Dealing With Sick Kids

How do you handle dealing with sick children?

I get seriously stressed out, which is probably why I almost always get the bug myself. I don't sleep at night, and I am constantly on edge waiting for the next one to get it.

For the last two weeks we've been battling a horrible stomach bug that causes both diarrhea and vomiting for days and days. My oldest came down with it first. After three days, he seemed better. Two days later, it came back with a vengeance. After three more days, he seemed fine for a day, then it was back for three more. By Day 13, I was pretty worried. During that time, my daughter had one day where she had diarrhea and vomiting. Three days later, my second son had a bout of diarrhea. When we were at Day 13, I came down with it as well as my third child, who is now going into Day #4 of it.

Even though it seems everyone has had their run of it, I worry that the little bout my second child had of just diarrhea wasn't the same illness and that he is still going to get a turn with it. And that my daughter didn't truly have it either.

I myself spent time getting i.v. fluids and Zofran at the urgent care center on Tuesday morning from throwing up all night. And I do mean ALL night. I started in with the vomiting at 10:30 p.m. Monday night and it didn't subside until about 5 a.m. Tuesday. I literally slept on the bathroom floor, sitting upright (because whenever I would lay on my side, the stomach cramps would kick in hard and cause me to start all over again) on a towel (the floor was cold) with my back against the wall. It was a LONG miserable night.

Fortunately, my husband seems to have escaped it all. Or maybe he started it. It was only a few days before my oldest started that my husband had a bout with what we thought was some bad food.

Needless to say, he's been a gem in all this. I'm stressed out to the point where I can't even figure out what to feed the healthy kids, let alone the sick ones. He has been stoic and confident through all of it--administering blessings several times to my oldest and to me. He has slept fine during the night, getting up when the kids have needed us (two episodes of vomiting over the side of a top bunk bed=not fun) and helping clean up all their messes.

Last night, my fourth child seemed to be feeling better. He hadn't had any diarrhea or vomiting for at least 7 hours by bedtime, but he was still complaining of upset stomach. He didn't get up once during the night like he had the other three nights to use the bathroom or to throw up, so I'm hoping he's on the mend (he is, in fact, still in bed). But I'm still a little concerned that two of my children didn't seem to get the same thing.

I aired out my house yesterday in the freezing temperatures and washed all bedding, all towels and even the bathroom rugs. I used Lysol wipes on everything I could think of--door knobs, light switches, the stair banister, kitchen chairs, etc. And I thoroughly cleaned all the bathrooms.

I'm hoping we finally kicked this bug back to where it belongs. But every few hours I ask all my kids how they're feeling. This two-week long episode has made me paranoid.

Does that happen to you?