I hate being right all the time. Seriously, I do. I wish that some of my “predictions” would not come true, especially those about how I would be spending my holiday. The week before Christmas is when my first premonition came to me. I was standing with my three year old in his preschool class, when another little boy wandered in the room, visible sick and tired. One of the teachers asked him if he was “awake yet” and his mother replied “he was up all night coughing.” It took a lot of will power to not a) smack this idiot parent in the face and b) not to take Jake by the hand and just leave. Instead, I said goodbye to Jake, said a silent prayer for good health, and walked down the hallway towards the exit listening to the echoing sounds of what I would have diagnosised as whooping cough. Two and a half days later Jake started with a cold, cough & fever. Cecilia followed late the weekend before Christmas, and Joey started coughing a few days before Christmas.
Jake ended up breaking his fever over the weekend, but in an effort not to share what he had, we kept him home to recoup (which meant he missed his Christmas party & festivities). Cecilia also broke her fever the Monday before Christmas, and Joey who was still “well” attended school the week before Christmas which was just Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. I volunteered at school to help out all morning Monday & Tuesday during which several kids had to go home because they were still sick or had become sick. One child, who was puking all day Monday, returned, still sick and feverish Tuesday, was sent home before 10am and was back on Wednesday to spread his holiday cheer again. It’s cases like this, where the school’s policy is that the child must be fever free for 24 hours, that I think the school should be able to say, “Sorry! Take your sick kid home you horrible parent! We said 24 hours fever free! You think all these kids want to be puking on Christmas?!” Premonition #2 befell me Wednesday at Joey’s Christmas party as I observed him sitting in between two of the sick pukey kids from Monday & Tuesday trading & sharing snacks. Yum!
Christmas Eve we had no fevers (it had now been over a week after they started and only had mild-lingering cold symptoms), but as I packed my holiday diaper bag, I told my husband to take our spare trashcan and stick it in the back of the truck just in case someone needed it. As he was packing the food, presents, and kids, he mumbled something about me being a “weirdo” but still took the trashcan and placed it in the back of the truck anyway. My thought process here was that just two days before Joey was sharing snacks with his two barf-buddies, and we hadn’t quite cleared the “incubation” period.
As we pulled back in the driveway after a long but enjoyable Christmas Eve party, I was happy that my husband was right about me being such a “weirdo” and that the trashcan was still sitting in the trunk unused. Christmas morning was not quite as happy as I would have hoped, but after a late and exhausting evening, I assumed my cranky kids were just feeling the effects of the holiday.
Before we got back in the car that afternoon for another 40 mile trip (each way), Jake complained of a headache, so we gave him some Motrin and headed north. We had another fabulous party, and the gift exchanges were a hit again. Great food, good people, and did I mention the food? The kid’s palates are a little less refined and they enjoyed bowls of candies and seemingly unending cups of juice in combination with the excitement of so many gifts. Jake had been using his best “Oliver Twist/Puppy Dog Eyes” to get handfuls of M&M’s from various Aunts, Uncles & cousins, and after a sugar high, all the kids, including Jake, seemed to be finally winding down as we hit 157 miles of our 160 mile round trip Christmas 2010 bonanza. Expecting snow the next day, and with the car quiet, my husband pulled into a gas station about three miles from home just as Jake began to puke juice, M&M’s and Motrin all over himself.
Without a thought, he threw the car in park and ran and grabbed the trashcan from the back of the car that his weirdo-wife insisted on taking the night before just in time for me to jump in the back over the seat and catch “most” of what his body was rejecting into the can. It was moments like this, standing in someone else’s sick, facing backwards in the car, nearly home after the longest two days of my life, that I hated being right. My husband, the next day however, refused to admit I was right because he says I wanted the trashcan for the wrong kid and he was puking from 8lbs of candy and not from a virus. Give me a break! Sorry that my crystal ball ain’t so crystal clear. My mother’s intuition got most of it right…at least the important parts.
