Things That Go Barf In The Night

Late Friday night...early Saturday morning. Cooper begins power-puking at my bedroom doorway. I was lurched from sleep and scooped him up and took him to the bathroom. Hours later he still wasn't keeping anything down. Chris had plans to go fishing and left around eight-thirty. I was getting worried about all the vomiting and decided to take Cooper to the hospital. Oddly he didn't have a fever but I was still worried.

I dropped Carter off at Mom and Dad's house and took Cooper to the hospital. We didn't wait very long and we were seen by the doctor. He checked Cooper's eyes, ears, and throat, listened to his breathing and checked his tummy. The nurses did bloodwork and Cooper was such a good little patient. He wasn't thrilled at all the poking and prodding that had already occurred, but when they put the needle in his arm to draw the blood, he stopped crying and never made another peep. They even got him to eat almost a whole pedialyte freezie. Eventually he fell asleep while we waited for the results to come back. The doctor came back with the bloodwork results and all his levels were good. The strep swab came back positive though, and we were given a prescription for Amoxicillin (the same stuff I just finished with last week) and we were on our way. We picked up the prescription then went to get Carter.

He seemed fine for most of the day, nibbling on light snacks and drinking fluids. Not long after Chris came home Cooper was playing on the computer. I was just about to go out to rent a movie. Cooper pushed away the computer game and had 'that look' on his face. I went to him and crouched down to ask him if he was okay. Power-puked again. He'd gone all those hours without getting sick and everything he'd eaten or drank all day was gone. I'm not sure how much of his medication he'd have absorbed. We gave him little sips of juice and ginger ale and whatever snacks he felt comfortable eating. But he wouldn't keep anything down. By morning I was ready to take him back to the hospital for fear he'd get dehydrated.

I figured that right after vomiting would be a good time to take him so I gathered some stuff and Chris gave him a bath. I took him back to the hospital and we had the same nurses and doctor, which was great. The doctor wanted to get him on an IV to replenish his fluids and they repeated the bloodwork. Cooper was very cooperative this time and even opened his mouth for the doctor to check his throat again. And he never made a peep when the nurses held him and put the IV in his hand. Amazing. He fell asleep in my arms for about an hour while we waited for him to be admitted then we went to his room.

It seemed like he perked right up after the IV started pumping. It was hard to contain him in the hospital bed, but there were plenty of toys to keep him occupied for awhile. Once he had gone through all the toys I put a movie on for him. Cindy, my sweet, mind-reading-angel sister, brought me a Big Mac and fries and a French vanilla cappuccino. I ate about half the food and savoured the cappuccino. I hadn't had one of those in DAYS! Dad popped in too. While Dad visited, Cooper fell asleep again, so I decided to capitalize on some downtime and took a nap too when Dad left. Cooper slept for about two and a half hours. I dozed on and off.

Mom and Dad stopped by to visit before they went out for supper. Supper came for both of us; I ate while Cooper still slept because I didn't want him to see me eating real food while he had broth and jello and juice. Chris and Carter came to visit after supper. They'd spent the day out at Cindy's house. Carter enjoyed checking out the toys too. They visited a short while and Carter got grumpy (bored) and tired so Chris took him home.

I figured after the marathon nap Cooper had that he wouldn't sleep but he stayed up just long enough for his next dose of antibiotics and went to sleep. I snuggled up next to him and tried to get as much sleep as possible. The intravenous machine would beep every couple hours; but the sweet nurse would try to tiptoe in and reset it before it beeped. It only woke me up two or three times. Cooper woke up once screaming his head off. I never did figure out exactly what was bugging him but he did settle more quickly than I expected. It was a long night but each time I woke up and looked at the clock I knew I still had a few more hours to try to get a bit more sleep.

One of the times Cooper was begging for milk and I offered apple juice, he had a hissy and knocked the cup out of my hand. And of course it didn't land on the mattress pad, it landed on the sheet. Luckily none of it got on his blanket, and I covered up the wet sheet with the mattress pad.

Breakfast was brought in at about seven-thirty. Cooper had awakened and fallen asleep again. I should have gotten up and eaten my breakfast before he woke up but he saw my toast and cream of wheat and really really wanted some. I took it over to the other part of the room and ate. Poor guy just had red jello for breakfast and some juice. By this time he was really crying for some milk, and wasn't very interested in the other stuff. When he realized there was no milk in his near future he settled for some juice. Thankfully he produced a wet diaper and when the doctor came in he gave his instructions for discharge.

We left the hospital just before lunchtime and the Jeep was coooooooooold. It started fine but wasn't happy with me. I let it warm up for a few minutes and we drove to see Chris at work to tell him we were sprung. I was tempted to go to Tim Horton's but my window was frozen shut so I figured it must be a sign and came home.

Cooper was THRILLED to be home. He made the rounds to all his toys. I had a much-needed bath but Cooper was too busy playing. He had a MASSIVE poop and a very wet diaper. (Exactly what they were hoping to see him do AT the hospital). But it was a good sign. He had his turn in the tub and had fun playing in the water for awhile. I fed him some juice and toast and was still afraid to give him any milk. I gave him a couple ounces of milk in his sippy cup and he just wanted moooooooooooooore. I gave him a little more and tried to get him to drink juice. He ate a little bit of fruit and by the time he was ready for a nap I gave him a bit more milk. I took a yummy nap too.

I got a call at about three-thirty from Donna, who was also off sick today. I felt badly for the girls at the office without both of us front-deskers there but there was nothing either of us could do about it. Seems as though Donna now has a sinus infection. Eek. I can only imagine that it was probably from me somehow.

Dad stopped by just as I was about to get snuggled in again, since Cooper was still asleep. We had a visit and he checked in on the little dude. After he left I didn't need to go back to sleep but I crawled into bed since it was still warm. I lazed and dozed a bit until Chris brought Carter home.

I made a chicken stir-fry for supper and the boys nibbled a bit. I served theirs before I put in the sauce since they didn't seem to fond of it last time but they didn't eat much more anyway. After supper Chris cleared the dishes and started the dishwasher. He went to the store to get milk and bread and did a Timmy's run. His hot chocolate was a big disappointment. Their machine must have been running low and it was practically water. I HATE IT when that happens to my cappuccino. As soon as it cools off a bit I'll be trying it. Carter is in his room watching Underdog and Cooper is making up for lost time. He's having a blast with his Halloween flashlight and making me chase the beam. We're going to try to watch The Heartbreak Kid. I also rented License to Wed and Balls of Fury, but we haven't watched any yet besides Underdog since I spent most of the weekend cleaning up vomit or at the hospital with Cooper. **Interesting sidenote: Cooper did not vomit ONCE at the hospital this weekend. He seemed to save it up for the couch, the living room carpet, bedroom carpets and beds.**

So that's the weekend in a nutshell, but before I go, I will post my pictures of the day for the past couple days. I did take them. They're not all happy ones since two are of Cooper in the hospital... Oh and there are no fancy frames. I'm not even opening PhotoShop tonight...

Friday:

Cooper happily playing away on the computer.

Saturday:

Carter goofing around

Sunday:

Checking into the hospital...and checking out the toys.

Monday:

Pumped full of fluids and ready to be sprung from the hospital.