Sick child starts a chain reaction through home

I walked in the door early Friday evening after a week in San Diego. My triplet 8-year-old boys wanted to know what I brought them. Maria, my little 6-year-old daughter, came slowly behind them, eyes drooping, tears running down her face, and cried, "I have the fluuuuuu." My father-in-law told me that she stayed home with him. He didn't call me because I was already on my way home, and he didn't want me to worry about her. Bless his heart.

I picked her up and hugged her, asked him all the appropriate questions (when was the last time she had medicine, did she eat anything, did she throw up, etc.), and cuddled with her on the couch. The next morning she woke up, bright-eyed, and said, "Mama, I'm healthy as a horse." This started the usual chain reaction as the virus she picked up circulated through the triplets, ending with Jerrod.

No matter how hard I try, I cannot contain illness in our house. We wash our hands, don't share anything, but I'm lucky if the bug skips a child. Usually I'm dealing with some variation of the same thing. Rarely do I get sick, and I always tell the little ones, "I wish I could take your sick away and give it to me." And usually, they agree. RJ, my oldest son, now 19 years old, was the funniest when he got stung by a bee at the young age of 5. "Why didn't the bee sting you instead?" It just wasn't thinking straight, I guess.

Nighttime care has always been the biggest challenge for us. The kids can seem perfectly healthy all day long. No stuffy noses, no coughing, no fever, but the minute I lay them down for the night, it all comes back. I know it's because I'm tired and really want to get some sleep, and this is my punishment for not listening to my mother when I was growing up. My pediatrician, on the other hand, who also happens to be the smartest man in the whole world, insists it's because all that snot collects in their sinuses when their heads lie flat. So he told me to keep their heads elevated to help their sinuses drain. He advised me to put a book under their mattresses. This works great as long as they don't turn around in the bed. When Mike's not home, I just have the sick child sleep with me, so I can just roll over and put his or her head back up on the pillow. When Mike's home, I just roll over and say, "Honey, did you hear that? Honey? Honey?"

Springtime is when David's allergies kick in. My mom, my mother-in-law and I suffer from hay fever, so we know how he feels. Last weekend he was invited to a birthday sleepover with his triplet brothers. I really didn't want him to spend the night at his friend's house because sometimes he struggles through the night, but he was so sad when I suggested that he come home so I could take care of him. He knows he's not contagious. I let him pack his allergy medicine and talked to his friend's mother. I told her about his allergies, let her know that he had his allergy medicine and asked her to please call me if there were any problems. I didn't receive a phone call that night, but after talking to the mom the next morning, I wished I would have picked him up later that evening because he did cough a lot, and that was not a situation I wanted to put someone else in. David will just have to understand that he's not a springtime sleepover person, and hopefully, as he grows older, his allergies will become more manageable.

Lisa Brown is a Mount Pleasant working mother of five children ages 6-19. E-mail her at lbrown@postandcourier.com.