According to the CDC hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) is a common viral illness that usually affects infants and children younger than 5 years old. However, it can sometimes occur in adults. Symptoms of hand, foot, and mouth disease include fever, blister-like sores in the mouth (herpangina), and a skin rash. Even typing the definition gives me the creeps- which brings me back to the glorious daycare Lawsen attends. A couple of weeks ago the Director informs me that 2 kids in the Wobbler class (Lawsen's class) had been diagnosed with HFMD. She gave me a 1 page print out from the CDC website and told me to keep an eye on the little guy. Like any sane parent I turned to google, WebMD, CDC and of course trusty Baby Center to begin my research. BAD IDEA! AWFUL IDEA. THE WORSE I'VE EVER HAD. DO NOT DO THIS!!!! The images and descriptions that are on the world wide web (do people still call it that?) are some scary ish! I totally freaked out and begin to imagine my poor son with blisters all over his hands, feet and mouth. Needless to say, we made it through the weekend with no blisters and dropped him off as usual to daycare on Monday morning. At exactly 5pm Monday afternoon the daycare calls to tell me they've noticed blisters on Lawsen's feet and hands. I was back to being a mess. I rushed to the daycare, called and made a peds appointment on the way, prayed my baby was ok with "strangers" caring for him, called my mom to see if she could fly to FL to care for him (typical recovery is 5-10 days)- oh and did I mention this was all on Eran's birthday?! As usual my lil guy was just fine! He was so #unbothered by the whole ordeal. Eran and I rearranged our schedules to care for him over the next week until his blisters were gone and life went back to normal a week later. I write this to tell all my inexperienced parents and those who are considering parenthood that 1) we are allowed to have moments of irrational freak outs 2) your kid WILL get sick! It's unavoidable- it's life. Move on!!!!! (this was very hard for me to accept) 3) Just because we know our kids will get sick it doesn't mean we can't provide a bulleted list of suggested cleaning protocol for the daycare or facility they attend -_- (don't judge me and thank you Romika for my listening to my contact rants regarding this issue) 4) If you are able to stay home an extra day with your child because they are sick or too contagious to be around other kids don't make it a somber day- find something fun to do around the house and try to make the most out of that extra time. I'm sure your lil guy or princess would appreciate it more than you'll ever know. If you need some suggestions check out this post about 10 way to enjoy your child today-happy reading :) XOXO
No comments:
Post a Comment