Ticks and Tummyaches

Friday, Rob and a bunch of neighborhood boys were playing at the park... which happens to be surrounded by woods. Normally, I freak out when he's in the woods, but none of the other moms seemed to mind, so I'm thinking, "lighten up Mo. Don't be that mom that never lets your kid do anything..."

I wished I had been that mom Saturday...

11 tiny deer tick removals later and 50 bites (yes, I counted them), to say Rob has a case of the itchies is like saying BP spilled a little oil in the Gulf.

I thought maybe they were chiggers but I had to actually pull them off with tweezers which was impossible as they were literally the size of a dot of pepper. Upon close examination under a microscope (yeah, don't ask...), Bob and I determined they were ticks, but not fully developed ones. Their bodies were more translucent, so after a Google Images search, realized they were deer ticks in the nymph stage. He must have gotten into a nest.

Good news, bad news in that because they were not fully developed, they probably haven't had the chance to bite a deer and contract and spread Lymes Disease. However, it's probably. We still have to watch him closely over the next few days for a rash, fever, or joint aches.

That was bad enough, but it got worse...

We drove up to visit my Pop for his 69th birthday that morning (after the tick removal and a shot of Benadryl). We made it just fine and had a lovely time, had some pizza and birthday cake and hopped back in the car for the trip home.

We got home around 6 or so and filled daddy in on all the happenings up north because he had to go to Philly that morning instead of making the trip with us. Everything was cool and Rob was feeling fine.

2AM: "BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH..."

It woke me from a sound sleep and immediately I recognized the sound of projectile vomit. Bob and I ran into his room and started project vomit clean up duties. Now, as fate would have it, Rob had decided Thursday night he wanted to start sleeping in the top bunk (why an only child has bunk beds in his room is beyond me... Dad's idea).

Vomit splatter on the ceiling, walls, railing, and full out vomit all over the bed. As fate would ALSO have it, I just washed the sheets on Friday and hadn't gotten around to doing the whites yet, so I did not put the mattress pad back on the newly made bed. So now Rob's mattress smells of Pine Sol (which I suppose isn't a bad thing).

We threw Rob into the shower and got him and his room cleaned up. I put him in bed with me because experience told me this is never a one time thing.

I was right. He hit the bucket 3 more times that night and made it to the bathroom once. Poor kid. On top of all those tick bites and itchies, now he's throwing up... a LOT!

He finally fell asleep for good around 5AM. At 6AM though he woke up itching like crazy so I gave him some Benadryl and calamine lotion. He didn't wake up again until nearly 11AM! I, however fell asleep at 6:15 and got up at 8. Ugh.

When he got up, he was totally fine. No stomach ache, no fever, not even a funny tummy. He was hungry. That was it. I erred on the side of caution and gave him crackers which he ate with no problem. By 1PM he was outside playing basketball in the drive way!

I was a walking zombie...

He still has a major case of the itchies, but I think we're on the upswing now.

I went to bed at 9:30 last night and slept GREAT. So, today we are good to go!