There's a first time for everything!

Despite Joshua's rough start in the world, he has been an especially healthy child. He has had maybe 3 colds and 1 fever in his entire 21 months of life - praise Jesus! Last night we had our first stomach bug. I was about to go to bed and heard this whimpering coming from Joshua's bedroom. I opened the door and immediately knew something was wrong. I turned on the light and was shocked by the large amount of red grossness all over Joshua and all over his crib!
As a side note, those of you that know me well know that I have a huge phobia when it comes to puke. I haven't thrown up myself since I was 12 years old and can't talk about it, see it, smell it, or have anything to do with it or I freak out a little bit. So, to make this discovery last night was a huge challenge for me.
At first, I wasn't sure what had happened - it looked like blood at first so I yelled for Josh who was sound asleep but came running in and was quick to point out that Joshua must have thrown up all the blueberries he ate for dinner. So, I start to freak out a little, but get myself under control to do what I had to do. Josh put Joshua in the bathtub to clean him up and I started changing the crib sheets. Joshua seemed to be feeling better so we put new pjs on him and put him back to bed. Before I left the room he started whining again and rubbed his belly which was soon followed by - you guessed it - more throw up. Poor baby was so scared by what was happening and was crying - it really broke my heart. I cleaned him up again, changed the sheets again, and he went back to bed for a little while. He woke up a few hours later after having gotten sick in his bed again. So, by now we are out of sheets and pjs. I put a huge beach towel in his crib, cleaned him up again, and then he goes back to bed for the rest of the night - thank the Lord!!
I was proud of myself for making it through the ordeal in one piece - a momma's gotta do what a momma's gotta do, but I still didn't know if Joshua had eaten something bad or just had a stomach bug. He woke up this morning asking for food and hasn't gotten sick again so far. So my questions are these: 1) How can you tell when a toddler is about to barf if he can't tell you his tummy hurts or that his tummy feels better? I have been feeling like I should follow him around all day with a bucket or something just in case. 2) I was terrified all last night that he was going to puke in his sleep and choke so I am wondering what the best thing to do with a sick little one is - I didn't want to put him in the bed with us because I didn't want him to puke in our bed. He got freaked out every time we went and sat by the toilet, so I was just completely at a loss as to what to do with him. It was such a helpless feeling - I felt completely incompetent! Any advice from you momma's out there would be of great help!!