The divine miss m has RSV, a respiratory virus that is very common in childhood but can be serious in children under a year.

This is the cherry on the sundae of two months of illness in our house!

She woke up inconsolable this morning at 5:15. Her temp went up to 101.5 even with Motrin. So we figured, "Ear infection's back." (That's the second time I've rooted for ear infection this fall.)

Doc didn't like what he was hearing in her breathing and sure enough, blood
oxygen was 91% (norm is 96 or better). A swab in the nose confirmed it--RSV. So we're the proud owners of a brand new nebulizer and are doing the every-four-hour routine.

Little she-who-is had the same thing at this age, and it was also the exclamation point after a series of illnesses--but she didn't need this kind of treatment.

Meanwhile, while R and M were at the doc, C slept until 8:00, when I finally woke her up because I needed to be out of the house by 8:30. She was pissed. Threw a teenager-sized hissy fit about how she wanted to SLEEP!! TURN OFF THE LIGHT!!! CLOSE THE SHADE!!!!! MOMMMMMMM!!!!!!

I honestly did not know how I was going to get her out of the house. Finally I told her that if she got up, that she'd be able to have a picnic breakfast in the car on the way to preschool. This seemed to her big splendid fun. Let's not tell her that the big reward was the only way we'd actually have time for breakfast...

The reason I needed to get to work early was the bright point of the day (aside from M not being *more* sick--some kids go to the hospital for this)--I led a morning retreat as part of Quiet Day. Quiet Day is an annual event during advent, and we get a handful of people throughout the day, but we had close to 20 people there this morning. I had fun putting it together. I tried to balance some structure with space and time for people not to feel harried. Free to Be was there and can tell us whether I succeeded.

Prayers and/or good wishes appreciated.