Tuesday, June 10, 2008

So That Explains It

Three kids with strep. The twins also have their second round of earaches. So this explains the horrid behavior from Claire for the past week. Note to self, AGAIN: when kid consistently acts horrible day after day, something is wrong with her. Get her checked.

Let me reiterate my love of the after-hours clinic. LOVE LOVE that place. I took three kids in just before 5pm and was in within minutes. The doctor, who now recognizes us, checked Claire first. She smirked - no earache, so we were assuming she had been jealous about the "pink medicine" her sisters were getting for the last round of earaches. She was about to move onto the babies but I saw her pause and think. She checked Claire's lymph nodes. Very swollen. She said, "could we check her for strep?" and I gave the green light and BINGO! that was it. I would have never thought of that, given I have never tested positive for it in my own life. Not to mention my getting closer to 4-year-old child still cannot verbalize when she is sick and what part of her hurts. I know this is relatively "normal" behavior for the age group but it is getting increasingly annoying that a kid this old can't tell me when something hurts, and what part hurts!

So obviously the babies have strep too. Poor tiny babies. Molly's last ear infection never went away thanks to this new head cold so she is on the heavy-duty medicine. No pink stuff for her. I would have never guessed this, because other than never sleeping through the night (and she's too old to be doing this to me!) her mood has been pretty darned good. Lily actually doesn't quite yet have an earache, but the fluid is starting to build up. Knowing where this would end up in another day or two, I convinced the doc to give me the pink stuff for her in anticipation of the inevitable earache. And of course now that the strep piece was confirmed she needs it anyways. Between the twins, you can tell that Molly has the higher pain tolerance and Lily the lower tolerance. Lily has been cranky, tired, and not eating. Molly has been her usual self. And it's Molly with the ferocious earache, and Lily with barely the beginnings. Amazing the difference between those two.

I had an office day today, so I was nice enough to leave the nanny with this craziness. Whoops. What happened is Claire acted up for the nanny today, and knowing she NEVER acts up to someone other than a parent, I instantly knew that something was truly wrong with her and made the decision to leave work an hour early and hit the clinic. This is when us moms knowingly pat ourselves on the back for going on our gut instincts: yes, yes, folks, I was right. The kids really are sick. And I predicted it the other day, right? Check my earlier post folks.

Please, please tell me this is the last round of sickness for the summer, but I know I'm deluding myself with summer camps starting next month at 3 days per week. Claire will bring home several things in that month. And when the twins get tubes in their ears thanks to big sister, I'll partially regret all the kid interaction I've allowed Claire. Better to live in a bubble, you know.

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