When people told me Bubby will be sick for the first four years of his life once he starts daycare they weren't lying or exaggerating. Bubby is sick again for the hundredth time since he started daycare. And I am sick again for the 95th time. People also say that he'll be hardly sick at all once his immune system builds up by the time he starts preschool. I wonder if it means I will be hardly sick by then too. This latest bout of illness is a bit of a trifecta. Bubby started off with flu-like symptoms which developed into ear infection # 97 but just to be different he also had gastro AND tonsilitis. The gastro didn't seem to bother him much but the earaches and the sore throat certainly did. Can anyone paint a sadder picture than a sick mummy trying to take care of a sick baby?
Bubby is much better now but I'm still struggling. Bubby gets ear infections when he's sick, I get asthma. I've been wheezing so badly I sound like Stevie in Malcolm in the Middle. I was in a very bad way last Saturday night that I was going to drive myself to the 24 hour medical centre after I've put Bubby to bed but decided to sleep it off and go first thing on Sunday morning. I left early the following morning to avoid the crowd (there's nothing worse than a crowded clinic waiting room, all the germs floating in the air!) only to find the supposed 24 hour clinic was closed.
I'm no math genius but 7 am-10 pm is in fact 9 hours short of 24 hours. It's really a 15-hour medical centre. Anyway, even after I got a muffin and a hot chocolate I still had to wait a while in the cold but the important thing is I was the first one there and I got my asthma puffer and antibiotics.
Speaking of antibiotics, Bubby tried to drink his bottle of antibiotics all at once! I placed the bottle on the dining table after I gave his dose and I went to wash the syringe when I turned around he looked like he was taking a swig from the bottle. I nearly had a heart attack. I dialled HealthDirect which put me onto Poison Information Hotline all while I was trying to measure how much was left in the bottle 3 mL at a time (because I only had a syringe. I really must 'borrow' a measuring cylinder from work) and calculating how many doses he's already had since Thursday, how much should be left and work out how much he has drank. It worked out he would have ingested less than 10 mL if any and that children can drink the entire bottle with little risk of an overdose. Apparently, this sort of thing happens all the time. It's a scary thought. It all happened in the 7 steps it took me to walk to the sink and rinse the syringe. Bubby looked quite pleased with himself, the little rascal. When the medic was asking me if he was responsive I was chasing after him in the kitchen because he's ran away with the bottle cap. Moral of the story is never leave medicine within children's reach and know that this level changes over time and have emergency numbers on the fridge.