PAMPERS AND PEARLS: Weekend Shenanigans...ER style!

Well this weekend took quite a turn from what was planned, and this certainly isn't the post I thought I'd be writing. On Friday night we met up with some friends at the club for dinner and everything was great; good food, good conversation, and Wake was a good boy...as usual! But it was Saturday I was looking forward to the most. We live near an area of Jacksonville called San Marco, and every year a running store in our town holds a Festival of Lights 5K supporting the Wolfsons Children's Hospital and Children's Miracle Network.

The run starts in the San Marco square and goes through the surrounding neighborhoods. They shut the whole square down and have carolers, bell ringers, Santa Clause, sleigh rides, a Christmas Tree lighting, etc... So, the plan was for a group of our friends & family to get together and run the 5K with our strollers, do the "Christmas" thing after the race and walk around, and then come back to our house for a little party.

Sophie's never far away...

Daddy/Wake Face off...

So tired and ready to go home

So basically right after Joe and I crossed the finish line, I took W out of the stroller and BOOM out of nowhere he started vomiting. Our on-call pediatrician told us to take him to the Wolfson's children's ER (ironic considering where the proceeds from the race went) to get him checked out. This was our first trip EVER with him to the ER and we were both completely freaked out. The doctors and nurses were so amazing (with all three of us ;-) and thankfully it was only a stomach virus; but man did that hit him like a ton of bricks. We were home by 10; he was such a trooper but beyond pooped. Obviously we did nothing but chill on Sunday and he's been slowly getting better ever since.

* Here are some things I learned on Saturday night that I want to share with all current/future mommies though...

1) For infant vomiting: ZOFRAN is god! This amazing little drug helps prevent nausea and vomiting and is gentle enough for infants AND pregnant women. Unfortunately you can't get it over the counter, but the pediatrician in the ER told us to just ask our general ped for a prescription. He said this is a drug that all moms should have in their cabinet next to the infant Tylenol. They can't OD on it and it's instant (literally) relief. It was a god send for us last night. You could see the relief in Wake's eyes the second it hit his stomach and he hasn't puked since.

2)For infant diarrhea (yes, that is another awesome side effect of this stomach virus): feed them BRAT = Bananas, rice, apples, toast. You also have to keep them hydrated, besides their normal milk. They recommend Pedialyte (which tastes like salt water) so you can either mix some Gatorade into it (that's what they did at the hospital), or sugar free Kool-aid.

3) Lastly, to help everything get back on "tract" he recommended we give him a children's probiotic (over the counter at Walgreens) and feed him yogurt with live cultures. Both of these will obviously aid his GI tract in flushing out all the bad.

I'll tell you one thing though...sitting there watching W was heartbreaking and I died a little on the inside thinking about all the parents who have VERY ill babies. I can't imagine what it must be like and I completely understand what they mean now when they say "I wish it were me."

~ Hug your babies lovies ~
Morgan