This One Time, The Stomach Bug Ended Our Vacation Before It Even Started

Dear Em,
A month & a half ago we were supposed to go to Ohio to visit your Aunt Jayme & your dear little "cousin" T. Since you were born, every time we visit with Aunt Jayme, either you or T has been sick. It's made for some challenging adventures. So, it should not have come as a surprise to me when you threw up the night before we were set to leave for our vacation.

I looked at your Daddy. There were about a million thoughts running through my head. Were you just car sick after spinning around in dance & then eating ice cream? Was it too much stimulation? Were you really sick? The biggest question in my head was, what are we going to do about our vacation? There were too many questions to answers I didn't know. We weren't leaving until after work the next day, & rather than decide anything, we decided to wait & see what that night & the next day would bring.

You didn't wake up frequently through the night throwing up- like you typically do when you have a stomach bug. But you did wake up complaining of an upset stomach (were you just really hungry because your stomach was empty?). It's not always easy to know what to do as a parent. There's no trusty manual that will tell you what to do when you were planning to leave on vacation but your child threw up & maybe it was just something she ate. Do we send you to school or don't we? To be honest, in normal circumstances, we probably would have kept you home. But your Aunt Jayme had recently had a baby, & I really didn't want to call off our visit if you weren't really sick. So, we did the asshole thing what we thought was best, & we sent you to school.

When I picked you up from school, your teacher said that you had complained about your stomach hurting, but you seemed fine otherwise. Surely, it couldn't be a stomach bug...right? I made a gametime decision to continue with our vacation plans. You were thrilled. You couldn't wait to visit your "cousins." I messaged everyone that we were on our way. Then, twelve minutes into our drive, you threw up ALL OVER my brand new car. Sigh.

At this point, it should have been really obvious that you were sick & we weren't going on this vacation, but after cleaning you & my car I wondered if your bug was a 24 hour thing. I REALLY wanted to visit my best friend & wasn't ready to give up yet. Should we still try to go, but just a day later?

After going back & forth, we finally made the smart decision & decided to postpone or vacation. We decided it was probably better for the health of everyone if we let you rest. It's a good thing we did. We soon learned that the stomach bug had gone through your whole classroom. When it hit Daddy & I, it hit us HARD, & I felt terrible that we didn't just let you rest.

You didn't want to rest. You were devestated. You had been so excited to spend some time with your "cousins." Instead, you ended up spending days in bed getting over the stomach virus from hell. So, what do you do when you can't go on vacation to be with those you love because a stomach bug is wreaking havok through your house? You face time, of course. You & little T had the most adorably sweet conversations & even played a really cute facetime game of hide & go seek. It wasn't the vacation we wanted, but it was still great to connect with our favorite people.

Today we are embarking on our Ohio vacation part two. I'm saying so many prayers that everyone can just be freakig healthy this time. Here we go...

I love you so,

Mommy