I know that since my kids go to daycare, that they are exposed to more germs than if I were to be stay-at-home-mom. But I've accepted that, and love our daycare and all of the boys' teachers. About a week ago, Chase's teacher informed me that the 'hand, foot, mouth virus' was going around. I was kinda familiar with this; Austin had it when he was about 18 months old. Not too terrible, but definitely not something I wanted to deal with again. We thought we were in the clear, but boy were we wrong. He had been kind of cranky all week, not sleeping well, and had a loss of appetite. But he never really ran a fever, which is typically the first indication that he got it. Friday morning, he had a few little spots around his mouth. By that evening, there were lots more around his face. Friday night was completely miserable, as he wouldn't sleep longer than about 15 minutes at a time. I felt like I had a week-old baby! (Okay, my week-old babies always slept better than that anyways.) Needless to say, we were beyond exhausted Saturday morning.
When we got up Saturday morning, spots were all over this poor kid. Unfortunately, Jordan had to head to work, so I was left alone with a rambunctious nearly-three year old and a polka-dot-kid that was a cranky-pants. I didn't blame him for being cranky; it was breaking my heart just to look at him. We struggled through half of the day, and poor Austin just wasn't getting any attention from me. All Chase wanted was to be held by Mommy and would only sleep in my arms. Then they both got cranky in the afternoon and I was completely overwhelmed and frustrated. I did the only thing I knew to do.....threw them both in the car and drove around for nearly 45 minutes to get them both asleep. I was in tears when Jordan called, because I was just so exhausted and had reached my breaking point. I knew I had to ask for help. Thankfully, my sister and Logan agreed to watch Austin for the night. After grabbing an overnight bag for him, we were on our way to drop him off in Plano. He was such a big boy and seemed excited to stay at Meow-Meow and Uncle LoLo's apartment without Mommy.
Once I dropped Austin off and took another look at Chase and saw that the spots were multiplying by the hour it seemed, I decided to take him up to the Urgent Care center. I didn't want to brush this off as a simple (well, not so simple) case of hand, foot, mouth virus, when it could have been something more serious. This kid just looked so pitiful. Well, the doctor confirmed my mommy-diagnosis. It was one of the worst cases he had seen. :( He now had blisters/sore all over his face, in his mouth, arms, hands, legs, back, etc. It literally was taking over his body. But the bad thing is that the virus just has to run its course; antibiotics won't help. Although, he did prescribe an antibiotic because he thought a couple of the sores on his hands and mouth were starting to look infected.
After getting home, Jordan and I gave him an Aveeno oatmeal bath and rubbed him down with some soothing lotion. I rocked him to sleep in the recliner and he slept 11-7:30. Much better than Friday night. After eating breakfast in our bed, the three of us laid back down for a nap. He's definitely in better spirits today, but he still looks terrible. I can say that, because I'm his mother. Jordan's staying home with him tomorrow, and if needed, Jordan's dad is going to watch him on Tuesday. It's kind of a busy week for me at work, so I don't really need to stay home if I can help it.
Austin had a great time at Meow-Meow and LoLo's. They went to Chili's for dinner, a trip to Target, watched the Lion King, and a trip to the donut store for breakfast. Big thanks to my sis and Logan for helping out and watching him; it was a great relief!
Tomorrow's Halloween, and I'm hoping Chase's face clears up a little bit for some pictures. If not, hopefully I can Photoshop him to not look so pitiful. :(
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