The kidlets are plotting against me...

For the past five weeks now, I have had kidlets home from school sick with various ailments. We've had stomach bugs, fevers, nasty congestion that may or may not be allergies or colds, breathing issues, more stomach bugs, horrific coughing, and, in case I didn't already mention this, stomach bugs. We are getting to the point where I feel like throwing a party on the few days I have all three actually in school at the same time.

Today was one of those days. All three were together at school, and I was finally able to go grocery shopping. (My rule is that if there is anyone home feeling sick to their stomach, I do not take them out of the house unless a doctor's appointment is necessary or if their siblings need to get picked up from or dropped off at school. This kind of puts a damper on my food shopping capabilities.) Today, I shopped and put the groceries away, did a bit of laundry, and washed the breakfast dishes that I had forgotten about all without having to stop and check on anybody. I even planned ahead to the possibility of going shopping for new bath mats tomorrow morning. All too soon, it was time for me to head back to school to pick up my kidlets.

I first realized there was a problem when Pig Jr. came out of school walking hunched over and looking quite pale. He said he was thirsty, so I got him some water. When he started rubbing his lower abdomen, I asked the teacher if he could go back inside and use the restroom. She said that was fine, and that's what he did. However, when he came back out, he was still walking hunched over and was still quite pale. We then had to stick around the school for forty-five minutes until his sisters came out, all with him looking ill.

It was during this time that the school nurse saw me outside and came over to tell me how Rooster had gone to her office to complain of a stomachache during recess. The nurse explained how her temperature was ninety-nine degrees, and how she gave her some water and told her to rest in case it was just dehydration and overheating. I told her I would be waiting outside, so if Rooster was still not feeling well when she went back to check on her, I would just sign both girls out of school and go home early.

Thankfully, water seemed to do the trick with Rooster. Unfortunately, it did not work for Pig Jr. By the time we got home, he desperately had to use the bathroom, and his belly was bloating up like a balloon. It was about seventy-nine degrees outside today, and my son was complaining of feeling cold. That's not a good sign. I checked him for a fever, and determined his body temperature was at 96.6 degrees, which is low for him. His temperature resumed his usual 97.9 after I fed him some blue Jell-o, at his request, and more water. He still feels bloated, so I'm leery of what this means.

I swear the kidlets are plotting against me so that I never have them all healthy at the same time again. I'm guessing my bath mat excursion is not going to happen any time soon.