Well, that was a fun 24 hours!

But it could have been much worse. It can always be much worse!

While Ben was sick yesterday, I kept remembering that Ben had done something that totally grossed me out a few days earlier, but I just couldn't remember what! Did he lick a bathroom floor? Put his mouth on a shopping cart? There had to be something....

Then I remembered. While I was making dinner on Monday night, he was sitting across from me at the island. As I picked up chicken breasts and put them on the stove, he reached over, touched the raw chicken, and put his hand in his mouth.

Eww. Eww. Eww!!!!!

He was fine that night, so I forgot all about it until yesterday afternoon when I made the connection and started researching Salmonella. Vomiting, check. Diarrhea, check. Fever, check. Symptoms start anywhere from 6-72 hours.

I love making phone calls to the advice nurse at our Ped's office that start off, "I have five kids and generally don't freak out and over diagnose them, but I REALLY think my son has Salmonella poisoning...."

So I brought him and the only dirty diaper from the day into the Ped's office. Just for kicks, they did a strep test on him and guess what! He's got strep!

Phew.

However, they were super concerned about his hydration, and if I couldn't get enough into him that evening, he'd end up in the ER with a pic in his arm. Thankfully, just as I was about to start panicking because he refused to take anything, he finally started drinking and wetting diapers.

Its like he's three days old again!

So, he's wandering around with antibiotics in his little body and I'm still pushing fluids because he's not completely done puking yet, but thankfully, he's in better shape.

Did I mention that strep is highly contagious?