Ka-BAM!

Kim

Ka-BAM!

I feel like our house has been knocked on it's backside this week with germs.  Last Saturday started out normal enough, but by lunchtime, it was evident that Henry was not feeling good at all.  He was fussy and sleepy and just generally didn't feel good.  We spent most of the day just trying to make him comfortable and rocking him to sleep.  He didn't have a temperature on the thermometer, but he was emanating heat, so I gave him some Tylenol.  This seemed to help, but I knew we were in for a long night.  That evening, I gave him a bath just because I knew it would help him to feel better.  He did enjoy it and played in the tub, but I could tell he still wasn't right.  Luckily, his appetite was not affected at all and he happily ate as he always does.  I had a feeling we were in for a bad night and indeed we were.  He just couldn't sleep.  He had a really runny nose and every time he laid down he couldn't breathe.  Basically, we spent all of Saturday night on the couch.  He'd sleep for 45 minutes and then wake up and cry.  It was so pitiful.  Sunday wasn't much better, and I begin to notice a rash on his arms and legs.  I was afraid he was having an allergic reaction to the Tylenol, so I stopped giving it to him.  He wasn't any worse, just not any better.  He did sleep a little better Sunday night.  Our pediatrician has a walk-in hour for established patients from 8am - 9am on weekday mornings.  Since he was only a little better on Monday, and his rash seemed worse, I decided to just take him in on our way to work/preschool.  I am so glad I did.  What I thought was an allergic reaction to Tylenol turned out to be Hand, Foot and Mouth disease.  Luckily, it sounds much scarier than it is...and at that point, he was actually over the worst of it.  Hand, Foot and Mouth is a viral infection that tends to spread quickly through daycares and preschools.  It usually shows up as a rash on the hands and feet (Henry had it all over his arms and legs) and some children can get painful sores in their mouths as well.  Luckily, Henry didn't really have any of those.  The rash doesn't itch and it takes a few days to go away. I was just glad to know what was wrong.  Our doctor also said this is probably why Henry's been drooling so much over the past week or so.  Who knew?  Anyways, there is nothing you can do to treat it because it is a virus.  It just has to run his course.  We came on to work/preschool and the preschool director suggested that I keep Henry out of his class for the day, so he hung out with me.  My plan was just to work until he got fussy and then head home, but he did great and we ended up staying the whole day.  I think because he didn't feel great, he was content to just hang out and relax. 

Poor little guy. Helping mom make copies on my sick day.

I decided to keep him out of preschool on Tuesday too, just to give him another day to recover.  I could tell a big difference in his demeanor by Monday evening and Tuesday he continued to improve.  By Wednesday, his rash wasn't completely gone, and his runny nose still exists, but he was much happier and ready to play, so I took him back to preschool and he's done great since.  It is so pitiful to see him sick and I am so glad to see him feeling better.  It really breaks your heart.

Matt started feeling under the weather at the start of the week too and now at the end of the week, I am feeling it a bit.  Nothing major, just your typical fall cold that leaves you feeling weary and not 100%. 

Whew.  I am ready to get these germs out of our house! 

In the midst of all of that, we celebrated Matt's 29th birthday.  We celebrated with Matt's family Sunday night and then they babysat for us so that we could go out on his actual birthday Tuesday night.  It was nice, but he wasn't feeling 100% so I'm pretty sure it won't go down as his best birthday ever.  However, we are thankful for this past year and for all the adventures it held and we know that this next year is going to be even more exciting.  We have so much to look forward to!