Strep

I was just telling Aunt Maggie how thankful I was (and still am) that we had fared pretty well this flu season and all been pretty healthy.

So it only makes sense that today poor Madeline woke up with strep. And in case I have fooled you into believing I am a decent mother and my life is all snow cream and hot chocolate, let me just say that I sent her to school. Yes, her throat hurt and I did nothing but check her forehead (with my hand, not a thermometer or anything), declare she did not have a fever, give her motrin for the discomfort, and send her on to school.

It took less than 30 minutes for her to convince the sub that she needed to go see Nurse Beth, her new best friend. Now, we had a spell recently where Madeline went to Nurse Beth daily complaining of her ear hurting. It was obviously nothing, because we never got a note home about it, and she never mentioned her ear hurting to me AT ALL. We finally did get a note home saying Madeline was coming in almost daily, so maybe we should take her to the doctor. I mentioned this option to Madeline, and she immediately asked if there would be a shot involved. I might have told her that that was a good possibility. Miraculously, the mysterious ear pain stopped. Amazing. Noah had also been complaining about his ear hurting, but only on days when he had music...we finally learned he was scared of the wolf from "Peter and the Wolf". Seriously. We have issues.

So Nurse Beth called at about 8:15 saying that Madeline did not have fever, but did have very swollen and red tonsils and I probably should have her checked for strep, since apparently this year, strep does not include a fever. So I called the pediatrician's office and they said to come on in. I had failed to mention the part about "they're going to stick a swab on the back of your throat that's already sore to check for strep". She was not pleased. There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth. But reason finally prevailed. Then my 64 pound baby girl curled up in my lap as we waited for results. The rapid test was positive, so then I felt like I should explain to my pediatrician why any decent mother would send her child to school, at this time of year, if her throat hurt. But I was too busy keeping Jack from eating his Cheerios off the floor. Because it's one thing to eat Cheerios off OUR floor, where the dirt and grime may be days weeks months old, but at least it is generally related to us. It's a whole 'nother ballgame to eat Cheerios off the floor at the doctors' office, where the dirt and grime are much fresher, but also totally unrelated to us.

So, no school today or tomorrow for her. After a trip to Sonic, because we are fancy, to get a chocolate milkshake for her (she was sure that would help A LOT) and 2 bags of ice for me, a luxury (at $1.29 a bag) I only afford myself when I'm pregnant and crave crunchable ice, (and maybe also a 99cent b/c it was before 10 am diet Dr Pepper, also for me) things looked a little better. For all of us. And if the talk of Sonic has made you thirsty, don't forget the 1/2 price drinks and slushes from 2p-4p everyday. That's my public service announcement for today.

That, and also: Don't drink peppermint tea you made for your daughter whose throat was sore but you thought it was nothing and she didn't like the tea, so you just finished it yourself because, really, who would let a hot cup of peppermint tea go to waste? I probably should start the antibiotics now, huh?