before, he will throw up the next morning. He had to be hospitalized overnight once a couple of years ago, and I had to take him to Urgent Care this last time he was sick. (Although, mom said he ate good last night.) So thinking perhaps his blood sugar was low, I gave him some orange juice. We went back to Mass. A couple of minutes later he was complaining again. Back downstairs we went, and this time I just planned to stay rather than have to keep going in and out of church or risk him puking in there.

While downstairs, he did a poo. (Sorry!) So I thought maybe that was what had made him uncomfortable. He said he was feeling better. At his age, I would think he could communicate this stuff pretty well, but I have been fooled more than once. So on the way home he starts moaning and complaining again, and I could tell by that all too familiar face he was making that I needed to get off the highway, and QUICK. After I got him out of the van and he stood there for a minute, he tried to tell me that he thought he'd be okay. I told him no, he'd better produce something before we got back in that van! LOL! Sure enough, he puked. Thank God I was able to get him out. I don't even want to think about it if I hadn't! So I thought we'd be able to make it home before he might get sick again. Nope. This time I couldn't get off the road quick enough and some of it ended up in the van. (Thank goodness he mostly emptied out the first time!) UGH! Somebody PLEASE remind me to put a barf bucket in the van. Man, I HATE puke!!!

So now I just wait and hope and pray that this one doesn't make its rounds. Joey is supposed to be having his birthday slumber party on Friday and I'd hate for it to get spoiled with yet anoher round of sickies. With Alec, you can't always be sure of the cause. He hasn't gotten sick since we've been home and he's been begging to go downstairs to watch the other boys play video games. On the other hand, when he's gotten into one of those vicious cycles before, he went hours without getting sick and I'd think he was better only to have him get sick all over again. Unfortunately, I don't have any Pedialyte or Gatorade on hand because, dummy me, thought we'd done our pukes for the season. So, to try to make sure I keep his blood sugar up, I looked up a recipe for homemade electrolyte solution. Tastes just like the expensive kinds you buy that expires like 48 hours after you open the darn stuff. Here's the recipe:

2 quarts water
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
7 Tablespoons sugar
1 packet Sugar-Free Kool-Aid
1/2 teaspoon salt substitute

The Kool-Aid and salt substitute are optional, but I used Kool-Aid because the stuff isn't so good anyway and thought it would make it more palatable. Just thought I'd share with my fellow moms and dads, but I sure hope you don't need it!

Stay well!