Le Gastro

otherwise known as the stomach flu in North America. Started Monday night with Andrew vomitting all over me, Robert and our bedsheets, and lucky me, he passed those lovely germs along to his mommy. After the whole chicken pox incident, I have decided not to even bother trying to keep Ryan at a distance from Andrew when he is sick and vice versa. No matter how hard I would try to keep hands washed, toys separated, etc., Ryan will wander into the bathroom and start sucking on Andrew's toothbrush or something! So, hopefully, Ryan will not be next in line with this bug, but I won't be shocked at all if he is. Sucks, because we have social plans all weekend long, not to mention the fact that I had full intentions of wrapping up the last few Christmas presents, purchasing the stocking stuffers, etc. today and instead I spent most of the day with unwelcome liquids coming out of both ends! Pardon the graphics...it's been a rough day! Fortunately, this particular bug that seems to be going around the schools here, is a 24 hour thingy, and I am already starting to (slowly) regain an appetite, and Andrew was pretty much back to his normal self within a day, barring his decreased appetite.
One of the first things you learn when you become a Mom is that there are no such thing as "sick days" for us. No matter how bad I feel, the kids need to be fed, changed, bathed, taken and picked up from school, etc. and although Robert would be more than willing to help out, that does me no good when he is away on business, which, it so happens is the case right now. I think back to the old days of calling in sick when my job happened to be in an office, and the freedoms I had to stay in bed all day, nursing whatever ailment had come over me, and even still, feeling sorry for myself. And nowadays, I get a chance to throw up in between feeding Andrew breakfast and changing Ryan's poopy diaper! It's funny how us moms seem to manage when we feel this bad, but we all do. Our kids (speaking for all moms) don't walk around starving or naked or whatever when we're under the weather. We somehow find strength, somewhere deep down, to take care of our kids, before we take care of ourselves. I'm not patting myself on the back so much as feeling grateful for my own mother, who managed to care for us three kids primarily on her own, and undoubtedly during times of stomach flus, severe colds, etc. And inevitably, to this day, whenever I have a stomach bug, it is my Mommy's TLC I crave the most, complete with chicken noodle soup!
So this gastro thing brings me onto another subject that Susie and I spoke about at length today. Prior to moving to France, I haven't thrown up since I was a kid. (with the sole exception of one really bad night of drinking!) And yet, I've been living in France for 3.5 years and have already had 4 separate instances involving barf! And I now wonder why. Susie says that all of her friends who have young ones have in the not so distant past, been hit by a stomach flu. So, is this normal when you have little ones? I know for sure that at least one of the four previously mentioned occurrences was food poisoning. I bought a "Kebab", which is a special sandwich on a baguette with lamb meat, and was sick withing an hour of eating it. Here in France, the standards of hygiene are not quite at par with those in North America. And I'm quite certain the Food and Drug Admin would have some serious issues with some of the conducts of business in the bakeries and grocery stores alike. For example, in the US, you will NEVER see someone handling money and food simultaneously. If they handle your food, they will wash with antibacterial soap after touching your money, or more commonly, will simply wear gloves while preparing the food. That don't happen here! The bakery ladies take your coins (which supposedly have more germs than a public toilet seat) all day long, in exchange for a freshly baked baguette on the shelves. But in addition to that, I have noticed that prepared foods, such as quiches, pizzas, cold cut sandwiches, chickens, etc. are endlessly displayed at the bakeries and supermarkets in a non-refrigerated section! Even sandwiches with chicken and MAYONNAISE seem to sit for hours on a room temperature shelf. Quite frankly, I think this is just gross. I am the type of person that usually throws out cold meat or yogourt and the like ON the expiration date. I won't eat leftovers that have been in the fridge more than two days and I certainly would throw out a quiche if it sat on my own countertop for 8 hours. And finally, the other thing I have observed is that the number of public restrooms around here that do not have any type of soap to wash your hands (let alone a sink to wash your hands in to begin with and rest assured if there is running water to wash your hands, it will be NOTHING but freezing cold water) are far more common than those with soap. "Le gastro" is quite a common thing around here. But is it common because my circle is now one of little children that pass along their germs all day long, or does it have something to do with the less stringent hygiene standards in this country?