I have spent way too much time in a doctor's office this week

Tuesday afternoon, while pulling into the parking lot at Ashley's school for our parent/teacher conference, Audrey's school calls. She has a fever of 101 and her stomach hurts. I see Ray pulling in, and I motion to him to stop, tell him the news, and off he goes to get Audrey while I go to the conference.

sidenote: conference was fine, Ashley is above average in math/reading/writing/whatever, she still needs to learn to be quiet and follow rules in class, a common theme with her

I do the conference, pick up Ashley from a neighbor's house, call the pediatrician, and get an appointment for 6:00pm for Audrey. Seriously, my pediatrician's office kicks ass. The last appointment was taken as the lady was trying to schedule me, and she talked to the doctor and got me in.

I suspected strep as I knew kids in her class had it, and she had a fever, stomach upset, and a headache. Nope, she never said her throat hurt, but it was red. The doctor did the quick test, which came back negative, but put it in for the overnight. Which, as you can probably guess, came back positive the next morning.

Which was Wednesday. The day I had a haircut appointment at lunch (I was working from home that day) and had Ashley's 6 year appointment that afternoon. Oh, and I was volunteering in Ashley's class that morning. Ray was able to stick around for me to volunteer, then had to go in to work for some meetings (And really? He's the big help today and tomorrow staying with Audrey today since she is still contagious and tomorrow when her school is closed for a teacher workday). I refused to reschedule Ashley's appointment and I figured I could take Audrey since, well heck, it is a freaking doctor's office. There are other sick kids there.

So back to the pediatrician where Ashley got a glowing report (48 inches tall, 48 pounds). I did discuss her behavior issues from school in depth with her doctor who rattled off several other things to see if Ashley was doing them, and the answer was no to all of them, and she reported that Ashley seemed like a very normal 6 year old. Whew. My normal worry-wart brain can stop worrying all the time.

We will be back to the doctor's office in October for flu shots. And yes, I plan on vaccinating my children for both the seasonal and H1N1. Audrey is actually in the high risk category being under 5 and asthmatic. Our doctor's office told me that they are pretty sure they will have enough for all of their patients. I was also told both the seasonal and the H1N1 can be administered at the same time. And yes, I have seen the reports about the outbreak from the vaccine in the 70s. Let me reiterate - in the 1970s. I talked to my doctor (as should every parent when making decisions like vaccinations), and there is no concern here with either of my kids getting the vaccine.