In fact, I'm not even sure how one would do sick well. I don't mean to be complaining...after all, a big part of the reason we're so confused when one of us is sick is it's a rare occurrence. Even when Charlie was in daycare we didn't suffer through the bouts with strep throat, ear infections, hand, foot and mouth, etc that are so common.
And despite the fact that I tried to convince my mom I was sick every September through May Monday morning from 1984 to 1995, I hardly ever really was. So I haven't a clue how to handle this stuff!
How do you know when to go to do the doctor? Charlie has a sporadic fever and nose like a faucet, but he's playing and laughing... We never went to the doctor when I was a kid and I turned out ok.
How do you when you can and can't leave the house? Fever equals contagious, I know -- but what about when the fever comes and goes? Did we get the entire Childrens' Museum sick yesterday morning because I thought he was well? Are we going overboard to already write-off church in the morning, since he just put himself to bed at 6:00 and his is useless for breathing?
Should I be banishing him to his bed all day (even though he managed to stay awake in it for over an hour and a half looking out his window) or should I be indulging him with all the movies he can watch?
Should we be trying harder to wake him up for dinner when he just told Jason that he wants to come down, but not until "his teeth get tall"?
How do people figure this stuff out? I am convinced that we skip the stuff we could rightly attend and attend things radically infectious -- but how do you tell and is it really realistic to just drop out of the world for a week plus whenever someone is sick? (We cancelled our first commitments on Wednesday and at this point, with a little boy who just told me "I feel even more worser," I'm not sure we'll resurface before summer.
And yes, I'm one of those moms who neglects to medicate. He doesn't have a cough and I do believe that a fever is the body's way of fighting infection, but would I be better off drugging him up -- if only for comfort's sake. But then, would we wrongly infect even more masses?
Ugghhh... We just don't do sick well and I pray that once he's recovered we go back to our ignorant bliss. My baby is miserable and I'm not helping matters, so this just stinks!
Being sick is horrible, and helping to mend the sick is even worse when you don't know what you're dealing with! My rule of thumb is the degree of fever. If it's not that high, but enough to make them sluggish I ALWAYS deal out meds to make it easier on them. If the mucus is clear, I chalk it up to allergies or a head cold- and still offer benedryl at night to insure good rest...it's always a gamble though. All I know is you better be well by Friday or else! Give it a couple of more days and if he's not 100% get him to the doc so I can see you guys!!
ReplyDeleteI hope things have improved!
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