Those Four Little Words

Those words you just dread, the ones you hate to hear, they strike fear in your heart:
"I Don't Feel Well"
Arrrggghhh!
I guess it's good that my kids are at an age now that they can actually express that. Better than the toddler age when you just have to make that assumption based on their behaviour.
But God, I hate hearing those words. Every mother does, I know. But for me, it's on a whole other level.
I am practically a vomit-phobe. Emetaphobia. I looked it up. I don't have an "intense" fear, per se, but the thought of it immediately starts my stomach churning, my hands a-shaking, and cold sweats to break out. I don't know why. You'd think someone like me would be used to it, working in the childcare field.
I can't stand listening to someone vomit, watching it, and of course smelling it. Ugh. I was NEVER that wonderful caring girlfriend that would hold your hair back after a night of binge drinking. If you were that person, I admire you. If you were the vomiter, you were on your own, and I'd be far, far away from you.
I can count on the fact that if my kids utter those words, any constipation I may have had is now a thing of the past. Gross, I know. Probably more info than you wanted. But the whole stressful situation just has that effect on me.
So last night when R told me he wasn't feeling well, his tummy was upset, my own body went into overdrive. Every time my kids are sick, I can never tell if I'm actually getting what they're getting, or just my own body's over-reaction to it all.
At least we are finally at a point with the two of them now that they mostly recognize the nausea, and if I give them some sort of container (lately it's been the old potty catcher, the part you pull out and empty out from the potty) they'll use it. Thank God for that!
Poor R suffered with nausea for the whole afternoon and evening before his stomach finally purged itself. I so hate feeling that way - that waiting to barf phase. I even gave him Gravol which obviously did nothing. Today he is up in bed, far away from the rest of the kids, but still feeling nauseous and miserable. Poor kid.
And here's another reason why I hate the whole sick thing in my house. In this house we can't just have a normal sick day. No lounging on the couch, no peace and quiet with screaming babies downstairs. I can't even spend the day cuddling my sickies (although the bad mother part of me is kind of glad about that), because I have to be with the other kids.
And then the worse part of the fear that I get sick is that I have to make the choice to either work through my own sickness, or close the daycare down for the day (or however long I'm sick for). And I have to make that decision early. Like by 5:30 or so that morning. And then if I do close down, I'm inconveniencing all the families, plus I'm not getting paid. So that adds to my whole phobia of stomach bugs.
So there you have it. Just a little quirk about me.
Pray this ends with R, and doesn't spread to the rest of us.