When I dropped Francesca off on Monday she was very clingy, as to be expected. We put on her Dairy: I CAN'T EVEN! shirt that Shelby made and I went over the menu with her teacher. Once she started playing I slipped out. I got teary eyed on my drive to work but was feeling okay. We have access to a live camera feed so I could check-in throughout the day. I was quite surprised to find out that nap time was just a bunch of mattresses scattered across the room. I laughed out loud thinking there was NO WAY my kid was just going to lay down and go to sleep. Watching the poor teacher get four (maybe five) kids to sleep was painful to watch. She would have had better luck herding cats. She would get one kid asleep (or so it appeared) and move on to the next, only to have the last kid come over and interrupt the progress she was making. Like I said, painful (and a tish entertaining). But, miracles do happen and FJ fell asleep!
I noticed later in the day that Francesca was carrying her blanket EVERYWHERE. Great, my kid is Linus from Peanuts. Not only that, she went on a hunger strike. When I picked her up I found out she didn't eat anything but a few crackers, all day. When we got home she refused to eat dinner and just sat on my lap and watched TV, clearly exhausted. This is the time of night when she was usually running circles around the living room.
About 9:30 p.m. she started fussing. I wasn't going to check on her at first but changed my mind...thank God. I went upstairs and she was laying on her back throwing up and choking. It was terrifying, to say the least. After a quick bath she went back to sleep but that's when the panic really set in for us. Our first thought...she had eaten something with dairy. I knew she hadn't really eaten so could she have grabbed someone else's cup with dairy milk instead of her almond milk? It seemed feasible and since she had never thrown up before, I didn't know what else to think.
I called Tuesday morning and her teacher assured me that she didn't have any dairy. Miss Heather sat next to her at breakfast and lunch time. Francesca was acting fine when she woke up so we decided maybe it was just nerves from the new situation and not eating and took her for day two. When I picked her up they said she had been sad in the morning but was much better after her nap. And she ate! Small victories. The note summarizing her day said she had been "talkative", so that was a good sign. Every time I looked at the video she was carrying around her blankie though. Linus, for real.
Tuesday night was seemingly better. She was still much more tired than usual but she did eat her dinner. A little after 6 a.m. on Wednesday morning she threw up again. Thankfully we had a doctor's appointment already scheduled to make sure her ear infection was cleared up. The doctor assured me there was a lot going around and recommended not going crazy about the dairy. I couldn't help but think it was weird that it was only happening while she was sleeping and only one time each night but again she said that was pretty normal with kids that either just get a slight case or are at the end of an illness. I tried to not worry but all I could think was she was a stress puker and she was not adjusting well to day care. And the fear of her consuming dairy was still nagging at me. I cried the entire drive to work. I hated that I didn't know what was causing her to be sick and couldn't help but wonder if this would be the rest of our lives every time she got sick. What was the cause...stress? dairy? the flu?
Wednesday she was with Grandma and Grandpa and we made it through the night without puking. I think I was equal parts relieved and worried. Relieved that we made it through the night, worried that it was the stress of day care and that she would end up throwing up Friday night. But we didn't make it that far because Thursday night it happened again...and it was the worst yet. Poor kiddo. Grandma volunteered to come over Friday so not only no day care but FJ could also spend a day at home. When I called the day care to let them know Francesca was sick they asked what her symptoms were. Turns out there had been a lot of kids out with the flu. So again a combination of relief/worry. Relieved it wasn't dairy-related, frustrated that our first week of day care and she gets sick. This was one of my major negatives on my pro/con list of day care vs. in-home care. I mean, I know sickness happens but THE FIRST WEEK?!
All I can do is hope by Friday we will have made it through illness free and a little more adjusted to the new routine. I mean, the first week set the bar pretty low...things can only go up from here, right?!
