I feel dirty.

I just had a first. My toddler woke at 5 a.m. this morning (no, that's not unusual). He seemed upset and my first thought was, "Ugh. What's it gonna take before he goes back to..." then my second thought was "Shit! What do I do? Which way is the bathroom again?" He woke whimpering, then crying, then began the ominous burping. Uh-oh. And copious amounts of barf - amounts I never before suspected possible.

By the time I managed to get him to the bathroom and turn the light on, he was on his last heave. My husband came along and helpfully mentioned, "Hey, he hardly got any on the floor." That's probably because he and I were wearing most of it. So all that was left was to sit him on the bathmat, strip him, wipe him up and change his diaper. Then I got to get clean. Even though I've showered already, I feel like I could use another one just to get that smell out of my head. Ick.

I've gotten lucky so far, given that this is the first time he's vomited. Even luckier, he hasn't done it again yet, but the day's hardly even begun.

Stupidly, I can't help but be a little proud of myself since I didn't throw up, too, even though I was covered in it and I also didn't freak out, just kept rubbing his back, murmuring, "I bet that hurts, but it's okay. Almost done. Almost done. There you go - good boy." Within a half hour, he was feeling just fine, though tired. I think he was most freaked out by the barfing and more than a little annoyed about us taking his temperature (low-grade fever). He's asleep now.

That was really disgusting. I feel dirty. Worse, I'm sure my husband and I are just ticking bombs ourselves now. Good thing we didn't have plans with friends this weekend.