1. A is for Announcement

Well!  This marks the 100th post on this blog, and with it comes an announcement: for the entire month of March I will attempt to post every single day, so that I get back into the habit of regular updates.

I'm hoping to use each letter of the English alphabet, with perhaps a few Welsh characters thrown in at the end to take me to 31 days.  Welsh, or French, or anything else that takes my fancy on the way... I haven't decided yet.

So let's get started.

Since I was last on here, I have had (and now stopped) a full-time job.  Little O was in full-time daycare as a result, and in addition to the never-ending guilt I felt about that, it also meant he was exposed to far more germs and beastly beasties than he ever was at home.  He got sick so often, and so severely, that by Friday, February 11th, I'd had enough.  As I was taking him in to the local ER, and he was being admitted overnight again, I reassessed my priorities and decided I would not be going back to work on Monday.  I went in to clear my desk on Sunday and wrote a formal e-mail (gosh, how modern of me) to my boss explaining my decision.  She was absolutely wonderful about it and said I'd get a glowing reference if and when I needed one.  However, it was a real turning point, and the culmination of five weeks of illness for my little boy.  He had been ill with a cough before Christmas which turned into bad asthma... and that then turned into bronchitis in January... which then went back to being bad asthma again... then he got double ear infections... twice... and then in mid-Feb he came down with similar symptoms he'd had last October (remember that?).  Not willing to risk more hospital treatments, I took him in to the ER to be proactive and nip whatever it was in the bud, and he was admitted anyway.  Sigh.

They ran all manner of tests on him overnight and the results came back Saturday afternoon saying he had Rotavirus.  It's something they vaccinate for here in the USA, although my folks back home have never even heard of it.  And yes, Little O WAS vaccinated.  But his immune system has a hard time making antibodies and keeping him healthy, so his defences against this rather unpleasant virus weren't exactly solid.  Anyway, armed with this knowledge we came home on a different feeding schedule with extra fluids, and did our best to keep him hydrated at home.  It worked, until I felt he was looking and acting a bit peaky ("peaky" is not an American expression, apparently.  Trying to describe your child's status as "a bit peaky" to an American doctor gives you both an education...), and I took him in to CHOW's ER for some more IV fluids.  And, of course, they admitted him again.  When will I learn?  Sigh.

...and because I need something to post about tomorrow, I will leave it on that tantilising note for now.  See you tomorrow!

Tina.