[Singermom]

Day 2, part 3 – The Endless Night

Cast Members:

Me – age 38, WDW planner – 6th trip to WDW
MIL – age 62 – many trips to WDW
DS7 – older ds, age 7 and ¾, 3rd trip to WDW
DS4 – younger ds, age 4, 3rd trip to WDW


While we were blissfully digging away at dessert, MIL had been busy cleaning up after ds4 who had thrown up all over the bed. I quickly threw the remains of dessert into a bag and returned quickly to the room. The scene was not a pretty sight (nor a pretty smell!) - ds4 was asleep on the other bed but MIL was obviously close to losing it herself! She had called housekeeping to clean up the mess which is still all over the bed. I quickly gathered up all the sheets to minimize the mess and housekeeping soon came. Unfortunately, the mattress had also gotten soaked so maintenance had to be called to bring up a new mattress. I have say I was very impressed with AKL mousekeeping throughout our visit and especially appreciated them tonight. Considering the awful mess they were all very considerate and quiet about their business.

While we were changing sheets, ds4 got up again and threw up. I knew now that it was not a one time reaction to over-eating or indigestion but a stomach bug or worse. After getting the made re-made, I settled ds4 back into the bed and got ready for bed myself. From the time I hit the bed, he commenced to wake up and retch every 15 to 20 minutes – this lasted nearly 3 hours. Though I knew that the best action is to keep the stomach empty, I was a bit worried about dehydration so I gave him one teaspoon of flat coke. Big mistake – it just started the whole cycle again. I became quite concerned at that point as I had never seen him react so strongly to a stomach virus. So I called the emergency number for his pediatrican group. I received a call back within 10 minutes and was advised to go to the emergency room if the vomiting continued. The intervals between bouts were starting to lengthen and I was torn between getting him checked out and getting him up possibly unnecessarily and interrupting much-needed rest. However, at 3 am when he retched again I called the front desk to find out how to get to the emergency room. I was advised to call 911 and learned that Disney pays for the ambulance! I was relieved to not have to drive in a strange city with a sick child by myself. I quickly dressed and then called 911. I was informed that first a person from the hotel would arrive and then a number of security personnel prior to the ambulance arriving.

Sure enough, within about 5 minutes there was knock at the door. I’m not sure if they were hotel security or a police officer since they were in uniform. I was asked to describe the situation and they took pertinent info about ds4 down. A few more people came up to check out the situation – all responded extremely professionally and very quietly so as not to disturb the other guests or sleeping MIL and ds7. Finally the paramedics arrived in the room. Somehow I had expected them to arrive with a stretcher to transport ds4 but they wanted to do a preliminary examination first. The two paramedics asked me questions, listened to ds4’s heart, breathing and generally checked him over. I had been worried about dehydration but apparently it takes 24 hours before dehydration begins (less time with diarrhea – thankfully non of that). DS4 slept soundly throughout the entire exam. The paramedics decided he was in no imminent danger and recommended bringing him only if he did not improve by evening the next day or got worse. Their suspicion was either food poisoning because of the frequency of the retching or possibly the copious amounts of pool water he had ingested. They also gave me the number to a 24 hr/ 7day a week doctor’s group that would make in-room visits and prescribe any necessary medications. The paramedics were so nice and reassuring that my stress level went down several notches after their visit.

Although MIL did wake up during their visit, ds7 had slept through the entire drama! After all the security personnel left, I fell exhausted into bed (though not before MIL let me know that the reason he was sick was I tired him out too much!) next to ds4 making sure to turn off the alarm. We would not be getting up for EE at AK tomorrow!