What a week

It went from the crappiest ever to a wonderful much needed relaxing day at a spa with some great momma friends.

I was supposed to have a busy week of storytime, photo shoot for Ohh, swimming, and a little mommy/baby party at my house. Ending today with a pedicure and drinks. But of course things didn't go quite as planned. Our house ended up with some type stomach flu. I was MISERABLE! And trying to take care of my little girl was near impossible for a couple days, especially when she started to get sick. Thank goodness for a wonderful hubby that let me take some gravol and live next to the bathroom when he was home! (even if I wasn't appreciative at the time)

So this is what I learned about babies and having dirrhea. ( I want to document what happend to maybe help some other moms, and also to remind me of what to do, the next time it happens.)

• There is nothing you can do about it. My Dr at least thinks letting it run it's course is the best thing. Giving drugs to stop it aren't good because it's the bodies way of getting rid of some type of infection.
• The most dangerous thing is dehydration. Babies can die from this. You don't need to be super stressed, but you do need to be mindful and use your instincts.

When Ohh was at the peak of her sickness, she was much more tired, she would sleep her regular 11/12 hour night, then take a 3 hour nap 2-3 hours later, then take up to another 1-2 hour nap 2-3 hours after waking up again. I knew that she wasn't in "danger" mode because she was still relatively happy when she was awake, and would still play with her toys. If she hadn't been, then I would have been more worried.
The day she didn't eat so well, she also looked a little "spacey" or "lost". To others I'm sure she looked like a happy, hyper little baby, but DH and I kept saying to each other that something wasn't quite right for her. And we talked about how if we took here to the dr's they would think she was totally fine. Now I know that, that was a sign of some dehydration. And I will know how to deal with it for next time. Luckily though, she ate better the next day and was more herself again.

• In adults, not eating for a day is a good way to give your gut a break, but in babies that isn't an option, so feeding a diet that is full of banana's, apples, rice, starchy foods is the best idea.
• If on formula which is milk based, switching to pedialyte is best because the milk can be yucky on their tummies. (I`m not sure what you would do if they were on breast milk? would you still switch?) We were told to completely stop the formula and feed pedialyte until firm bm's were seen.
  

We gave it in the bottle, and she loved it. She drank quite a bit of it, which was good, and you could soon see her getting more energy, and getting back to her old self. It isn`t very filling, so she was more hungry for solids food!

My only regret in all of this, is that I hadn't called the Dr sooner. I mean I knew there wasn't much I could do, and I knew pedialyte was a good option, but I didn't realize that you replaced it completely from the formula. I had also been too sick to make it too the store, so from now on I will have at least one container on hand just in case for the next time. Next time I will know to start this plan sooner.

So I know have a new found respect when other mothers tell me they are sick (especially with the stomach flu) and have a baby to take care of, whether they are sick or not. It really is the worst thing around. Maybe I`m just a wuss, but I just wanted to sleep, and was glad when she was sleeping more too. Its the only time I`ve wished little Ohh was old enough to take care of herself. Bad mom? No I don't think so, just a sick one!

But now I`m back to feeling wonderful, and oh so glad to be able to mother my little girl.
Good news is, she was in a great mood today, and had a "firm" poop for the first time in 4-5 days. So we restarted formula, and await for the next "movement". If its still firm, then I'm satisfied that we've survived our first but certainly not our last stomach flu!


P.s...we found a daycare!!!! so no more stressing about that!