You think that once your baby gets a little older, your world will stop revolving around poop so much. And I guess it does get better. But all it takes is one little stomach virus and suddenly it seems that every conversation and thought is back to their little bowels (which can make very large messes.) What did she eat? What was the consistency? When did she go last? How many times did she go today? How is her diaper rash? Is she staying hydrated enough?
As I mentioned last week, Audrey came down with a stomach virus of the southern variety (that's a nice way of saying diarrhea, in case you missed it) last Wednesday evening. We put her on the BRAT (bananas, rice, applesauce, and bread/toast) diet for 48 hours and kept her very well hydrated. By Saturday morning, she was fine. Then I guess we rushed her back into a regular diet too quickly because since that afternoon, the frequency has been back to normal but the...ahem...substance...has not.
To make matters worse, I came down with it late Saturday afternoon and was pretty useless all day Sunday. (Thank the Lord it was after the race and we were even able to squeeze in a fall festival that afternoon!) Now I'm usually the "let it run it's course" type when it comes to being sick and taking medicine. I've always thought that if your body is working that hard to rid itself of something, it needs to be allowed to get rid of it. However, after almost 24 hours of taking trips to the porcelain throne every 2-3 hours, I needed sleep and rehydration. So, David took Audrey to the store and got me some medicine and crackers. A few hours later, I was still weak, but felt much better. (Side note: The box of Imodium AD reads "Controls the symptoms of diarrhea." What, exactly, are the symptoms of diarrhea, other than having diarrhea?)
Monday morning dawned and life was good again. By Tuesday, I felt 100% better and we even went for a jog that night. Just to make sure the virus knew who was boss, we ate fast food for dinner and then came home and cleaned, bleached, Lysoled and Clorox-wiped every bathroom, light switch, handrail, cabinet knob, remote control, and door knob in the house. Take that, stomach bug.
SO, in summary, David is fine, I'm better, but Audrey is still trying to get back to normal. We've put her back on the BRAT diet with a few extras, got some powdered probiotics to mix in her drinks per the doctor's advice line, and have cut out all dairy for the time being. Please pray her little tummy heals soon. I know she's tired of it and, frankly, David and I are tired of nearly passing out at every dirty diaper change. Plus, if this keeps up much longer, we'll have to break it to her that she can't go to college because we went broke paying for wipes.
D: "I had a scare today at work."
Me: "OH NO! Did you have a loose bowel movement?!"
D, laughing hysterically: "Uh, no. I meant I thought something was messed up with a presentation I was doing."
Me, slightly embarrassed that I just asked that as D is still cracking up: "Oh."
In case there was any doubt, I've officially got Mommy-brain.
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