Dr. Mom Online

Our family has just surfaced from a few days of the “barf-mobile” making a stop at our house. I’m not sure if it was the flu or just the consequences of eating Halloween junk! Either way, it ultimately doesn’t matter… I used it for my own personal mothering benefit!!

 

Allow me to back up a step…

 

As you most likely know, I’m not a big fan of giving our kids junk and “treats”. BUT, I don’t say “never”. Our family mantra is “fill up with health first”, then if you still decide that you simply must have the junk, well, at least your body can probably handle it better! I always include the warning that there are, in fact, limitations of matter and our bodies can only handle so much junk.

 

OK, back to the Halloween issue. Last Friday, we were going to the annual Halloween party at the school our daughter used to attend. It’s a great family event they host each year, and my daughter was thrilled to see all her old school buddies again.

 

Throughout the day, I kept reminding the kids to eat lots of healthy foods – eat all their veggies and fruit, drink lots of water, and so on, so that they could have a Halloween “treat” or two. We all agreed that two would be the limit. Pinky shake.

 

They did great on the “filling up with health” part all day long – great breakfast, healthy lunch and a nutritious dinner before the party. They even both took a huge power nap in the afternoon. What more could I do?!

 

After lighting up the social scene at the party, they each chose two sweets from the homemade Halloween snacks table – a small cupcake and a cookie. Made them happy. They returned to their dancing under the disco ball. We went to bed very late that night, thinking all was fine with the world!

 

VERY early the next morning, I was awakened by the screams of my son from upstairs… “Mommy, I need to throw up!!!!” So I ran up there, barf bowl in hand. Once I got there, he seemed to settle down. For some reason, he has taken to claiming that he needs to throw up when he gets really upset about something, so I thought maybe this was one of those times. Maybe it was just the really late bedtime that threw him off.

 

I brought him downstairs to fall back asleep in my bed (daddy was gone to a seminar for the weekend). He said he didn’t actually need to throw up anymore, so we just got into bed and tried to settle down. He was calm, still and quiet for almost 10 minutes when I heard a little whimper.

 

That was it. That was all the warning I got! I didn’t even see it coming… it was still pitch black outside! I heard the whimper and then in the next second, a deep gurgle followed by the sensation of vomit being launched onto me!! Eeeeewwwww!!!

 

Mom’s take on super human speed and agility at times like this! I had him in the bathroom in no time flat, but not before he could leave a trail throughout my bedroom. Uuuggghhh. I spent most of the day doing laundry and cleaning strange little places and things in my room that fell into the line of fire.

 

Why does daddy NEVER get thrown up on, I ask?!

 

In the midst of my son’s barf fest (oh yes, it happened several times that morning!), he turned those baby blues to me and asked, “Mommy, why am I throwing up?”

 

AH HA… I smell an opportunity for a lesson!!! 

 

I responded, in my little boo-boo, cooing voice (every mommy has one), “I don’t know baby… maybe it was all that junk you ate last night at the party… maybe…”

 

Next, came the magic words I was waiting for: “Mommy, I don’t want to have junk again. I don’t like how it makes me feel.”

“I know baby. I know.”

 

Then, for good measure, I added, “It could also have something to do with not blowing our nose properly… you know how I always tell you that if you don’t blow our your boogies they’ll end up in your tummy and make you sick? Well, you haven’t been blowing your nose well for the past few days. That could have something to do with it, too.”

 

“I promise I’ll blow my nose better, mommy.”

“Good boy, honey. I know you will. You’ll be better soon.”

 

Am I sinister, or what?! Maybe just opportunistic!

 

Anyhow, all of my ‘lessons’ were almost blown when mommy was knocked flat on her back by a 24 hour case of massive purging of my intestinal system! Yikes! I’ve not had anything like this since I was a kid. Thank goodness it was only 24 hours of the really rough stuff. In my case, I’m not sure if it was actually the flu, or a case of food poisoning. I’ve heard many experts state that most cases of “the flu” are actually misdiagnosed cases of food poisoning due to our incredibly toxic food supply.

 

Hmmmm….. could have been because I didn’t get my flu shot this year!! (yeah, right.) Don’t hold your breath!

 

Probably more like karma for being so opportunistic with my baby boy!

 

Whether the barf mobile visited due to junk food, the flu, or food poisoning, the corrective, healing course of action is exactly the same. Add more purity and sufficiency. Get LOTS of rest. Lay off the toxic foods, toxic emotions and toxic habits until you’ve recouperated… even longer, if possible. Listen to your body. Give it what it innately needs… no more, no less.

 

I know some people will find this incredibly difficult to believe, but we did, in fact, survive our bout of barf WITHOUT visiting a pharmacy. Unheard of, I know. Trust me, it can be done! In fact, as I was hugging the barf bowl in the middle of the night, feeling worse than I can recall feeling in the past 25 years, one thought crept into my mind a few times…

 

“Feeling this horrible, how could anyone add drugs to this???”  The thought of it actually helped me purge a bit more!

 

Reminds me of a quote from a medical doctor I read many years ago, that goes something like this: “We know that giving medicine to a healthy person will make that person sick. Why in the world would we give medicine to a sick person and expect them to become healthy?”