An Explosive Start to 2010: It's always better to throw up expensive chocolate

"I need a warm drink." Mommy Boo cried out in agony. She had threw up her lunch several times already. Daddy had threw up once but he was having a huge stomach cramps and diarrhea.

"The Starbucks joint is down the street. It's cold and I'm not sure if we can make it to the coffee place and back to the hotel without throwing up or poo-ing into my pants. Chloe's diaper is too small for me too. Let's go down together to Times Square instead and look for a coffee place." Daddy replied.

Both Mommy and Daddy readied themselves by having more throwing up at the wash basin and poo-ing into the toilet bowl. It was the only the 3rd day of the year to 2010. The Tan family were having an explosive start to the new year.

2 days ago, the Tan family flew back to Singapore for Chloe to follow up with her inoculation and to catch up with Chloe's grandparents. With their cable TV subscription, the Tan family was able to catch the fireworks from different countries through different TV channels. When the clock struck 12 midnight, Daddy was channel surfing between Hong Kong, Taipei, Kao Shiong and Singapore.

The next day, the Tans went for a Yum Cha session with Chloe's maternal grandparents, grand-auntie, uncles and future auntie-in-law who also took the time to send us off at the airport. Grand auntie had to work so she did not see Chloe off. Chloe had a couple of photos taken with her doting relatives while at the airport. When it was time, Chloe bid farewell to everyone and followed Mommy and Daddy through the immigration counters.

"It feels good to have checked in early, isn't it?" remarked Daddy. "Now we can shop to our hearts' content before boarding."

Mommy and Daddy spent a considerable time shopping in T3 until it was time for Chloe to be nursed. Everything went well. Chloe was happy and so were her parents. The Tan's decided that they should rest their weary legs on the sofas around the TV lounge area. Minutes after sitting down, disaster struck. Chloe had been attached to Daddy with the Baby Bjorn Synergy, her legs dangling out of the Bjorn carrier, kicking away. Daddy gently squeezed her calf and ended up with a wet and sticky palm. Chloe had pooped and spilled into her clothes.

"Never fear!" Thought Daddy. "We're well prepared this time because we've brought along additional clothes for Chloe to change." Daddy removed Chloe from the baby carrier and discovered something bad. Chloe had stained her newly washed carrier with her poo!

After a change of clothes, the Tans made their way to the boarding gate and boarded the SQ866 flight. Chloe was not her usual self. She chose to sleep instead of being nursed by Mommy when the plane was taking-off on the runway. When the plane climbed to its designated cruising altitude, the air stewardess began to assemble Chloe's bassinet. When she was done with the assembly, Chloe managed to stay asleep while she was placed inside the bassinet.

Daddy and Mommy started to watch the movie, "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs", on their personal displays. In the middle of the show, Chloe woke up as she normally would if it was close to her nursing time. Mommy had already prepared her nursing cover and Daddy carried Chloe out from the bassinet and onto Mommy's lap. Chloe then "merlioned" ("Merlioned" is an action verb. It can be used to describe a person in the act of excessive vomiting.) all over herself and also on Mommy. Luckily, Chloe did not had much vomit on her clothes but unfortunately for Mommy, she cannot wear her newly washed jacket because it was starting to stink with Chloe's vomit.

The kind air stewards offered to serve Daddy first while Mommy nursed Chloe. Daddy was about three quarters through his meal when Chloe decided to set off more explosions in mid-air while she was being nursed.

Daddy quickly polished his in-flight meals and checked little Chloe's back once she was done with her feed. The fears were confirmed in the form of a big patch of greenish-yellow stains. Chloe soiled her clothes again with her poo. This time, there will be no fresh clothes for Chloe to change into. Daddy grabbed the baby wipes and a fresh new diaper before he carried Chloe and walked along the aisle towards the back of the plane where the lavatories were located. Mommy followed shortly with Chloe's last piece of decent clothing, her fluffy white Zara jacket for the winter. Chloe will have to wear only her jacket for the rest of the flight until we arrive at Hong Kong International Airport.

Chloe did not seem to be sick for she was still feeding well and cheerful. The colour of her poo reveals otherwise. It was green in colour. Breast-fed babies are supposed to have yellow coloured poo. When they are unwell, the colour changes to green. Chloe's poo was greener than yellow. Daddy quickly changed Chloe and gave her a thorough wipe-down with Mommy's help. After helping Chloe to put on a fresh diaper and her winter jacket, Mommy carried Chloe back to the seat while Daddy cleared up the mess in the lavatory. It was less than a minute when Mommy returned with Chloe to the lavatory. Chloe had "merlioned" again while she was making her way back to the seat. This time, she threw up on her jacket.

It was a good thing that the jacket was water-resistant to a certain degree. With some water and wet tissues, the visible vomit was wiped away from the jacket. The smell, however, did not go away. Mommy, Daddy and Chloe finally returned to their seats after clearing the mess. Mommy was finally going to have her meals in peace. In Mommy and Daddy's mind, both of them were concerned whether their little Chloe was fine. After all, this time, Chloe had very little time to recover from jet-lag and her inoculation jabs before being subjected to another flight.

The movie ended shortly thereafter which signalled that the flight was about to reach Hong Kong. Thankfully, nothing eventful happened and the Tan's arrived at the hotel feeling very exhausted.

The Tan's decided that they shall not venture too far out for dinner since Chloe doesn't seem to be in her usual self. There was an eatery around the corner. Mommy had ate there once. Uncle Victor, Daddy's colleague from his company, had bought take-aways many times from this eatery. Tired and exhausted, the Tan's decided that they will have their dinner from this eatery and have an early night's rest.