All the running around, excitement and junk took it’s toll on Jake though. After 9 days of a cold (which we’re told by doctor’s can last 7-14 days in kids), poor Jake developed a fever again and they advised me he had to be seen (in the snow storm) at a Urgent Care Center. After he and I spent four hours and what will undoubtedly be hundreds of dollars with the tests/X-Rays, Jake was diagnosed with walking pneumonia. The following day, just after the snow storm ended (and with 8″ of snow on the roads) Cecilia redeveloped a fever after 9 days of cold and earned herself her very first ear infection. My husband soon followed with an antibiotic, and Joey and I were the only two to come out un-medicated. So we spent the week battling secondary infections, running humidifiers, and finally were well for New Year’s Eve. I am now enjoying our third consecutive day of good health, before school starts back tomorrow. Anybody seen my bubble?
Hope you all had a Happy Holiday & Hope you all have a fabulous & happy New Year!
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Wow that sucks! Sick kids are never fun and on top of the holidays are worse! We were in Florida right before Christmas and my baby would throw up every night all night and then be semi ok during the day. It made the trip not near as fun!!
I guess I should be thankful we made it through the parties and all…I just hope we didn’t infect everyone else!
And any kind of travel with a sick baby sucks! No fun at all!
Ughhh, the worst. Maybe with you stellar crystal ball powers you should run away and join the circus.
Nah…although, it be nice if it could send me some powerball numbers….
Ug, I hate sick kids! I made the mistake of saying to the universe “I just need everybody well for one week so I can get through my last week of work before break” Apparently, the universe took that as my asking to be slammed with every germ imaginable, once that week was over. My son went down with bronchitis on Sunday before Christmas (and the day we were hosting my extended family’s party). Daughter went down on Tuesday before Xmas (coinciding nicely with hosting the in laws party) with a fever and a “virus” that would run it’s course. Christmas day, I woke up with a pounding headache and an inability to breathe. I soldered on and made it through Christmas and went ahead and left on vacation on Sunday morning. On Tuesday, my mom (who was traveling with us) came down with the flu and we cut our trip short. I got home to a husband who was coughing his head off. Thursday brought me to the doctor with a sinus infection. Today, hubby took his second trip to the doctor and ended up with bronchitis too. Now we are back to school and work tomorrow and gearing up for round 2, I’m sure.
Sorry to hear you were right, but I’m glad everyone is better.
That s-u-c-k-s, Carrie! I wouldn’t wish this holiday sickness on anybody…..I hope you’re heading out of the worst of it and although it won’t help your holiday plans, hopefully you’ll be better for work…nothing like being sick, taking care of the sick & having to go to work on top of it. I don’t miss those days! I’m just glad my bunch made it through seven hours at doctor’s offices without coming out with something new…which wasn’t easy by the way.
‘Tis the season, I suppose….is it summer yet?
I got a little cocky two days before Christmas, congratulating myself that my 7 year old and 4 year old had made it through all the school Christmas festivities without getting sick. Unfortunately, it was much too early for congratulations. My 7 year old got sick Christmas Eve and as soon as the Urgent Care opened on Dec 26th, we found out he had the flu. So, we quarantined ourselves for the next 4 days. Woohoo, what fun, four people in one house for four days. Then, as soon as the boy seemed well, I get sick and now it seems like my dear husband may be following suit. Fun times for all. I hate it when people send sick children to school. Keep them at home. It is best for everyone. I blame ignorant parents for the fact that MS, the state we live in, is the only state where the flu is rampant right now. Fabulous!
Sorry to hear you guys got sick….but I will thank you for my flu shot reminder. All the kids got their shots (after having the swine flu last year, I’ll be getting them annually from now on), but I’ve neglected to go and get mine….I’m shocked we made it out of our Urgent Care without something other than the walking pneumonia we went in with (there was a guy just puking in a trashcan-gross!)….here in Delaware our flu is sporadic from what I hear, but there is a NASTY stomach bug w/ fever going around…it’s been circulating since Thanksgiving (my one son got it the 1st week of December)….but you are 100% right…if you’re sick or your kid is sick, stay the hell home. People piss me off sometimes!
and p.s. Hope you all are on the mend soon!
