Squeak Piggy Squeak?

Hayley doesn't get ill much. And when she does she tends to battle on through it. So on Monday morning when she said she felt ill I was sympathetic but not very concerned.

By Monday evening she felt worse.

By Tuesday morning it was clear she had full-on flu and could not have her childminding kids. We quickly arranged cover and I took Oliver to and from nursery, leaving work very early to do so. (My planned 10-hour day was reduced to 5.)

Last night she complained of a worsening headache and went to bed at 8pm. I retired to the spare room so as not to disturb her if I got up to the kids and to lessen the chance of infection spreading.

Late in the evening Lucy woke crying and I found she had a temperature of 101. Cue Calpol.

By morning Lucy was back to normal, but Hayley appeared saying she felt worse still. An even more complex arrangement of support from friends/childminders was arranged to have the kids (ours and minded) through the day and as I left for work having dropped them off, Hayley was talking about getting a swab taken to confirm whether she has Swine Flu.

By the time I got to work I had been up for three and a half hours and with all the rushing round felt like I'd done half a day's work already!

It's now lunchtime and Hayley is still waiting for a call back from the doctor to help decide whether to get the Tamiflu. She sounded very rough on the phone.

And there you have it. Our house is in chaos.

The only upsides I can find to all this are that it makes me appreciate what a great job Hayley does during the week with all the kids and that it has actually given me a little bit more quality time with the kids who have handled it all incredibly well and without complaint.

Anyway, regardless of what strain of flu she has, I doubt Hayley will be leaping from her sickbed before the weekend. I am now crossing my fingers that the kids don't get it.