Child vomiting and I’ve got a huge meeting tomorrow

[MammothyGoodness]

So my youngest has started vomiting. It’s like the exorcist, walls, carpet, bed etc. not the best news but normally I can manage. Except tomorrow I’ve got a huge meeting, massive. I’m Meeting some potential investors, taking them on a tour of our offices, showing them how our product works and then presenting in the afternoon. Others could probably do some of it, but I’m the point of contact, I’ve worked my ass off on this for months, and now I’m stuck. School won’t take her if she’s thrown up. I don’t want to send her in if she’s sick. I’m a single parent. Family are away, I’ve literally got no one who can help me. I can’t leave her, which means I can’t go in. So now my meeting is ruined and I could just cry

@MamaAndTheSofa the point I'm making is that schools and nurseries are a breeding ground for germs and illnesses. You're never going to mitigate them all. I'm not saying a clearly unwell child should be sent into school but I think the 48 hour thing is a bit pointless when kids have usually been shedding viruses before they even became symptomatic.

But this makes zero sense.

It's like saying that ypur shopping is expensive and cost £10 when you only had £15 left. But you have them £15 because they were taking your money anyways.

You need back up for this situation . My babysitter ( retired neighbour) would sit int eh house with a poorly shops for me for if DH and I had to got to work. If you have a decent job you need a contingency plan.
I would help out a friend in this situation too if i were wfh

Assuming you're senior enough to make the decision, offer one of your colleagues a nice cash payment for coming to sit with your child for a few hours. Presumably they know how important tomorrow is for the business. It's unorthodox, but you may well find someone willing to help. I would if it happened at my work and I'm pretty senior.

Or if you're not the top decision maker speak to them as they'll want to facilitate it all going well. Perhaps they have a partner, grandparent or nanny that could help?

I wouldn't assume a friend won't help. I'd find a way to juggle my work to help a friend if it was such a crucially important meeting. Even if I worked from their dining room with the windows open whilst child watched films in the lounge or whatever. The adult can call on their covid experience, mask up and wash their hands a lot. I'd be rather disappointed a friend didn't think enough of me to ask.

Can you do the presentation remotely, at least?

You'll need to zoom the meeting. It's your only option.

Do not send her into school.

The timing is terrible and I really feel for you.

only option I can think of is to do the meeting remotely.

And focus on building a support network/ back up plan for when it happens next time.

I would. Not fair to others.

You would if she gave it to your children, you caught it from them and developed a post viral illness that left you bedbound for a year.

Good suggestion

Absolutely correct...Norovirus is catching once vomiting and the runs start.
Norovirus {which is what it sounds like} is ''Turd to tongue'' from unwashed hands or vomit particles in the air- it's horrendously catching, and alcohol wipes and gels don't kill it.

Only bleach for surfaces, and soap and water for hands.

48 hrs before you should be mixing with others.

I mean realistically it would be a logistical nightmare and difficult when she's so young and hasn't had a babysitter but do you live/work anywhere near a nursing uni or a college that does childcare? When I was doing my training if a nicely paid job to sit with one kid who was a bit poorly came up I'd jump at the chance and obviously vomit wasn't a problem and you know all the students are PVG registered. I actually had to do it myself once when I had an exam and a very clingy child and waiting a place for nursery to start...paid a student pediatric nurse to wander around with the pram around where the uni was while she was in between lectures and I was sitting my exam.

You should be able to do the big presentation on Teams or similar, even recorded if necessary but probably better live, with an understudy lined up to take over if you have to dash off.

Good luck with it andI hope your daughter feels much better tomorrow. Sometimes these things are very short-lived, however nasty.

When you talk to your investors, put a spin on it. You are protecting THEM by not meeting up with them, as it is very likely that you will come down with the NV shortly and you are not prepared to be a carrier!!! As others have suggested, do as much liaison as you can with them by Zoom/Teams, and delegate the actual walking around to a colleague, offering the investors the chance to meet up with you once the danger of infection is over.

Is her Dad nearby?

Postpone the meeting.

There is a good chance you’ll be ill with it yourself tomorrow anyway.

Sitters.Co.uk

Absolutely this, although I'd go with "distinct possibility" rather than "very likely". They would not thank you if you struggled in to do the presentation, and then there was a cascade of infections resulting from that, which then impacted their ability to do their own work.

For goodness sake, that’s the height of selfishness. What’s wrong with you?

This is just plain selfish, as well as ignorant of the facts. Why do you feel that medical knowledge about the length of time someone is still infectious is ‘nonsense’? Why do you know better? And why is it ok to make other people ill just because you could get away with it because ‘ nobody would know’.

This is just plain selfish, as well as ignorant of the facts. Why do you feel that medical knowledge about the length of time someone is still infectious is ‘nonsense’? Why do you know better? And why is it ok to make other people ill just because you could get away with it because ‘ nobody would know’.

Yeah I remember way back in the 70s a child sent into school sick (poor kid) who threw up in the class room and parent called in . They knew fine she was sick but sent her in any way . So that was nice the classroom stank for ages 🤮 .

There's a chance she may be better in the morning