HELP! Daycare Dilemma

Last week, I took "Dora" (my almost 2 year old daughter) to daycare at a new gym that recently opened. I have been eagerly awaiting it's opening for over a year now. In contrast to it's sister gym I've been going to forever and is 1/2 hr. away, it's only 10 min. away.

I had tried unsuccessfully leaving her at the daycare at the other gym almost a year ago over the course of several months (inconsistently, to her defense). It was traumatic every time I'd leave her as she'd burst into tears when I'd hand her over and then more traumatic when I'd pick her up and was told that she "cried a lot". FYI: I've never let her cry for more than a couple minutes ("real cry" - not the fake whiny kind that seems to be the new thing these days) since she was born. (Which is why taking her to that daycare ended up being so inconsistent, in my defense.) So, I surrendered to 3 hour journeys involving driving a total of an hour (1/2 hr. each way) to my grandmother's, who lives 15 minutes away from that gym, to take care of Dora while I'd work out, another hour drinking tea my grandmother would guilt me into lovingly make for me, and to the idea that maybe daycare would be easier for us all when she was a bit older.

Fast forward 6 months, to the Grand Opening of the new gym.

I got up the nerve to finally take her a month after the gym has been open. I had planned to leave her for only half an hour to get our feet wet. But from what I guessed to be my little Dora in the 3" x 4" quarter of the screen you'd have to have bionic vision to really see what was going on what I saw in the conveniently located monitor attached to the EFX I was using, she looked like she was fine and so I stayed a little bit longer. And when I did pick her up, I was relieved to find out she did indeed only cry for like 3 minutes.

So this time, with maybe too much confidence, I decided to take an hour long class, only leaving the class to check the daycare monitor outside the class twice. The 1st time I I leaned in as close as possible without falling into the water fountain strategically located under the monitor, and strained my eyes to see while missing 1/2 the class checked, the little figure toddling around, that I guessed to be Dora, looked like it was doing fine. The second time, I couldn't find her in the of time left without missing the entire class, and convinced myself she was fine. But, when I went to pick her up, everything was everything BUT fine.

One of the attendants scooped her up and it seemed from where I was standing, was trying to calm her down. A little too late for that, cuz not only were there tears streaming down her little face, her little body was jerking from the hiccups resulting only from prolonged crying. They handed her to me, I wrapped my body around her and gave her a tight squeeze. She looked at me, still jerking from the crying hiccups, with her big brown like I just saved her life. At that moment, it seemed that all eyes were on us. I'm sure by the wide-eyed shock on my face and the fact that I almost started crying myself, the attendant I spoke to was fearful of my reaction. But all I did was ask her why no one came and got me. Her response was that if the crying is not uncontrollable and the kid is not on the verge of getting sick(!?), their policy is that they don't get the parent. Whatever. I thought that was strange, but I don't know - maybe I coddle Dora too much. I could never just let her cry. As I tightly held Dora while comforting her, a really nice mom took pity on us and talked to me outside for a good 15 minutes re: her experience with her boys and how she totally understood how difficult it is etc. etc. and that I should just keep trying, but stay consistent.

Not only did the daycare experience suck - Dora got sick a couple days following and then of course, my husband and I got sick shortly after. We're all in the recovery stage right now.

So, the question is:

1. Do I try it again and muscle through the awfulness of the whole thing, risk getting sick while saving hours of driving and tea time?

2. Take the path of least resistance - and trauma - spend our life savings on gas, drink gallons of tea and go back to the other gym?

I think I am going to take her, but start her off in smaller increments of time, hose her down after going, and load her up with children's Echinacea and Vitamin C.

I just wish the daycare staff was obviously more attentive to her needs. I know if she was receiving proper attention when she's crying, either by being held or played with, she'd stop. But as my husband puts it "it is what it is" - that I can't change the daycare and the people there.

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