and we still don't have swine flu

My friend T babysat Blake while Rob and I went packrafting this weekend (another post, but packrafting is great fun, and now Rob wants one!). Before she could say yes, she first needed to run it by another friend, for whom T was already babysitting on Saturday. This friend is a classic "new" or "first time" mother, as typified by her slightly paranoic response to T's query about watching both kids at the same time:

I am okay with that so long as this boy hasn't been to Mexico recently nor has been exposed to swine flu in any way.

T assured her that neither was the case, though she wisely withheld the fact that Blake attends preschool, which is a veritable sea of infectious disease (you'll never be as sick as the first year you're a preschool teacher or a pediatric nurse... after which you'll never catch anything ever again). She did let me know of the little hang-up, and we enjoyed a chuckle at the new mommy neurosis. I probably enjoyed more of a chuckle and an added eye roll, remembering the first few months of Blake's life, where I carried around Purell and insisted folks wash their hands before holding him, though he did have a persistent cold for the first six weeks or so, which makes my neurosis perfectly justified.

Well, T called me on Wednesday with news that, while insanely comical, is also a little horrifying. This new mom just got the tests back, and she has swine flu, the second (or so) case in Gallatin Valley, and they've no idea how she contracted it.

On the one hand, I feel for her fear for her family and discomfort for herself - though it's looking like she'll be fine. On the other hand, I'm really grateful she got it diagnosed before the dual babysitting job, because she probably would have blamed it on Blake!