Daddy resumed work on Monday morning while Chloe stayed with Mommy in the hotel room. Mommy too, was resuming her work after 4 month's of maternity leave. She was officially a SAHM, which stands for "Stay at Hotel Mom".

Lunch time couldn't come soon enough. It was a cold winter day in Hong Kong. The Tan's decided that it may be hard to head out for lunch. Daddy rang Mommy while he was making his way back to the hotel and Mommy told Daddy she had no preference for food. "Anything is good." Daddy decided to buy takeaway from the same eatery where they had their dinner. Daddy ordered the "Tak Kee Special Fried Rice" and a packet of Soya Chicken and Roasted Char Siew with rice and returned to the hotel room with lunch.

Daddy had a meeting at between 4-6pm and it was during this meeting when Daddy started feeling nausea and was having stomach cramps.These were symptoms that Daddy was having a stomach upset. "I'm feeling nausea. Are you ok?" The SMS read as Daddy sent the message across to Mom.

"I feel a little nausea too." Came the reply from Mommy.

At that instant, Daddy knew there was something wrong with lunch.

The meeting was tortuously long and ended at 5:55pm, it was time for Daddy to pack up and leave for home. Daddy dashed out of the office building and walked back towards the hotel. The cramps intensify in pain and another pain was creeping into Daddy's body. Stomach churning out of control, Daddy knew he had to make his way back to the hotel room as quickly as he can. Whizzing through the ever so crowded streets of Causeway Bay, Daddy finally reached the hotel room.

With a sign of relief, Daddy turned the door handle and opened the door to the hotel room and saw Mommy greeting him on the other side of the door.

"I'm having a major tummy-ache!" Daddy greeted Mommy. "I'll need to use the bathroom."

Mommy looked at Daddy with her doe eyes and muttered, "I need to use the bathroom too."

Most hotels rooms usually caters one water closet/toilet bowl in each room. Therein lies the problem. When more than one person is down with food poisoning, there is not enough water closet to pass around.

Daddy made room for Mommy so she can clear her bowels first. After wincing around the room for a couple of minutes, Daddy could not take it anymore and asked Mommy if she was finishing up. To his dismay, he heard the sound of Mommy flipping the newspaper. "Are you done?" Daddy asked impatiently. "No and I think I need to vomit but I can't." Mommy reply. "Can I use the toilet first then? I'm ready to burst out!" Daddy exclaimed.

Mommy vacated the toilet seat just in time for Daddy to fire off an explosive bio-hazardous concoction of bio-waste. The stench was so horrible it soon filled the entire hotel room.

"It's so smelly, I can't take it anymore, it makes me feel like vomiting!" Mommy sounded exasperated as she dashed into the bathroom and made her way to the wash basin. "Arrrrrrrggggggghhhhhh!.... Arrrggghhh...! Mommy was vomiting into the wash basin while Daddy sat on the water closet feeling guilty.

Daddy soon was done with his poo-ing. After cleaning up, Daddy went outside to look after Chloe and Chloe had taken her cue to poo as well. It was only a day since Chloe was under the weather. Her poo was still greenish colour. Whenever her poo was greenish in colour, it gives off a really sour smell.

Mommy was still hugging the wash basin so Daddy took it upon himself to help Chloe with the diaper change.

"Eeeewwww!" Daddy protested vehemently! "Your poo is so stinky today!" He tried to tell Chloe cheekily. The stench was unbearable for Daddy. Mommy had just stepped out from the bathroom. "Dear!!!" cried Daddy, I want to help to change Chloe but I can't. The smell of her poo is so bad today I FEEL like vomiting too!" remarked Daddy.

Mommy replaced Daddy for Chloe's diaper change so Daddy could go hug the wash basin for a while.

In total, Daddy vomited once but poo-ed at least 5 times while Mommy did not managed to poo but had to vomit 4 times in the next one hour.

"I need a warm drink." Mommy Boo cried out in agony. She had threw up her lunch several times already. Daddy had threw up once but he was having a huge stomach cramps and diarrhea.

"The Starbucks joint is down the street. It's cold and I'm not sure if we can make it to the coffee place and back to the hotel without throwing up or poo-ing into my pants. Chloe's diaper is too small for me too. Let's go down together to Times Square instead and look for a coffee place." Daddy replied.

Although the Tan's had visited Times Square on many occasions, they could not recall if there was a place where they can get warm beverages for takeaway. In their search, Mommy had to visit the restroom for another "merlion" session. They walked aimlessly and chanced upon the Agnes B cafe.

"How about a cuppa of hot chocolate?" Daddy asked Mommy and she nodded in acknowledgement.

The Tan's ordered 2 cups of hot chocolate for take-away. Sipping the hot chocolate in the cold wind provided some relief to their burning throats and growling stomach as they made their way back to the hotel room. The relief was temporary.

"I think I need to vomit again!" Mommy sounded a warning to Daddy as they waited for the lift.

"No kidding! You're not going to throw out very expensive chocolate, or are you?" asked Daddy.

"Yes I will have to if I have to!" Mommy retorted in objection.

Mommy did throw up very expensive chocolate after returning to the room. Daddy sipped his hot chocolate in the hotel room while waiting for Mommy to finish her "chocolaty merlion" session.

"It definitely feels better to throw up sweet chocolate than just regular, pungent vomit." Daddy could not have agreed more.