We stripped him down. My husband gave him a bath and I washed the high chair and floor around it. We thought the worst was over.
I kept him home from daycare on Monday so that he can rest (and not spread the plague to his daycare friends) I felt tired and a bit nauseated but thought I was going to be lucky enough to be spared. Jason arranged with work to work from home so he could stay with D on Tuesday while I went to work.
And then Tuesday, when it was time to get up for work, it struck. I felt like I was going to be sick. And I had to be at work in two hours... I ended up getting ready and messaging the family I nanny for; they told me to get some rest and they would figure out care for their son, so I sprawled back out into bed. Thank goodness Jason was home because every time I moved, even just breathing, I felt like I would throw up.
By Tuesday night, I felt better. Still sore and achey but not nauseated. Hooray! I went to bed, looking forward to feeling better the next day and having this damned sickness out of my house.
Then Jason woke up sick, plagued by this stomach flu. And of course, as a man, his symptoms had to trump ours. D threw up once, I didn't throw up at all. And within an hour of being up, I had counted at least three times for Jason.
After a quick call with Medeo, it was confirmed (as much as it could be, without running a test that would take longer to get a diagnoses than to feel better) that our household was being attacked by the Norovirus.
And the likely culprit? A swimming pool. We had finally, after nearly four months, taken D swimming at the local recreation centre. And he loved it. He also enjoyed drinking the water... Which someone who was infected must have swam in as well. So D ingested water that was contaminated with either vomitus or fecal matter. YUCK!
Today I have been cleaning the house. I've sanitized his toys, his sheets and even his Panda (which is in the dryer and I am praying will survive because otherwise someone WON'T be sleeping anytime soon!) I've put all his soothers into boiling water. I've washed every surface that he may or may not have touched lately. I've put away all his books until each page is wiped down with a spray. I am hoping that this doesn't have repeat cycles through the house like the last time, which was pre-D and so much easier to clean as J and I weren't going around sucking on the coffee table and licking the couch.
I've limited the number of toys he has out for now, until we know this bug has vacated our house. And made sure they are all hard, easy to wipe surfaces that won't need to be tossed into the washer.
D is supposedly not contagious today, according to the typical time frame of the virus. But we've kept him home an extra day so that we can be sure he won't pass it on to his friends. Jason is recuperating at the computer and I am itching to get back into running. D is suffering from some major cabin fever since he hasn't really gone out since Sunday afternoon and we will likely end up out for a walk after nap time.
We haven't had much in the way of illness lately. Sure, D was sick for a few months, off and on, with minor colds but it wasn't much more than feeling tired and a runny nose. And it rarely spread to me and Jason. I guess it was long overdue to get something.
Tomorrow, I think (read : hope), life will return to normal. Jason and I will return to work and D will go to daycare once again. And then on Friday, I can get my running back on track!
Have you and your family been struck down with the norovirus this year?