Fever

First, let me assure you that all is well, and Bubby is back to school.

Next, may I tell you how I feel about fevers?  If the answer's no, you can stop reading.  I'll probably talk about something else a little later in this post, but if you don't want to risk accidentally reading something about fevers, feel free to click the red X now.

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I hate fevers.  Actually, it's not fevers I hate, fevers are a good thing--our body's way of killing off invaders.  It's our school's policy toward fevers I hate, which is that a child must be fever-free, without medication, for 24 hours before going back to school.  This pretty much guarantees that if your child wakes up on a school day (unless it's Friday) with a fever, they will be out for at least 2 days.

I get it.  I really do.  The school wants to protect the children, and one of the ways they do that is by trying to prevent the spread of infection.  And I'm all for preventing the spread of infection.  But here's the thing.  People who are sick are usually contagious before they show any symptoms.  That means my Bubby was passing his whatever-germ-was-making-him-sick off to other healthy children before his fever struck.  And whoever gave it to Bubby did the same.  Not letting kids come to school with a fever is kind of like shutting the coop door after the chickens are already out.  Whoever was going to be infected by my kid was already infected before I kept him home.

The other thing about fevers is they don't make my kids miserable.  Well, the fevers do, but once we knock it down with Tylenol or Advil, my kids are fine.  There is absolutely no resemblance to a sick child once I've drugged up a feverish kid in my household.  And there is absolutely no reason (once we get past the spreading of infection piece) for them to miss school.

So when Bubby still had a high fever on Tuesday evening, I knew he would need to stay home the entire next day, even if he woke up fever-free, was perfectly fine and wanted to go to school because it was Phy. Ed. day.  Seriously.  The only thing my kid likes about school (or the only thing he admits to liking about school) is Phy. Ed.  And he only gets to have Phy. Ed. once every 3 days.  Ugh!

You're going to think I'm weird, but I was actually a little grateful when Bubby threw up early Wednesday morning, because I'm a little more accepting of the 24-hour vomit-free rule than the fever rule.  'Cause vomit, unlike fever, makes my kids miserable, and no one wants vomit at school.  No one.  And since I already had to keep him home because of the fever, it was nice to have another reason to keep him home as well.

Oh, yeah.  That morning, when he woke me to tell me he felt like he was going to throw up, it wasn't just Bubby-code for I'm hot.  But I do think the hotness is what caused the other, though.

Wednesday night, I couldn't sleep because I was thinking about all the stuff I needed to do the next day, and worrying about how much more difficult it would make today if Bubby needed to stay home again (he didn't).  Today marks 4 days in a row that Bubby has woken me in the wee hours of the morning.  I am wiped.  Yesterday I went to bed at 8:15, and fell asleep by...well, not really sure when, but it was early, and I must have fallen asleep with my book on my chest, after reading less than a full chapter, because my bookmark was in the wrong place, and I don't remember Hubby coming to bed.

Yesterday I was gone from 7:55 a.m. until 7:30 p.m., with a few short stops at home to get the crock pot started and then to explain to my oldest son what he needed to do to get dinner on the table for his brothers.  The house is a disaster, and I am amazed.  Wednesday night when I went to bed, everything was in order, and this morning when I walked out into the kitchen, I yelped and then ran right back into my bedroom again.  I'm hiding from the mess right now, hoping it'll magically disappear while I'm typing away...

Let me go check...

Nope.  Still there.  Well, if it's not going to magically disappear, I guess I'd best get going.

Have a great day, y'all.