Not for the Faint of Heart (eh, er...)Stomach

Hello, F.O.T.E.'s,
Well, I'm sitting here a little dazed. My body is exhausted. My mind has been turned to mush. I've yielded to fits of laughter, tears... Never in my life have I seen such a display. Yes, Friends...we're wrapping up Vomit Week here at The Fold. The Discovery Channel once had a series called "Shark Week," but they never had Vomit Week. (Thank goodness--you wouldn't want to see it.) Beginning last Wed., some horrific gastrointestinal microbe wreaked havoc on The Flock. It began with LionessLamb(formerly Carnival ;-). Three a.m. she padded into our bedroom and said, "Mom. I don't feel good." I asked sleepily, "Do you think you're going to vomit?" A sleepy reply, "No." I said, dismissively, "Ok, well, go back to bed then and get some rest." She padded back to bed and I began to relax again. Then, in the darkness...that sound mothers dread and even have nightmares about....
BLECH! (kersplatty)

I was immediately wide awake. I rushed to the bathroom to find L.L. (LionessLamb) bent over the toilet. "Whew," I thought. "Glad she made it to the bathroom." ROTFLOL--I just hadn't seen the bedroom yet. EEK! At that point, no matter how concerned I was or how much compassion I felt...I gagged. I called for The Ram and grabbed my nose and covered my mouth. I left the bathroom and sat on the couch, waiting for the nausea to subside. Strangely, it only got worse. I told The Ram, "I need to go into the other room--this is making me sick." So, while my saintly husband wiped and scrubbed the bathroom, bedroom and hallway, I went back to bed. Eventually, he made it back in there, too. L.L. was safely tucked back into bed. Everyone drifted back to sleep, thinking mean thoughts about the fast food restaurant we'd eaten at that night (assuming their food handling had made L.L. sick.) A while later, L.L. was back in the bathroom, making another deposit. All through the night, this went on--cleaning up L.L., lying back down...drifting off to sleep...then BLECH!!! Finally, about 5 a.m., Musical came into the room. "Mommy. I can't sleep in my bed." I opened one eye..."Why not, Musical?" Exactly what I *didn't* want to hear, "I threw up in it." NO!!! No, no, no!!!!! Not fair!!! I thought, "Does this microbe have no mercy???" Sigh...The Ram and I got up, mopped up Musical as best we could, and made her a pallet in the living room, so we could hear her better if she got sick again. As we were tucking her in...
BLECH!!!! This came from (horror of horrors) MY bedroom, where Tater Tot had (I thought) been sleeping peacefully. The Ram and I rushed into our room and found li'l' T.T. expelling his undigested bedtime snack onto the sheet...directly beneath my pillow. I again felt nauseated.
We cleaned up. We lay down. The next several hours are missing in action. I do remember lying down later in the morning, then yelling for The Ram to bring the Puke Bucket...QUICKLY. I remember him dashing in, like a knight on a white horse, sliding that pan under my head just in time. I don't remember how many times that little scene played out, because by that time, the fever had set in and I was in and out of sleep for the next day. Similarly, L.L., T.T. and Musical were alternately vomiting and sleeping, moaning and groaning for the next full day. The Ram and Lovable were the most selfless, incredible nurses. They lovingly cared for us all with much compassion.
By Friday, L.L., T.T., Musical and I were suffering only lingering effects of the stomach bug. It looked like it was about over with...then...
Lovable states, "Mom. I don't feel very good."
NOOOOOOOO!!!
Yup. We all cared for Lovable as she threw up, moaned and groaned like we had.
I thought it was curious that The Ram had been able to avoid the Terrible Illness. Not to worry, though, that Bug was not through with The Flock yet!!! "But wait, there's more!!!"
Saturday night (or was it later Friday night???) I woke up to find The Ram missing. Hmmm....He came inching into the bedroom later, carrying a Puke Bucket. He was the last to succumb, but succumb he did. At least by that time, most of us were feeling much better, so we could dote on him. Poor fellow--gone a year in service to his country, then BLECH!!!! Welcome home, Honey!! :-)
EPILOGUE: It's now Tues. night, nearly a week since the first volley was fired. Just today did I finish the mountain of Throw Up laundry that accumulated with 6 people emptying their guts for days. Mere moments ago, I snuggled down into bed, looking forward to a long night's sleep, when L.L. called out, "Musical's throwing up!!!!" Fear gripped me. I thought, "No, she must be wrong. It can't be..." I scurried into the girls' bedroom and found....NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! Musical covered in supper remains. I had immediate flashbacks from the last week. My blood ran cold. Then, L.L. said, "She was just coughing and coughing, then she threw up..." Whew. Ok. I think that was just the effect of the gag reflex, triggered by a coughing fit, brought on by her sleeping on her back and saliva running into her throat. Right? RIGHT???
Sigh. I'll let you know tomorrow...
The (very tired) Ewe