Heave ho

Warning: this post may offend the squeamish. Just letting you know... The creeping crud sickness has finally left the house, I think. Last Thursday, when DH picked DD up from school, she was complaining of an upset stomach. She skipped dinner and went to bed early. As I was getting ready for bed (DH was out at rehearsal) I heard her crying, and when I went into her room I saw that she can puked all over herself and her sheets. I cleaned her up, but noticed that she was burning up. Her fever spiked up to almost 103* on Friday and she was lethargic for a couple days (the fever was down to 100ish on Saturday, and gone by Sunday.) Good news, though- no additional puking! Saturday night, DH starts feeling unwell. About half past midnight, I wake up to the sound of him getting sick. A few times an hour, all night long. I stumbled out of bed to get more water/Gatorade/ice a number of times, and left him alone to rest while I got the kids out of the house on various errands on Sunday. Monday afternoon, my stomach was killing me. I passed it off to all the stuff I'm worried about (preschool decision for DS1, the need for DD to be evaluated for a possible learning disability, angling for a raise/promotion, DS2's eating habits, obsessive focus on a very stupid parenting incident on Sunday in which no one was harmed in any way but if I had made a slightly different decision at a split second during our errands I would not have faced a very nerve-wracking situation and would not have further proof of what an inept parent I still am.) By Tuesday morning, my system was letting me know that I was not experiencing stress induced nausea, I was just plain sick. Groaning, I called my boss to say I would not be in. I called my mother to arrange for an alternate method for getting the boys to her house (she didn't want to come pick them up, for fear of coming in contact with my germs.) I called my psychologist to cancel the counseling session that I so desperately needed because I'm concerned about work and I'm concerned about DS1 starting preschool and I'm concerned that DS2 won't drink anything except milk or eat any protein other than cheese (so he's obviously malnourished, further proving my failure as a mother) and I'm concerned about calling the board of education to schedule testing for DD and my desk at work is a mess, what are people going to think of me while I am not there?! (I was on my deathbed, but I used what little energy I had to be neurotic.) I called in sick again on Wednesday, and managed to consume dry cereal, toast, and crackers with no bed results. I rescheduled my car's service appointment (from Wednesday to Thursday) and picked up the boys after DS2's nap. About fifteen minutes into the hour-long ride home, I heard some gurgling noises and crying from the back seat, and looking in the rearview mirror to see DS2's lunch making a return appearance. I returned to my mom's house, cleaned him up, changed his clothes, wrapped him in a blanket and headed out again. We only had to stop four times along the way for him to be sick again. He puked three or four times more after we got home, but thankfully, made it through Wednesday night and yesterday without getting sick again. He drank nothing, since all he wanted was milk, and ate a lot of applesauce and crackers. He still hasn't had anything to drink, because I put another day on the dairy ban, and he's throwing his sippy cup back if it has juice or water or V-8 smoothie in it. We've successfully gone almost 48 hours with no one forcibly ejecting any food or drink. Thank God for small favors.