Winter Vomiting Disease

This is probably something you don’t want to read about, so please feel free to wait for the next post, one that will probably be (more) normal. Maybe blogs aren’t supposed to contain posts this kind…

Thursday and Friday this week, I’ve been working at home, and on Thursday I went to this singing group with Emilia where she and a lot of other very young kids play around accompanied by some music and singing of children’s tunes. Great time!

Thursday night, or rather Friday morning, she was waking up every half hour or so, crying and being generally restless. Pretty common, though, it might be bad dreams, separation anxiety etc, so I didn’t think too much about it. At about 02.30, I went into her room to get her and when I started to pick her up I noticed that she and all of he things in her bed were wet, and it was smelling rather bad. I switched on the light and it turned out that she had thrown up all over.

Fredrika took care of her bed while I changed her pyjamas and washed her clean. We took her into our room to sleep between us, for comfort and for being near. Five minutes later she threw up again. Same routine again with washing her, changing the pyjamas etc. Back to bed again. This time maybe 20 minutes passed before she again threw up. The “Pyjamas routine” started again…

After that she seemed calm and slept through the rest of the night, and feeling just fine the day after.

We have something here in Sweden (and probably at least in the rest of Europe as well) called the Winter Vomiting Disease, which is a kind of virus that makes you violently ill for about 24-48 hours, throwing up, shitting all; basically pure terror. We guessed that Emilia’s sickness was just due to something she had eaten. That is, until Fredrika got really sick today. I won’t go into graphical details, but let me tell you, it’s really bad.

So, I’ve been playing around with Emilia, taking her for a walk and such, and thinking that I had been spared; I mean, I’ve never had the virus before (come to think of it, neither has Fredrika). When I fed Emilia about 18.00 I had had an oncoming feeling of nausea for about an hour, so I went into the bathroom. Two visits later and a lot of nasty no. 2 I knew I had to change her diaper, because it was smelling bad (is there something like sympathy shitting?). While I was changing it, I felt something just bubbling up inside of me. Leaving her om the nursery table, I turned around and darted for the toilet. On the way there I threw up through my hands, feebly trying to hold the worst of it back. I spewed on Emilia’s favorite book, a water proof one she always read when we’re taking baths, and all over the floor.

I heard her crying desperately, having been thoroughly scared, but there was jus nothing I could do. Between my gushes of my latest lunch, I cried out to Fredrika that she just had to come. Luckily she was in between her “God, I just want to die”-sessions, so she ran down the stairs and took care of Emilia. When I was done and had cleaned the vomitly raped bathroom, I got out to show her that I was ok, that it was just a lapse of something temporarily bad.

However, I knew there was little chance that we could take care of her in the state we were in, so I called my mom, who just lives ten minutes away from were by car. A little moment later, my brother and his girlfriend came to pick Emilia up and drive here there (Mom was throwing a dinner party, one that we were supposed to attend, so she had taken a drink and couldn’t drive herself). Here’s where this story turns emotionally bad.

First, Emilia has never spent a night without both of us, Second, the first snow has just fallen here. Instead of me going outside with Emilia to see her astonishment and to hear her lovely:

Titta!

(which means “Look!” in English) we just gave her away, with the recent uncomfortable experience of seeing/hearing me throwing up violently. Maybe I’m just overly sentimental right now, but I saw them drive away with tears in my eyes, cursing this virus to hell. I will get better as soon as possible, so I can take her home again.

 

Live blogging about vomiting and shitting while in the midst of it… There must be something really wrong with me. I just felt sad and wanted to share, I hope you understand. I feel my stomach cramping again now, so it’s probably a good time to stop. Take care, all, and also, you probably shouldn’t expect any new post in the next couple of days.

17 Comments

  • Jonathan says:

    Man, I feel so bad for you. I hope you feel better soon.

  • Ã&Acirc says:

    Whoa … people having fun at your house ๐Ÿ™‚ … or not ๐Ÿ˜ฎ

    I have been through this a few times with my three and a half year old. Changin everything a few times in the night is not much fun. But as they get older, they will begin to let you know when things get nasty and you get them to a "safe" place … so hang in there ๐Ÿ˜‰

  • David says:

    Well, I hope you start feeling better soon. Such illnesses and symptoms are miserable and can make one feel desperate and anxious – so it is right to talk about it. I checked the BBC website health pages – WVD accounts for 60% of gut infections in the UK; is very easily caught (even from small drops of vomit in the air!). The only cure seems to be rest, warmth and drinking plain fluids. Take care.

  • David says:

    Actually, I think I got those figures mixed up a bit. The BBC site says there are between 60,000 and one million cases of WVD in England every year. Not the "60% of gut infections" I stated above. Anyway, it's an awfull lot of vomit any way you look at it :-/

  • Oh man, I feel for you – been there, done that, got the vomit stained tee shirt.

    Recently, near (and nearer) to where we live there have been recurring outbreaks of e-coli in primary schools, which even resulted in a 5 year old boy dying in hospital due to kidney failure. So I was more than a little worried when the nursery phoned on Thursday to say my youngest son (3 in December) was throwing up everywhere and needed to be collected as soon as possible.

    Thankfully, he wasn't sick again and although a little off-colour and requiring a few more hugs than usual (the only benefit), has recovered quickly and my worst fears were just that, fears.

    I hope you and your family get well as quickly, take care ๐Ÿ™‚

  • Rowan Lewis says:

    On one hand I'm glad I've never come accross something like that, and on the other hand… well…

    Hope you get well soon!

  • Henrik says:

    Stackare, hope you get well soon. Thankfully I haven't gotten that disease: "vinterkräksjukan", and I hope I don't get it, school's hard enough without it…

    Guess that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

  • Lasses says:

    To bad about her book ๐Ÿ˜‰

    Hope you all get better. While you're gone I'll dive into your CSS files ๐Ÿ˜€

  • Daniel says:

    To try to make you smile, be happy that you have such a great family that is willing to take your daughter in your time in need.

    I am pretty sure mine would do the same but you really never know until you are in that spot.

    Depending on old your daughter is she will never remember that she missed the first snow fall, but will prob remember the first one at 4-6 years old.

  • Robert Nyman says:

    Thanks everyone! Really!

    Things seem to be at least a little bit more stable now….

    The last couple of days have just been a blur…

  • Jules says:

    A few years ago, I suffered from something similar, blowing from both ends at the same time. I was on the toilet (I made it in time) and was about to lean over the bath when I passed out. I figured I was out for about 10 minutes and woke up in a mess. Cleaned myself up and the bathroom and for a few days, I had a really sore chest (on the right, not the left so I figured it wasn't a heart issue). I went to my doctor and it appears that when I passed out, I landed on my ribs and cracked two of them. I took several months before they felt fine again.

    Having sick kids is terrible, especially when they are young like yours Robert: you feel helpless, they cry because they don't feel well and there isn't a lot you can do.

  • Robert Nyman says:

    Jules,

    That's hilarious! ๐Ÿ™‚

    Thanks for sharing, I hope it hasn't scarred you for life!

  • Jules says:

    Scarring for life? Hmmm, a recent (6 months ago) X-ray showed a swelling on the rib bones where they healed so I guess I will be scarred for life.

    Other than that, I too chuckle at the thought of it.

  • Robert Nyman says:

    Jules,

    Ok. ๐Ÿ™‚

  • You may be fine one minute and then vomiting the next. Some people also develop diarrhoea. Symptoms usually last 24-36 hours.

  • […] iPhones will be. Is there an optional pen to use, for the ones of us who don’t want winter vomiting disease all over it? Now you think I’m all against smart p […]

Leave a Reply to Robert Nyman Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.