The Curse of Preschool

I've heard several people bemoaning the curse of preschool or daycare...how it always leads to insane amounts of sickness, on top of sickness, and on and on. Brenden started school in January and it wasn't a month before we were all sick. We enjoyed some downtime, but the sickness has crept up on us again.

Brenden was the first to show signs of not doing so well. It was the Wednesday of his spring break and I was positive he was running a fever. It was low grade, but he was also laying around, not wanting to play with his friends. This is not the child I know. We headed to the doctor the next day and found out he had a double ear infection and a spot on his chest that didn't sound great. (He actually pointed to the spot before the doctor got to it and told her to listen there. We were shocked that he was right.) She prescribed amoxicillin and he seems to be doing better. Hopefully he'll bounce completely back after just one round. (Totally unrealated...he weighs 39 lbs 6 oz and is 39 inches tall. Sheesh!)

We have an ENT appointment for Lauren soon and we're going to take Brenden with us. Maybe he'll take a peek in his ears just to see what's going on.

And then, Lauren started acting a little off. Not enough to really worry me, just enough to make me think that her teeth were really bothering her. She was pulling on her ears and crying more than usual, which could be just about anything. She started running a low fever but that happens when she's teething, too. Then today, after her nap, she was on fire. I took her temperature and it was over 102 degrees. Not good! Brenden had his first t-ball practice today so Tim had to rush home to take him while I took her to get checked out.

It was late so I had to take her to an after hours clinic. I thought I could take her to one down the street, but it ended up just being an extended hours clinic and they didn't have any appointments available. I called Tim to whine and then headed to the pediatric urgent care that's associated with our regular clinic. After several wrong turns, hitting major construction and a few 4 way flashing red lights, we made it. I almost had a heart attack when the door wouldn't open, but I was a few minutes early. Whew. Tim would have heard more than whining.

They weighed her (21 lbs 8 oz) and confirmed that her fever was definitely over 102. They swabbed her nose to check for the flu, which came back negative. The doctor was surprised to see her up and moving around. She really expected to see a very sick kid, not a happy, active baby. "She really doesn't seem sick." Thank goodness she actually checked her out! Both of our kids don't act sick until they are really sick. Her left ear is definitely infected and bulging and her right ear is on it's way. No drainage, no runny nose, no cough...just her ear.

This week was one doctor's appointment after another. I'm really for my kids to feel better. I'm really to get over whatever crud that started in my head yesterday. I'm ready to quit complaining!