First Flu

Lydia watching the BEARS game with daddy and eating her pizza.

I don't think anything in any of the books I have read could have prepared me for what has been our most challenging parenting adventure to date. To start our weekend, we enjoyed swim lessons and an afternoon at Family Fest. We came home for a little bit to freshen up before we ran to Sam's Club and ultimately to eat a small family meal at Applebee's thanks to a gift card from Brittany and Rick. The entire day, Lydia was in high spirits, ate normally, and was her perky and on-the-go self. This changed within a matter of two seconds when she was positioned in her highchair at dinner and went into projectile vomit mode.

Lydia resting in the laundry basket she found. I thought she would fall asleep in there!

Having never dealt with spit up much, let alone throw up, we were completely stunned and at a loss for what to do. At the same time, we were not sure why she had thrown up and why it had been so sudden. We quickly cleaned up the scene with the assistance of several extra paper towels and one damp kitchen towel and made an exit from the restaurant with our meals to go. When we got home, Lydia snuggled with me for about an hour before the scene repeated itself, this time on the couch with blankets and pillows... Needless to say, this was a two person job.

We felt awful for Lydia as we couldn't help her. Her face showed obvious signs of confusion and pain. She didn't know what was going on and it was not comfortable. We immediately brought the pack-n-play to our room thinking we were in for a long night.

To our surprise, Lydia slept through the night and awoke bright eyed... The rest of Sunday was relatively uneventful. She went to the sitter's on Monday and more issues arose. I decided to stay home with her today and take her to the doctor. She had continued issues and they determined it was likely a bacteria that was causing her to get sick and have diarrhea. They said it simply has to run its course and Lydia should be on a no milk diet for the next couple days until her bowel movements are more regular. I am staying home with her one more day tomorrow while she fights off the bacteria.

Long story short, I think I added more to my parenting resume this week than I have in a long time.