Rough Day...this post is not for the weak-stomached!

***WARNING: Loooooong post! Mommy needed to vent!***

Whew. What a day. Not even sure it's over yet.
Maddie was really mellow this morning, let me sleep to 7:30am before I heard her start rolling around, herding binkies. She nursed well. She felt a little hot, so I gave her some Tylenol after nursing. Then she ate fistfuls of Cheerios and gulped down some diluted juice before getting that dazed, sated look on her face. I get her up out of the highchair, and *wham* she pukes all over both of us, running down onto the floor. Yuck. I figured she had way too much liquid in her belly and I probably bounced her too much.
We both jump in the bathtub and wash up. Afterwards, she was super tired and clingy, so I started wondering if she's sick. I put her down for her morning nap 15 minutes early, and she's out right away at 8:45, I go clean up the puke puddle. I had to wake her at 11:30 to nurse, which she took to well...didn't appear to have any stomach upset. After nursing, she started fussing as though she was uncomfortable. I gave her some Motrin, since I couldn't be sure if she puked up the Tylenol from earlier. Checked her diaper, she had some diarrhea. On the changing table, she splattered more diarrhea all over, ruining the pad beneath her, since there were cracks in the vinyl cover. Double Yuck.
Her tummy seemed all right after about an hour, so I fed her a 1/2 serving of Gerber chicken noodle soup with veggies, which she eagerly ate. I also gave her a few bites of banana to stave off any more diarrhea. She crawled around and played while I prepared and started eating my lunch, then started whining for me to pick her up while I ate. I obliged, and sat her on my lap, where she proceeded to puke on me again (just a little). Triple Yuck. I bring her to the sink, and she pukes some more, making another puddle for me to clean on the floor. Quadruple Yuck. I started panicking a little bit, but felt reassured that liquids didn't seem to be the problem, it's the solid foods that seem to cause the puking.
The slight panic gave way to other emotions: I became scared, worried, and frustrated. I feel like I need backup. I call my neighbor, no answer. Dang. We jump in the tub a second time to wash up. My neighbor calls back, she's about an hour from coming home from an outing. I ask if she could possibly pick up some Pedialyte on her way home. I call my friend in Virginia to vent, no answer. I call my friend who I know is working today, just in case she might be at lunch, no answer. I call my brother, no answer. I call Aaron's co-worker, Laura, who is sort of my sponsor in his stead. She offers to buy some Pedialyte also and come over for some respite care. By this time, Maddie is screaming in the Pack n Play while I try to clean up the puke trail from the kitchen to the bathroom so she doesn't crawl through it. And it probably goes without saying that also by this time, I'm going into hysterics, which quiets Maddie down briefly while she tries to figure out why Mommy is sobbing like she was at that very moment. Brother calls back, calms me down momentarily. Neighbor calls back, asking what flavor Pedialyte to get, but I have no idea, I start feeling overwhelmed...I know that it's not quite time to take her to the ER, and I decide to only give her liquids at snacktime and dinner and see how she does.
I put a very fussy Maddie down for her nap at 1:30pm. My wonderfully caring neighbor shows up soon after with pedialyte and a shoulder to cry on. I let Laura know that I'm not alone anymore, not to rush. Wonderfully caring Laura takes the extra time as an opportunity to pick me up some groceries to get me through tomorrow (awesome!), along with more Pedialyte, and shows up soon after with a bouquet of flowers (super awesome!). The ladies kept me company and brightened my spirits while I caught up on a few household cleaning tasks. Thank God for them! My neighbor left and Laura stayed to help with Maddie, who I woke up at 3:30pm. She wouldn't take milk out of her sippy (I'm slowly starting to wean the afternoon nursing session), she started doing something I've never seen before: lift my shirt up to nurse. Then she took some diluted Pedialyte in her sippy. Fortunately, the only thing that came up after that was burps. Unfortunately, she really wanted to eat something but I couldn't do that to her poor tummy again. So she was very cranky. Laura had to run and take care of her own family (God bless her for coming to care for ours!), so I did my best to entertain Little Miss Crankypants another 90 minutes until it was time to nurse before bed. She drank more Pedialyte and had only 10 Cheerios (I couldn't completely deny her food!) during that time. She did have some playful, cheerful moments, so that was reassuring that she wasn't too weak or hungry to enjoy herself.
Thankfully, no more puking with just liquids in her belly, and no more diarrhea. I put her to bed half an hour early, out like a light.
CONCLUSIONS: So far, she is not sick enough to neccessitate an ER visit. She had a runny nose often today, but it could have been from the crying. Laura mentioned that all that nasal drip, whether it was from teething, crying, allergies or headcold, could be running into her stomach and causing indigestion. If we make it through the night puke-free, then I'll try giving her a little bit of solids or maybe just a few bites of yogurt for breakfast. However, if she pukes tonight or in the morning, I may be taking her in after the 24-hour mark. And my neighbor made me promise that the next time I really need her, that I will ask her to come over right away instead of "when you get a chance".

Whew. If you managed to make it to the end of this post, thanks for listening. This has probably been my toughest day so far on my own with Maddie. We love and miss you, Aaron!