So, the flu has arrived in our house. At least I'm pretty confident that's what it is. Emma came home from school with a fever and fell asleep shortly after getting home which is highly unusual! When she woke up, her fever was 2 degrees higher (the whole temperature thing is a whole nother debacle and blog post in itself!) and I finally got her to choke down the grape flavored motrin. Knowing the seriousness of the H1N1, I, of course, am panicking that this is what she has. I try calling the doctor and to make a long story short, I couldn't get a hold of them. But magically, the motrin worked like a charm, she started feeling better, got up and was playing around and even ate dinner! I thought, well maybe it is just something small she picked up from school. She finished her homework later that night and went to bed.
Some mornings she can be pretty difficult to wake up. I walked into her room and she immediately rolled over and told me she didn't feel good. She was flush ALL over and I just knew. I felt her forehead and she was burning up, worse than yesterday. I got my thermometer (even though I don't think it's accurate, see comment above) and the motrin plus some juice and crackers. She was much more willing to take the motrin knowing how much better she felt yesterday. I set her room up with her portable dvd player, a ton of movies, a pad of paper with a pen (sounds silly, but it's one of her favorite things and she didn't want crayons or coloring books) and I waited for Matt to get home so I could get a new thermometer, different crackers and gatorade. She has been pretty chipper all morning and it made me waver on calling the doctor or not, but hearing and reading that the getting better and then getting worse is the serious part is what concerned me. Plus if she has the flu, she can get tamiflu and get faster quicker and hopefully not contaminate the rest of us! Of couse, the monopoly of pediatricians have yet to call back which is incredibly frustrating and as much as I, personally, don't want to get the flu because taking care of the kids must go on (Emma can usually get herself a drink and play pretty well when I'm sick and go to the bathroom, but when you need to watch a 2 year old................) and I really don't get the opportunity to rest, I don't want Hannah to get it. She's like her Dad and catches a lot of illnesses. She has surprisingly been pretty resilent this year, but she's never had the flu and hasn't got the vaccine yet.
Why, of all weeks, did it have to happen now? Forget that it's my birthday on Friday, but Thursday we originally had plans with my BFF and her family for a join birthday dinner (it's her husbands birthday Thursday). But Emma will be getting her trophy for her baseball seasn and we've anxiously been awaiting for the season to be over :) , Friday is my birthday and I don't want any of us to be sick and not be able to celebrate plus we're going to Cox Farm Pumpkin Patch with the BFF and her fam that day and then out to dinner. Saturday is of course Halloween and Emma will have her final baseball game, where she supposed to be allowed to dress up in her costume to play. Then my Dad, my mother-in-law, brother-in-law, and nephew are coming to trick or treat with us. It would be a shame for any of us to be sick to miss ALL of that fun!
It was funny because I was reading flu.gov this morning and some of the tips for parents and providers of sick children was to wear a mask when dealing with the children. I don't think I could actually go into Emma's room and wear one and ask her how she was doing, refill her drink and watch a few minutes of her movie with her, but it may be the only way for me not to get sick or allow Hannah to get sick. Maybe I'll regret my decision not to gas mask myself up when I'm sick myself, but until then I'll wash my hands until they bleed and overdoes on airborne!
poor Emma!! I hope she is feeling better soon and that you, Hannah & Matt are successful in avoiding it!
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