Food or Flu?

When Stomach Bugs Strike

• What: Determining the type of stomach upset
• When: Your child vomits
• Why: Know what to expect
• Where: Your home

Ever wished for food poisoning? Me either, until now. If I worshiped a deity, I would get down on my knees and pray for food poisoning. Why on earth would I do that? On the eve of our departure with three kids under 8 to travel more than 30 hours across two continents (and after I had our belongings mostly packed), one kid started vomiting.

He’s thrown up twice so far, the first right as we lay down for bed. He shares a room with his brother, who immediately vacated the premises, but has so far not thrown up, despite the many complaints about the stench.

Once the vomiting subsided and we got the affected items removed from their room, we put my sick son to sleep with a bowl. I’m trying to bank a bit of extra sleep just in case the universe decides we’re overdue for a bout of stomach flu. (Although it may be true that we haven’t done battle with stomach flu in a while, I don’t think we’re so overdue that we should be afflicted at this precise moment, which would be spectacularly bad timing – almost as bad as our last battle, which happened while we were visiting extended family on both sides for the holidays.)

We ate out at a restaurant for dinner, which means not everyone would have food poisoning, just him and his two parents who ate after him. Why was I so hungry after only 6 or 8 hours of not eating? Why did I gobble up his leftover pizza crusts like breadsticks fresh from the oven?

Please please please let it be food poisoning.