A sick family

Be warned. This post starts off a little gross, and then there is an anti-climax, followed by a depressing ending. And there are no photos, just text!

It started with Sera, Monday night, after we put her to bed. She woke up a few minutes later, threw up her entire dinner on her mattress. Incredible gross because I could see all the ingredients of my lovely quiche I had made for dinner. Sera was so drowsy and sleepy, she simply crouched over her pillow and carried on sleeping. I cleaned up, as best as I could, the sheets and the mattress. Sera was fast asleep when I left her room. Johan was going to sleep with her that night because I was running a low grade fever and my throat was swelling up. I popped two panadols and went to bed.

Next morning, Tuesday. Sera wakes me up, wearing only a diaper that was practically falling to her knees. I carried her up unto our bed and we sleep in for another 5 minutes, until I got a strong, stale smell coming from her. The gross part begins here on. Pieces of her dinner were stuck on her hair and dried smudges of most likely vomit were on her face. I quickly got out of bed, with her in my arms and walked to her room. Poof! Her room smelt bad ... rotten. I quickly inspected her bathroom, and it was painful to all the senses. A pile of soiled pyjamas and Johan's own clothes thrown into the bath-tub over all her bath toys. Yucks! Apparently, Sera had kept Johan up all night. The strange thing was that Sera was looking very okay. She was her normal spirited self and even finished her bowl of cereal and a kiwi for her breakfast. So that is why I decided she was fit enough to go to school, in case anyone is wondering why she didn't just stay home.

I dropped her off at school. She was, as usual, happy to be at school. Johan's mom and I went for a painting class, about 30 minutes from Sera's school. Everything was going well until I get a call from Sera's school.

Woman: "I'm calling from Creative Child. Is this Sera's mother?" (in a really chirpy tone)

Me: "Yes ... " (Anxiety is fast setting in)

Woman: "Miss Kathleen has asked me to call you because Sera has been crying all morning and is very sick. Please come and collect her." (Still in a very upbeat tone)

I don't even remember what I replied, maybe something like "Ok!" but so many thoughts were running through my head as I told Johan's mom we had to go, packed up my stuff and said a hasty goodbye to everyone. Firstly, I thought "What an absolutely horrible mother I was for bringing Sera to school, knowing she threw up the night before!" But she was so fine in the morning? What happened? As I drove as safe as I could towards her school, I thought of Johan. He was going to be soooooooooooooooooo mad at me for bringing Sera to school. GULP! I looked at Johan's mom on my right and she looked worried and was very quiet. I just prayed all the way to her school that she wasn't feeling as bad as the woman on the phone made it sound.

I ran all the way to her classroom, opened the door and frantically looked for Sera. I found her running around with Kelyan, smiling ... looking very pink and healthy and not at all sick! Huh????!!!! Miss Kathleen walked up to me, a little puzzled and then realised what had happened. "Oh no, she called the wrong mother!" It took me a while to realise the mistake. I was holding on to Sera by then, still a little shaky and my breathing was much calmer. Miss Kathleen goes out to the reception and tersely informed 'Miss Sunshine' that she had called the wrong mother. "Sara's mother, not Sera's mother!"

Miss Kathleen apologises repeatedly but I told her it was all right. As long as Sera was fine, nothing else mattered. So I walked out of her classroom, managed a smile at the apologetic but still ridiculously happy receptionist, sighed a huge relief together with Johan's mom in the car, and drove back home. Now how crazy was that?

Moving on from Tuesday to this morning, Thursday. Sera missed school this morning just because she hasn't been eating well since last Tuesday afternoon. I think she may be battling a stomach virus. She's still active but her appetite has dropped to nothing much. Thus I decided no school for her. Anyway, I came back from yoga class and I saw Johan's car parked, not even at his usual spot, outside our house. Something was definitely wrong here! I walked into the house, no Johan in sight but a very messy house courtesy of Sera and a very tired- looking oma. Johan's mom informs me that Johan is very sick, threw up and was in bed, asleep. Oh no! And she also saidthat she wasn't feeling too well herself. Something was wrong with her tummy, that was making her feel ill. I forced her to her bedroom to rest while I looked after Sera. I popped in to check on Johan, took his temperature (yup, he has a fever) and gave him one panadol.

So currently, Sera is asleep, so are Johan and his mom. The house is very quiet. I'm sitting here, a little baffled by all the sickness and viruses going on? Sigh ... one of those days. Hopefully, I'll be back with happier news.