31 for 21: Keeping the girls well

I apparently jumped the gun yesterday when I thought I was doing some better.  Last night the sore, swollen throat was back, and I had a very achy (head and body) night.  This morning, I felt like I was starting all over again….I’m so sick and tired of being sick and tired.

M stayed home again, still not 100%, and it was clear I wasn’t going to be able to take care of the girls, so he took a shift while I went back to bed.  I slept a couple of hours, but I’m still very uncomfortable.  Let’s hope the girls take naps at the same time, so I can sneak in more rest.

As far as Braska and Kinlee and illnesses… they seem to be really tough and well-protected naturally.  I’m sure they are more nutritionally sound than either of their parents.  With Braska on Pediasure for all her nutrition, she gets a perfect balance of all her required elements, and it seems to help keep her very healthy.  Even though “they” say that kids with DS tend to be sick more often with things like sinus infections, ear infections, pneumonia, etc, she has rarely been sick.  She’ll be 3 next month and has never had an ear infection, she had one treatment of antibiotics for a “suspected” sinus infection when we were leaving on a trip, and she has had a couple colds here or there, mostly just runny nose, but she never *acts* sick.  To be fair, she did have Rotavirus when she was 4 months old, and it was pretty bad, but it was due partly to nutrition issues at the time that caused her to be susceptible.

The pediatrician has told us repeatedly that Braska seems to be very good at avoiding illness, BUT she has also told us that when she does catch something, it will likely be a bad bout of whatever it is.  So we work hard to keep her from known exposures.  We still sanitize things like shopping carts and high chairs at restaurants, and she is not allowed to touch anything at the doctor’s office.  We avoid the “kid area” of the waiting room like it’s on fire.  For now, the doctor agrees that we have been fortunate to find a balance between keeping her TOO clean and unexposed, as some is needed to build up resistance, and being very smart and consistent about keeping barriers where they should be. 

Kinlee doesn’t seem quite as health-tough as her sister, but it’s hard to say at this point.  This week she has a bit of upper airway congestion, but nothing we can get to, just rattling heard when she breathes at night.  Overall, she’s done pretty well in her 8 months also. 

This week we’ve been constantly disinfecting, washing hands, wearing masks at times, being very vigilant about how close we are to the girls and keeping them from interacting with our germiest areas of the house, like our bedroom.

There may be a point when we can no longer keep them this consistently healthy, but we’ll do our best.  I am a bit anxious to see what will happen when Braska starts school 4 mornings a week next month.  But I’m not at all opposed to keeping her home whenever it seems appropriate.  I’m not at all a perfect-attendance-obsessed  mom.  We’ll take it as it comes and do our best.  What else can you do, really?

Do you have any tricks to keeping your kids well?  Does your plan of attack change with the seasons…being more careful about particular things during the fall/winter? If you’ve got tips, I’m open to hearing them!