September 16, 2009

Let the Sickness Begin

When I picked my daughters up from preschool yesterday, I asked them what they did in school. Their reply? "A boy threw up." Oh no, here we go again. Preschool is wonderful, but it is a building full of germs.
It would be easy to point fingers at the parents of sick children. How could they send them to school? But let's be honest here, if your child throws up often times there is very little warning. When we began "BarfBash '09" this past January, it started unexpectedly. Earlier in the day we had a picnic lunch in the playroom. We watched a movie. We had fun. Then at dinner Sue Sue suddenly had a funny look on her face and barrrrrrf... right at the dinner table BarfBash '09 began. All six of us were unwilling participants in the "festivities."
A few months earlier Tortilla had pink eye. When I sent her to school in the morning there was no problem. Later in the day I looked at her and saw a swollen eye. Thank goodness the pediatrician's office was open for another hour and the nurse called in a prescription without asking to see us. How I managed to keep the other three from getting it is beyond me.
Child care is also a huge factor. When I have to call off work because my daughters are sick sometimes the managers act like they don't believe me. Believe me... I need the money. I'm not playing hooky. I imagine there are parents who send their children to school simply because they have to work. I'm not suggesting it's right, I'm just saying it's understandable.
I'm fully prepared for either BarfBash '09 2.0 or BarfBash '10. I'm just hoping and praying we get through this week of birthday celebrations. After that, germs, you are free to wreak havoc on our immune systems.

7 comments:

Stephanie Barr said...

A boy barfing at school can mean stomach flu, but throwing up can be for a number of other reasons as well. My eldest daughter had/has a weak stomach and would (and does) routinely throw up from overheating, motion sickness, eating something that didn't agree with her, sinus drainage, a cold or stress.

Even though my husband and daughter get sick to their stomachs frequently over what seems to Iron-Jaw Stephanie as silly, inconsequent reasons, my two youngest very rarely do. And I'm sure thse with weak stomachs would prefer not to be so readily sickened.

It's good to be prepared, but here's hoping it's nothing contagious because, hey, it might not be.

Quadmama said...

There's some type of bug going around right now, so who knows what the boy has/had. At least the teachers had it cleaned up right away. It's not even the barfing that concerns me as much as the kids with constant runny noses or fevers who go to school.

Stephanie Barr said...

I know it's tough on parents but fevers are almost always the sign of something communicable. Good luck anyway!

MaryAnne said...

I find that the more kids I have, the more time we spend sick because they pass it around to each other, so I can't even imagine what it's like with quads...hope you stay healthy at least until you're done celebrating their birthday!

Quadmama said...

Most times when one is sick they all get sick. I expect it... so I do what I can to make sure Hubby and I stay healthy (which didn't happen during BarfBash '09)

Roman and Tiffany said...

I hope they don't get sick on their birthday! Daycare/pre-school brings on all kinds of germs. At least they are building their immune systems.

Quadmama said...

I'm all for building their immune system, but as someone who was sick on her birthday in third grade I'm crossing my fingers and holding my breath through Saturday.

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