Hi everyone; Olivia here. Three weeks ago our house was hit with the stomach flu. It was awful. I was totally unprepared. No medicine, no Gatorade in storage, and no idea how to stop the vomiting. In less than 24 hours I was completely knocked down to the point of dry heaving. There was nothing left in me. And my poor kids we're left to fend for themselves. The hubs was called into work for extra help & wasn't going to make it home until late, so he called my visiting teacher (who is also a nurse) and she rescued my kids for the night. She brought Gatorade and crackers and gave me this remedy: eat one or two crackers, take a sip, a small sip (less than a medicine cup) of Gatorade and sleep. I took some nighttime flu medicine & crawled into bed. Every time I woke up I followed her orders. A few hours later my mother in law stopped by with chicken noodle soup and did my dishes. I have some really wonderful people in my life!
Then the next week both my kids caught it. I was barely regaining my energy from puking for three days only to turn around and manage the flu double time. Although it was difficult, I think I was more sad about them missing Halloween. But by some miracle they felt much better by then & we were able to go trick or treating.
So why I am telling you this? I'm telling you this so you can be prepared. The flu hit so quick and hard it was near impossible to comprehend what was happening. I just wanted to curl up into a ball and die. And even though I have a fantastic husband, he wasn't able to drop everything and run home like I'm sure we all want our hubbies to do. So with flu season upon us here are a few things I've learned in the last few weeks.
First, gather & stock your medicine cabinet. There's nothing like looking for illness relief and realizing the bottles are empty. You'll need flu medicines for you and your children. We keep day & nighttime varieties, mostly to help me stay awake during the day and sleep well at night. I keeps several boxes of Emergency-C in different flavors in my cupboard (Airborne or similar works great too). If fizzy supplements aren't your thing then chewables, solid tablets, or liquid vitamins are great alternatives. I've found that with my kids the fizzy drinks work best. I mix a packet with juice and they think its soda. Win-win. I also keep anti-nausea medicines around. There's an OTC liquid that works pretty well but only if the stomach is completely empty, no food or liquids. I've learned this one well. Or you can try liquid ginger or ginger capsules. Just prepare for a burning like sensation as you swallow, but it really does work, and fast too. I really like the Queasy Pops, or Preggie Pops. These are most commonly found at children's & pregnancy stores, but more nutrition stores are carrying them as well. The pops are made of 13 essential oils to ease stomach discontent and taste like regular candy. My kids love them. They also have ginger flavored ones if you can handle the bite.
Second, stock your storage with a variety of crackers and electrolyte replacement drinks (Gatorade, Powerade, or Pedialyte). These are going on sale right now so grab a bunch for cheap while you can. You will get tired of saltines very quickly so keep a few other kinds of crackers handy. Goldfish, Club, Ritz, and recently Vanilla Wafers are our favorites. As far as liquids go sour or subtle flavors work best: orange, lime, lemon-lime worked best for us.
Third, stock your washroom. You will be doing a lot of extra laundry. Keep extra boxes/bottles of stain remover and detergent handy. I also had some Borax so I threw a little in with each load. We have microfiber couches so I had to scrub them. Keep extras of whatever you use to clean your floors and furniture. I went through two bottles of kitchen cleaner & a big spray bottle of rubbing alcohol (for the couch) in less than a week. I used every towel and rag in the house.
Now, mentally prepare yourself for nonstop vomit and crying, baths and a ridiculous amount of laundry. Hopefully your kids can make it to the bathroom in time, but mine are still young (4 and 2) so they threw up wherever they were standing. After the first day I just left empty bowls around the house so there was always something close by.
Finally, prepare for lots of snuggles. Although we all hate being sick, watching a movie snuggled with my babies is pretty awesome. Being a mom is really rough sometimes, but knowing you are the only one that can make their day better is again, pretty awesome.
With these reminders now fresh in your mind, you are now set to get ready for the flu season. I hope that your families stay safe and well, but if not, you can tackle it like a boss.
I wanted to talk about the essential oils I used as well, but since this post is already long, I'll save it for next week.
Happy Tuesday!
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