That is all kinds of sucky! I feel your pain…my husband got sick, then the kids, and then me. December was NOT a fun month! Hope everybody is getting better just in time to enjoy the new year
Natalie, I must have had this bug at some point in my life b/c I’ve been sneezed, coughed, and puked on multiple times….thank God I’m still standing though cause my husband was down for the count early in the onset of the funk spreading …he may or may not have been more of a pain in the ass then the sick kids! And, yes, they’re all better now…just in time to go back to school tomorrow! Woohoo!
Oh geez, so sorry you had to go through all that. Although our holidays were somewhat similar, except my kid came down with the walking pneumonia the week before Christmas. Same kid came down with something entirely different for Christmas, just to switch things up abit, I guess.
Here’s hoping January is virus free!
‘Tis the season, eh? I never remember being sick for Christmas & this is two years in a row for my kids…hopefully that’s not what they’ll remember! Sorry yours were sick through the holiday too…and the bad thing about that is then your extra exhausted by the time it rolls around too…
I had to deal with a sick kid during winter vacation too. Oh, wait…she wasn’t a kid…she was my brother’s new woman-child girlfriend who I was stuck hanging with on New Year’s Eve. She drank so much that her boob made an appearance before the night was over and the club manager had to ask her to please “put it away”. Lovely. Can anyone say mid-life crisis? Oh BROTHER!! By the way, this is info that I’m DYING to blog about, but alas, I cannot.
Personally, I would have rather been home with my kids, some wine and a jumbo pack of peanut M&M’s!!
LMAO. Don’t you hate when they’re something that would make a great post and you can’t do it. Part of me wants to start an anonymous blog for all that stuff. I wont tell any family or friends about it, wont do reviews or giveaways, just blog about the things I can’t here!
Sorry you got stuck babysitting nye!
Thank goodness at the new daycare I have Wee ‘Burb in, the parents are more careful! One kept her kid home for over a week before Christmas b/c he had a stomach flu. I was rather impressed with that. When you have an infant, I totally get that you can’t keep the kid home for every fever. But at a certain age, sending your incubating germ-monger out into the world is just cruel.
I firmly think this is why more companies should go telecommute. I’ve picked Wee ‘Burb up from daycare at least twice a month with some phantom fever that’s usually cured with cuddles and a long nap, and it sucks and ruins my day as well, but at least I can still get work done and don’t have to take a sick day. Fewer people would bring their kids in sick (or go to work sick themselves!) if they had the option of taking a work at home day instead.
Glad to hear your little one is in a good daycare….it wasn’t all that long ago that I was dealing with work/daycare/sick kids too. I understand that some people have to go to work, but there has to be some kind of solution here….I’ve always been a huge fan of work-from-home & had an opportunity to do that a in some of my jobs. My husband is actually remote all the time now and actually works more hours. I think some employers would find better work from their employees in some cases.
I know kids are going to get sick too, but there are somethings that can be done to avoid it….like keeping a kid who puked all day home the next day and the same thing with fevers. They aren’t doing their own kids any good sending them sick to school either….that just makes them more susceptible to pick up something else while their system’s are down.
It’s frustrating anytime, but pisses me off that it ruined a holiday…almost….or at least the days and week after.
Good heavens. I don’t understand what is so hard for parents to understand about the ’24hr no fever’ rule. It drives me CRAZY to see a child walking into school coughing their head off and looking like their on deaths door step. I don’t want my kids sick, I certainly don’t want my 3yr old sick. Why not just keep your kid home? *ugh*
Thanks, Kristin! I mean, I understand that you can’t keep a kid home every time there is a sniffle, but come on! If they’re puking all day and have a fever, let the poor kid recover before sending them back too…forget about infecting everyone else, they’re not doing their poor kids any good either!
MAYBE one day people will get a clue…until then I’ll be shopping for a family sized bubble.
@Kristin my biggest thing is parents who medicate their (obviously) sick kids so they look ok in the morning but crash in the afternoon. I was hanging out on the playground talking to some parents on day after school and one of the dads mentioned that he did that (gave his daughter 8 hour Mortin so she appeared well enough to go to school at least part of the day). I tore into him like nobody’s business!! I told him I thought he was an irresponsible jerk and that his kid’s teachers knew she was sick and how DARE he subject other kids to germs like that. He hasn’t talked to me since but I’m ok with that, if he stops doing that!!