Sunday, March 28, 2010

When your child starts school…

When your child starts school, well, Pre-school in our case, everybody tells you to expect at least a year of sick kid. What they forget to tell you is, that also means a year of sick mom.

Since Lizzie started Pre-school in Autumn I have had bronchitis twice (the 1st episode being the first in my life), 2 sinus infections, numerous colds and coughs and most recently the stomach flu. Rosie has also been the victim of these nasty illnesses, excluding the stomach flu. Maybe that’s because Rosie is vaccinated against the stomach flu.

If you accept anecdotal evidence as evidence, then I can tell you that the rotavirus vaccination works. We have had the stomach flu 3 times since Rosie’s vaccination (Ok, the 1st of the 3 times was directly caused by her vaccination. I hope it was from kissing her. Yuck!), and Rosie has been problem free. It cost something like 800 złoty and with the other vaccinations Rosie was getting at the time, it totaled more than a thousand, but what could we do?

Lizzie did not receive the rotavirus vaccination because it was not available at the time she was born. I really wish she had received it. It is not because after cleaning the inside of the Jeep and her car seat, we discovered 2 days later that the cup dispenser was full of vomit. Nope, that’s not why. It’s not because in this land of no dryers, one bout of stomach flu can easily use up all of your clean and dry sheets. Nope, it’s not that. It’s that poor little face with dark circles under her eyes who doesn’t want to eat or drink and has no energy or will to do anything. And that’s if the illness is the light version. More serious attacks of rotavirus can land a child in the hospital with dehydration. Fortunately, we have never come close to that.

And to keep on an optimistic note, I am just that much closer to my Spring diet goal.

Thanks stomach flu!

2 comments:

hjuston said...

so true. my son is only 2 years old, but it seems like every time he sees other children who goes to day care / pre school he gets sick. and then we do. I wasn't getting sick before he was born, and this year was a year of runny noses etc.

Chris said...

I hope it is true (or at least close to true) that it lasts about a year.

I try to look on the bright side telling myself that my kids are building up their immune systems but jeez, how many times in one day can you hold a tissue to a kid's nose and say blow?