I am 29 and have suffered from emet for as long as I can remember. I have 2 kids (6 & 4). I would love to have another one, and my husband wants another, but I am terrified to add one more member of the family likely to get sick. Part of me says that I am going to be terrified anyways, so why miss out on the joys of another child, because I will still experience the fear with or without. The other part says I am a terrible mother when it comes to having sick children, so I shouldn't have another.

Just today my 6 year old had art class, and my daughter and I went in to get him when it was over, and after he got in the car he told me a kid in his class got sick in class, in the same room as him and the room we went in to pick him up. I immediately purelled(it's a verb in my book!) their hands and as soon as we got home I made him strip and shower, and then my daughter, and then me. Sprayed anything we touched, including our shoes with lysol, and washed the clothes. I am having hubby pick up grape juice and apple cider vinegar and hopefully some activated charcoal up from the the store on his way home, but am worried that drinking the juice 6 hours after exposure is too late! My kids are supposed to spend this weekend with grandparents, so we can finish up some house projects, but I also don't want them to go there and then get sick and put that on my mom!

Some days including earlier today before art class I am confident in my ability to handle another child, but then something like this happens and I go into panic mode and think how awful of a mother I am! I am so angry that I have to live my life like this and wonder if there is any chance of me being able to have a normal life with my kids? I am afraid of taking road trips and traveling with them for fear someone will get sick in the car or on the trip and ruin it, etc. Any trip for holidays or anything stresses me out so much before hand because I am afraid someone/everyone getting sick!

I have gotten better about some things, like letting them go to the hands on science museum, with only hand sanitizing at the end, but the second I hear of someone else being sick, or one of my kids says their tummy hurts I go into a panic attack, and am extra anxious for a week or so until I feel like we are in the clear.