"I say puke."

"I say puke. If you hurl and she comes back, she's yours. If you blow chunks and she bolts, then it was never meant to be." Wayne Campbell in "Wayne's World"

Warning TMI ahead: The above quote was being recited to me, by Bob, last night as he held my hair back while I puked into a sick bin. He was full of laughs when it was me but the jokes have since stopped.

The pediatrician was right after all...Cooper had a stomach bug that was causing him to vomit. We know this now because 24 hours later (last night and this morning) I was puking my guts up. The salad I had eaten for lunch on Sunday from Wood Ranch grill will never be ordered by me again because seeing it come back up was absolutely horrendous - the thought of it makes my stomach turn still.

This morning Bob headed out to LAX to start his trip and he made it to the gate for his commute flight but that's as far as he got when it hit him too and he ran for the restroom and his puke fest began. So, he called in sick and got back in the car and came home and has been puking ever since. I haven't eaten more than a tablespoon or two of chicken soup in over 24 hours; I've been surviving on water. Bob is surviving on Gatorade.

I had to call in sick for my 3rd day back to work after maternity leave ended - I felt so terribly guilty doing it but there was no way I could work today - I was throwing up and purging this thing out of my system and felt like I'd been hit by a truck. I couldn't even hold Cooper and was soooo glad I had called that nurse yesterday to arrange for her to come help out this week. She was here for 4 hours today and I slept for 2 of them.

I am feeling better now - but not brave enough to eat anything substantial - not yet. Bob is a delirious mess up in bed and keeps asking for more Gatorade but we've run out and I can't go to the store because he can't watch the baby - he's too weak and out of it. So, I'm going online to see how early we can get a grocery delivery in the morning and if we can't get one early enough then I'll run out at 7 am when Leah (nurse) arrives.

I took Cooper for a post-hospitalization follow-up doctor's appointment at 5 pm today. After reviewing the test results from the hospital, the pediatrician recommended that Cooper be seen by a pulmonary specialist since he's now had 2 cases of pneumonia. Even though it was believed that this 2nd case is not due to aspiration, the fact that he got another pneumonia just from having a common virus is suspicious. They want to see if he qualifies for the RSV shots now - usually they're reserved for sickly preemies - well Cooper was a preemie but wasn't sickly at birth and now that he's been hospitalized twice for respiratory distress and pneumonia, they think he will qualify. They gave me the card of a specialist to call in the morning.

Doc mentioned the possibility of the fundo surgery again and I cringed. It's a horrendous surgery which has crazy complications - basically it tightens up the valve between the esophagus and the stomach and is only performed when the reflux is very severe and causing dangerous complications (like aspiration/pneumonia). I am not convinced that Cooper's recent illness has anything to do with his reflux and my being sick with the ear/throat infection and stomach bug support my opinion (and doc agreed that was a good sign, no offense to me). He suggested we call Cooper's GI specialist to fill her in on his latest hospitalization just as an FYI to see what she says. Another call to make tomorrow.

The staff at the pediatrician's office (which is a huge office with 7 or 8 doctors and numerous nurses and office staff) all know us by name now. When I arrived today they didn't even ask the name, they said "hi Mrs.Olsen, how's mister Cooper?". That gave me a knot in my throat. Darn it!

I talked to Cooper's daycare teacher this morning - she called to check on him. I told her how concerned we are about bringing him back there. She felt terrible and explained that he needs to be there for 2-4 weeks straight to build up some immunity and I reminded her that he never gets that far before getting sick there - usually just a couple days and he's got a new bug/virus. She told me about some things they're going to do to try to prevent Cooper from getting sick again - like not permitting the crawling babies to climb over the barrier that separates them from the little babies (Cooper is one of 3 babies there under 6 months of age and they are kept in a special part of the room to keep the older babies away from them but some of the older babies would crawl over the partition to get a toy or something and the teachers would let them be there if they didn't bother the little babies but they're not going to allow that anymore). They're also cracking down on parents that are breaking the rules by dropping off symptomatic kids. I told her I wanted to have a chat with her and the director to see what else could be done because if this keeps happening we'll have to pull him out of there and I really don't want to do that because they're are our best option. We called around to get estimates for nanny type services and it costs twice as much as the daycare center and we just can't afford it, unfortunately.

On a happier note - Cooper does seem to be feeling somewhat better. He's smiling and laughing again thankfully. He's eating a bit better but is wiped out and sleeping more often (not for longer durations though, unfortunately). I really really hope Bob is feeling a lot better by tomorrow afternoon so that he can take over with Cooper once Leah leaves since she can only be here for 4 hours a day due to her class schedule and the need to pick her kiddos up from school. Tomorrow she's here from 7-11. I can't bring Cooper back to daycare til he's eating normally and no longer having any symptoms from his viruses - I'm guessing that he'll be able to return by Friday. Til then we'll take things one day at a time.