Oh. My. Goodness. I'm not sure how, but we survived Hand Foot Mouth Disease. I'm praying and hoping that we never go through that again! Here's a run-down of how our week went. Pictures to come.
Sunday: Charlie had a fever all day. (See post below for details on his story.)
Monday: Sent Charlie to school unknowing that he had HFMD.
Tuesday: Picked up Charlie from school due to a rash. Took Charlie to urgent care. Got the diagnosis of HFMD. Matt and I were up with Charlie a handful of times throughout the night.
Wednesday: Charlie stayed home from school; not because he was contagious (according to the doctor at urgent care), but because he had some sizeable blisters on the bottom of his feet and I simply didn't want him to be limping around school all day. Also, I'm not afraid to admit that I was a little nervous about him being teased or picked on because of his rash. I did not want to send him into the lion's den of inquisitive and insensitive kids. Some time at home seemed appropriate.
Alanna woke up with a fever. She said she wanted to skip breakfast and just have some cold water. She complained a lot about a sore throat. I gave her a go-gurt tube around 9 thinking that it would be cold on her throat and easy to swallow. I helped her squeeze it and eat it in the recliner while watching Curious George. About halfway through, she threw it up. I gave her a bath, which as we all know is not a fun process for the sick child - especially when she was feverish. Talk about shivering! :( I felt bad but she needed a bath so we had to do it. She then proceeded to sit relatively still most of the day just watching tv - Curious George in the morning as well as Frozen and Toy Story in the afternoon. She drank about 12 ounces of cold water throughout the day and ate two popsicles and a half a piece of bread. I got her to take a short nap just after lunch. She slept for about 50 minutes. Best quote of the day by Alanna: "I just feel so bad for myself!" :( Poor little girl.
At one point that morning, I took Alanna's temperature. Molly didn't want to be left out so she came toddling over and stuck her ear out so she could have a turn. I humored her and found that she was at 99.7 - surprise! She looked fine, acted fine, ate breakfast just fine, but since her temp was slightly elevated, I figured it was only a matter of time before it got really high. It crept up to about 100 around lunch and peaked at 101.8 or 9 after her nap. She had the lowest fever of all the kiddos. Neither Molly or Alanna slept that well that night, waking and crying often. There was a stretch between 3-6am that the house was pretty quiet, but that's about it. Also, my friend Jennifer texted me that evening to see if she could drop off some curry chicken soup without even knowing that we had been battling illness all week! She did a drive-by souping and dropped off a bowl of soup and bread on our doorstep for us to have for the next day. It was really yummy soup, but more importantly, it confirmed that I have some great friends here in Roseburg. Some very generous, thoughtful, God-fearing friends.
Thursday: Alanna woke up without a fever and in much better spirits. She still ate a smaller breakfast than normal but she did indeed eat something. She still complained of her throat hurting. Charlie slept in until 8 and Molly slept in until 9:30. I had tentatively planned to take Charlie to school at some point on Thursday so I called the school and told them that he would be in after lunch. Charlie was back to normal and his blisters were definitely healing but obviously not gone. He seemed up for going to school so the girls and I dropped him off just after noon for a short day. Molly seemed to have a residual fever but it wasn't really a fever since she only clocked in at about 99.5ish or below - just running a bit warm. She took a 2 hour and 40 minute nap that afternoon and was eating and drinking maybe a bit less than normal, but nothing to be concerned about. At this point, I was letting the kids eat and drink whatever they wanted. We spent a low-key day at home (except for Charlie's half day at school) just playing and waiting for the onset of the blisters. Molly started getting a few late in the day.
A few pictures of Charlie's hands on Thursday afternoon, so on his third full day of the rash. His biggest blisters were on his toes.
Yeah, smile it up, girls. It was about 10:30 in this picture.
Friday: Charlie went to school and had a relatively normal day. When I picked him up, the first thing he did was pull his arms up and bend his elbows so I could see some brand new bloody scrapes on his elbows from a fall at recess that morning. Oy. As if he needed any more marks on his already blistered body... :( Other than that, he had a good day. :) Alanna's blisters seemed slow to come on. I was thinking that she was going to get the worst rash of all three since her fever was so high, but I actually think the opposite happened. The kids' rank in order of highest to lowest fever: Alanna, Charlie, Molly. The kids' rank in order of most severe to mild rash/blisters: Molly, Charlie, Alanna. Molly woke up with lots of spots and kept getting more as the day went on. I thought her rash peaked on Friday but it kept coming on well into Saturday. I think it finally crested on Saturday afternoon. She got a bunch of rash on her butt, including a pretty big blister right in her butt crack. At one point on Saturday evening, she pooped and instantly froze and started crying because the poop was burning on her blistered butt. OW! :( She also had a little tiny scratch on her nose from a little fingernail a few days before the HFMD set in. Unfortunately, she developed a sizeable blister right underneath the scratch! Ugh! Of all the places! Anyway, my friend Anna sent over a lasagna and popsicles for Friday night out of the kindness of her heart. She texted me the day before to see how I was doing in regards to being huge and pregnant, so when I shared the HFMD news with her, she was super quick to offer some food. See what I mean with the generous and kind friends I have? In addition to the HFMD, Matt came down with a fresh head cold. Nifty.
There is one more picture that I would love to add just for my own record, but it's a full shot of Molly's bum which I'm not sure I should put out in cyberspace. (Is that a term nowadays? Haha!) Anyway, it does a better job documenting how much of her rash was concentrated on her diapered areas. I'm sure you can paint your own mental picture.
Saturday: Like I mentioned, Molly's rash didn't peak until after nap that day. Alanna's rash didn't really develop other than a few dozen spots scattered about her body - so mild compared to Charlie and Molly. She didn't even have anything picture worthy! I spent the day still nursing the kids back to health while Matt blew his nose approximately 206 times. Seriously, family. We need to pull ourselves together!!
It was quite the week. I was honestly quite relieved when the girls' fevers showed up on the same day. I had visions of this lasting well into this week, so not ideal since it's baby week and all. The rash is still healing on Charlie and Molly, but we are mostly back to normal. Matt's still feeling the affects of his head cold and body aches but seems to be on the mend. And me? I managed to escape HFMD and the head cold... so far. Pray for it to stay that way!
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