what goes in must come out...

I've been MIA, but for good reason.

Early on, I had asked myself, "How can I tell the difference between spit up and throw up?" I figured, with her being formula fed, it would all look the same. Similarly, I asked myself, "How can I tell the difference between poop and diarrhea?" Same thing - it's mushy to begin with, wouldn't it always look that way? We had the pleasure of clearly determining the difference this weekend.

It began Friday evening. Prior to my parents coming over for a much anticipated Wii session, Alexis was lounging comfortably in her bouncy seat, conversing with the pig and the sheep hanging overhead. She spit up a tad, so Jamie bent to wipe the ick away. Suddenly, she pulled a Linda Blair and the formula just started coming out. It was definitely more then 8 ounces, so she must have been hording previous formula as well as the bottle she had consumed an hour prior to the explosion. All we could do was lift her into a more prone position and watch as she soaked her PJs and bear blanket. Interestingly enough, she really didn't seem to care and was probably annoyed that we interrupted her chat with the farm critters.

An impromptu bath ensued. Parents claim that when it's your child, you can handle puke. Mind you, it really was only formula, but some of it had sat in her belly long enough to make it smell very yucky, and it seemed that while I did get it all cleaned up, the stench was glued to the inside of my nose for days. So no, you can't necessarily "handle it".

Then came the onslaught of #2. We didn't witness the first subtle mess, as she was in the care of her grammy who told us that it was "a bit watery". Whatever. Sunday morning, I got to see what "whatever" really was. (For those with a weak stomach, ignore the next paragraph or so.) I walked into her bedroom and noticed a strange scent. I looked over into her crib, and while she had her typical beaming smile for me, she was also sprawled out in a nice bit wet spot. She often leaks out some tinkle, but tinkle doesn't usually smell funny. And so began the regular cleansing and repackaging of the little one.

I just had to test just how well the after-hours pediatrician services were. My call was fueled by my internet search which struck fear into my heart. (I should have remembered my rule of not studying the internet lest I become panicky mother.) Should a child become dehydrated, a trip to the ER was warranted. The way you see that a baby is dehydrated? No tears and no tinkle. While small tears were coming out when she cried, I was positive that they weren't big enough. And since everything "down there" was mixing together, I couldn't tell if she was peeing, so of course in my mind, she wasn't. The pediatrician assured me that she's fine, there's a bug going around, and keep giving her her formula and some Pedialyte - she'd get through it.

We spent the next few days giving her copious amounts of Pedialyte. Tears got bigger, poo came less often, and tinkle was occurring. Eventually, she became angry about the fact that Pedialyte was NOT the same as formula, she was quite hungry, and was not hesitant to tell us.

She will be returning to Goddard tomorrow (Thursday). The inconvenient but understandable rules of the child care system have restricted her to 3 poos a day, and she should be ok to keep it "all in" tomorrow. Other then a major diaper rash and some residual stinky sheets from this morning, she seems to be much better. Now if only I could get that stink out of my nose...