Hello stomach flu and welcome back baba ;/

Cooper caught the nasty stomach flu that has been going around. He got it from me. Sorry, Cooper! I sincerely hope that he doesn't have it for as long as I've had it (mine started two weeks ago!).

It has been horrendous on him. I can't even begin to describe (and I won't) the frequency and volume of...well let's just say diaper changes require gas masks and hazmat suits. We've had to double-diaper him since Thursday - putting a daytime diaper on him then a nighttime larger diaper over that. We've run more "sanitizer" cycles on our washing machine this week than we have in the three years we have had the washing machine. And after the first day we thought the washer had crapped out on us because it appeared to be leaking water on the floor. We don't know why the floor was wet but thankfully it hasn't recurred and the washer has been fine. Thank God for that and other miracles we encounter each day. But I digress...

We've even had to wrap him in a towel to carry him to the bathroom to be stripped and bathed - about twice per day. Thursday morning was the worst when we had FIVE blowouts in less than 90 minutes and he wouldn't drink anything. It was so bad that it was feared by us and his doctor that he might need to be admitted for iv fluids. Thankfully we managed to convince Cooper to drink more by pulling the bottles back out of storage. Yup, he's been getting the bottle whenever he wants it and it has been encouraged. So now once this bug is over we'll be starting all over again.

By Saturday morning, he had developed a horrible diaper rash that hurt him so much that he screamed every time he peed. Changing the diaper became a battle because he was in agony when anything would touch his skin. The doctor called in a prescription cream for us and within just a few hours of using it he was on the mend. By this morning it had almost completely cleared up - just a very pale shade of pink still visible but no more screaming or battling over diaper changes. And today he had only a couple of incidents of the toxic diaper but on a much smaller scale than the past few days.

By lunch time today he was begging to go outside and play. We spent most of the afternoon outside and it was wonderful to see him happy and playing again after seeing him miserable since Thursday. And a relief to be able to leave the house without fearing diaper disaster LOL. Hopefully each day will get better and better. I know he must be tired of eating the BRAT diet especially since he won't eat two of the letters (rice and apple sauce) - we've plowed through a lot of bananas and toast this past week!