The Bug from Hell and First Stitches

Oh boy, did last weekend suck.   There was a stomach bug going around daycare that hit both of my kids about a week apart.

Friday
I picked the kids up from daycare at the normal time and the teacher told me that Kendall had just gotten sick for the 2nd time.  She woke up from her nap with a deep sounding cough and the teacher thought she might have gotten sick from that.  It takes about 25 minutes to get home and I tried to go as fast as I could.  No luck.  Kendall threw up twice more in the car.  All down the front of her, all over the car seat.  Gross.

That night, I kept her in bed with me because the cough started sounding croupy. She didn't vomit any more that night.

Saturday
Our pediatrician's office has emergency Saturday morning hrs so I got her an appt at 8:20.  The doctor said her airway sounded OK but prescribed 2 inhalers and an antibiotic because there was some fluid started to accumulate in her right ear.

She started to have a little bit of an appetite so I let her have some yogurt.  Big mistake.  That all came back up.  All over Daddy.

Sunday
Cough started sounding a little better and no vomit all day.  We kept the diet pretty bland with toast and rice.  I thought we were in the clear until bedtime.  I was washing my face and heard her cough and then gag.  But the time I got in there, she had already vomited all over her bed.  I grabbed her and started heading downstairs when the rest of it came up.  All down my shirt and in my bra.  So disgusting!

Monday
Kept her home from daycare and decided to let her have a little milk around 11:00 am since she didn't vomit the rest of the night.  Big mistake #2 and vomit all over mommy again.

The weird thing about the bug is that she seemed to feel fine other than vomiting.  She was playing and never had a fever.  I decided to chance an errand and we went to Target around noon.  Got in and out without any incident. 

And, then she got sick again in the car ride home.  All down the front of her and all over the car seat.  Again.

We got home and I cleaned her and the car up and started putting some of the stuff away that we bought.  She came into the kitchen riding their little riding toy car.  I had my back turned and heard it fall over but that happens all of the time.  And, then she started crying.  When I turned around, she was laying face down with her butt in the air and straddling the front of the car.  I picked her up and didn't see any blood, checking her mouth and teeth. 

We started walking out into the living room and she lifted her head back and then I saw the gash.  She had a 2 inch cut under her chin.  I have no idea how she cut herself there - she must've cut it on the toy when she fell over? 

DH just happened to be home for lunch so I called him and he thought she needed stitches.  It wasn't bleeding that bad at all.  So, we gathered her up and headed toward to the ER.

Being back in the ER was a little creepy.  We've been there twice before with her and neither trip ended well - the first being the meningitis and the second being the return of the bacteria with a blood infection.  Oddly, the sounds and smells of the hospital brought back all of those emotions.  That hospital has been way too familiar to us.

The nurse and doctor came in pretty quickly and determined that she did need stitches.  They asked how it happened and in that conversation, I mentioned why we were home that day.  They brought in some Zofran to give her to stop the vomiting and put some nubbing lotion on a cotton ball that we let sit on her chin for 40 minutes before they cleaned off the wound and started the stitches.

She actually fell asleep during that 40 minutes and we had to wake her up for the stitches.  She was NOT happy.  We wrapped her in a sheet to keep her hands down and the nurse had her head.  To make sure it was good and numb, they also did 2 shots and then cleaned and sterilized it.

She got SIX stitches!

She didn't really bother it at all until yesterday and I think it's starting to itch.  I take her tomorrow morning to get them out and I'm sure that won't be fun.

And, thankfully, no more vomiting.