A day in the life...

Preface
We attended a cousin's birthday party on Saturday and ate ourselves silly. In particular, Miss Rae Rae decided that she would eat not only her food, but her two-year old cousin's. Needless to say, she puked it all up when we got home. We assumed the child had just overeaten. We were wrong.
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Monday evening, 7pm
I arrive home with the girls at our normal time, ready to feed them and the dogs before heading out to a work-related dinner. I make Rae Rae a delish meal of nuggets, green peas and corn bread and fed Petra her favorite, tomato soup. Feeling comfortable, I leave the girls in their father's charge and head to a local restaurant to meet my colleagues for dinner.

Mon, 9pm
My phone beeps urgently. I look down to see that my husband has called a few times, which does not bode well. I call home to find out that Petra has been vomiting violently for the past half hour and has the chills. I leave my colleageus and race home.

15 min later...
I arrive home to find my older girl child puking and crying, saying, "Mommy, please get rid of the sick." I stay with her on the couch (where she's more comfortable) and put a bucket by her head. I notice that I don't feel so well either, but attribute that to the wonderful, but rich meal I just ate. Wrong again.

Tuesday morning, 12:30 am
I realize with horror that Petra isn't the only one who's sick as I race to the bathroom for the first of many puking sessions. At some point, when nothing else comes up, I sit hunched over the toilet, dry-heaving and thinking that I really need to just die or at least stop puking...neither of which happens.

Tuesday morning, 4am
Based on my calculations, I've now puked approx. seven times with several hurls each sitting. I've also been up almost all night with no sleep. Fortunately, it appears that I have rid myself of whatever toxic virus attacked my body and I actually manage to get two hours of sleep before the baby wakes.

Tuesday, ROD
I lie on the couch immobile next to Petra, who although sick, is well enough to ask me for something every five minutes and my husband, who came down with the illness about two hours after I did. Fortunately, I was able to extricate myself from the bathroom long enough this morning to take Rae Rae to school (that was the longest trip of my life) knowing there is no way Natche or I can take care of her right now. Rae Rae, of course, suffered the least and is happy as a clam.

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I'm not sure I can entirely articulate how horrible this stomach bug/flu actually was. It was, perhaps, the sickest I've been in a very long time and that says a lot...I've had shingles, dammit...and I can't believe how quickly it passed. While weak and exhausted today, I am, nonetheless, better.

Now, if I could just find the daycare child who got us sick...