When I was younger, I used to marvel at my mom's ability to not be grossed out by anything. I accepted that it was a 'mom thing,' but I still never understood how she could change diapers and clean up my puke and not hurl herself. She would always tell me, "India, it's different when it's your own child being sick. You'll be so distracted trying to take care of your child that you won't even think about how gross the job is."
Well, my little Athena has her first virus. I woke her up early yesterday morning and knew immediately something was up. She felt clammy and was whimpering a lot. A few minutes later, she got sick. Thankfully my father, who is a nurse, was home. I would have stayed home from school, but I had a final that morning. The entire time I was in my classes, my mind was on her. I wanted to be the one at home taking care of her, even if that mean getting puked on repeatedly. That afternoon, I came home as quickly as I could. She had been throwing up about every hour or so and sleeping a lot. This continued all night long; she'd sleep for an hour, wake up whimpering and upset, get sick and then go back to sleep. My wonderful father let me get some sleep from 6am-8am so I would have enough energy to repeat the routine today.
Athena seems to be feeling better, although she still whimpers a lot and is irritable. I got our VCR working, so we have a lineup consisting of Toy Story, The Lion King II, Atlantis, Aladdin and Pocahontas. She never ran a fever, which is a very good sign. I'm still afraid to give her anything to eat in fear that she won't be able to keep it down. Also, solid foods are harder for her to throw up. A steady diet of Pedialyte and Gatorade and the occasional crackers seems to be doing the trick.
Do you remember the first time your child[ren] got sick? Do you have any tips for me?
Coming up next: Christmas! :]
