The moment a seemingly innocent cuddle on the couch turned into something horrifying for one dad has been captured on camera.
Michael Webster, a 43-year-old IT consultant and stay-at-home dad from Coventry in Rhode Island, took to Instagram, posting under the handle mwwebster81, to share a clip of what unfolded while he tried to comfort Parker, the younger of his two sons.
Webster told Newsweek his nine-month-old son was "on the tail end of a stomach bug" that his older son Jensen, four, had caught off someone from school. "Parker was holding food down for about 36 hours, so I thought we were in the clear," Webster said. He thought wrong.
Most moms and dads consider the first few years of parenting to be among the hardest. A poll of 800 parents conducted by the website Care.com found more than half consider the ages up to four to be the most stressful. It was certainly stressful for Webster on this occasion. Parker had just woken up from a three-hour nap and was evidently feeling unwell, but didn't know how to tell his dad.
His actions would ultimately speak louder than any words, though. "He was acting cranky and hungry so I naturally tried to feed him but he didn't want to touch the bottle and was getting crankier, so I tried picking him up to comfort him when the flood gates opened," Webster said. "Twice."
What happened next was captured on the camera Webster and his wife had installed in the house to keep an eye on their kids and pets while they were out. In a flash, Webster's cute cuddle with his young son took a wild turn with Parker sitting up slightly before proceeding to vomit all over his father, who was lying on the couch.
"I was certainly surprised about the first hit," Webster said. "Two things were going through my head after my initial yelp: 'Oh, I guess he's still sick' and 'if I move the pool of milk in my armpit is going to get everywhere.'"
That was after Parker's initial bout of vomiting and before he returned for round two. "It was everywhere so I tried getting my wife's attention to get me a towel, but at that point we were both very much soaked in milk so I decided to just wait until it was all soaked in to move," he said.
Despite the disgusting chaos of it all, what was notable about Webster's video was that, in spite of it all, he could be seen laughing by the end of the clip."I definitely saw the funny side, it was hilarious," he said. "I'm very easy going and generally cool under pressure but I was not expecting this."
His reaction earned him plenty of praise among those watching and commenting on Instagram. "Dude that's some hard daddin' right there," one wrote, "perfect reaction. Well done." A second commented: "Dad handled that like a champ," with a third adding: "Laughing while literally in the face of throw up. what a guy, he's a keeper."
Webster said he ended up waiting 10 minutes or so for the milk to stop dripping and soak into their clothes "so as not to spill it all over the house" before getting off the couch and starting the clean up. Though it might have made for a stressful few minutes, he's been heartened by the online response.
"The takeaway should be to take things lightly, see the humor, laugh and have fun. Sometimes things just happen. Just gotta roll with it. "
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