deja vu on a small scale

Disclaimer: This post contains mention of bodily fluids and functions. Don't say I didn't warn you.

What is better than four children all throwing up within hours of each other? NOTHING! Especially when the occurance reminds you of the good old days when your first child developed an unexplained case of daily and frequent vomiting. Yes, I miss those days. When at nine months he grew in to a throwing up stage that most babies grow out of at 9 months. When he would begin to cough and seconds later was throwing up all over the place. When we took him to the doctor and on the way to the appointment he threw up in the car and we had to stop and buy a new outfit and clean the carseat before we could continue. Of course the doctor didn't really know why it was happening, but he sent us to do a barium swallow to make sure all of the anatomy was working correctly. Which it was. Final recommendation? Learn to cope with it and wait for him to grow out of it. He grew out of it, after NINE MONTHS. Those nine months were filled with bowls strategically positioned throughout the house because when the coughing began you really only had seconds to spare. We traveled with a bowl in the car, which worked most of the time, but not the time when Jon's sister got married and we had to have my parents stop and buy us a new carseat in the middle of Denver because it was just a lost cause and we were already at the wedding site and couldn't leave. When we went out to eat, we asked for a spare bowl, just in case. I remember needing it at Olive Garden once, it wasn't pretty. It happened at least once a day and always for no apparent reason. Then one day he wasn't doing it anymore. But when our second came along, it was hard not to expect the same thing to happen. And I was truly surprised when it didn't. All things considered, I think he just had a very sensitive gag reflex, which he gets from me. I couldn't really swallow pills until I was almost in college and still don't like to do it. I'm fortunate that all of my children were born healthy because I just couldn't bring myself to continue trying to swallow the horse pills that they call prenatal vitamins. Don't tell me how horrible I am, I already know. Anyways, fast forward to Saturday morning when we discovered that poor Lindsey (sister-in-law) and Alexis (niece) had been throwing up all night. We considered going somewhere else, mostly to get out of their way, but they were starting to feel better so in the end we decided to stay put. Things were going well until Sunday night, when Derrick started to throw up. We were set to leave on Monday morning because Jon had to work in the afternoon. Derrick threw up several times in the night, then in the early morning Abbie joined in. I must apologize once again to Lindsey for leaving the way that we did! SO SORRY. We even stole two of their bowls to take with us in the car. It wasn't long before Grace followed suit, and then finally Reid. I sat in the back row seat, bowls at the ready, hoping to prevent any disasters on the drive back to Colorado. We managed to make it home without major incident, but not without the feeling that I had done this before. Been on high alert to catch vomit at a moment's notice. We recovered quickly, but Jon and I have been waiting for the bomb to drop on us. Still waiting, but hoping to wait in vain.