Last week

Sorry I disappeared for the week. Last week was hectic!

1) Last Monday (I had the day off), Nora came down with a fever. She had had a cold for a couple weeks but it hadn't really been bothering her, so when the fever popped up I immediately called for a doctor's appointment in case it was some kind of ear infection. We went that afternoon, the doctor noticed a sore throat and some sinus infection, and gave us antibiotics.

2) I got home from the appointment and Nora was super hot and fussy. I took her temperature and it was 104.5- eek! The highest it's ever been. I freaked out- Kevin was in some surgery and couldn't be reached, and for some reason I couldn't get the phone number to go through to the after-hours doctor- so I called my mom. Then I jumped in a warm but not hot bathtub of water with a screaming baby to try to cool her off (after I gave her some more pain meds). Then she was still crying so I was running around dripping wet trying to call the doctor. Finally got through- he said to wait an hour to see if her temperature went down with the drugs before bringing her to the ER. Luckily, it did.

3) But then she threw up. All over me. The cat, of course, decided it was the perfect time to throw up all over the floor downstairs. At least after that Nora fell asleep on me.

4) Took Tuesday off of work. Nora was super super fussy and had a low-grade fever. It was a loooonggg day.

5) Wednesday morning- Nora's fever is gone! Decide to take her to daycare because I don't have many sick days to use.

6) Wednesday at noon- daycare calls and tells me they noticed a rash pop up all over Nora's body. They say she's acting okay, but they're a little worried about an allergic reaction to the antibiotic she's on. So I call the pediatrician, who tells me to bring her in.

7) Go to the doctor's office- the doctor looks at the rash, which seems to be localized to Nora's hands and feet, and looks in her mouth, noting some mouth ulcers- and diagnoses her with Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease. The doctor said that's likely what caused her high fever on Monday- the rash usually pops up a few days after a high fever.

8) Call daycare and report the findings- they have to contact the State Health department and issue a notice to all the parents that a communicable disease is going around.

9) Thursday morning, I'm not sure what to do. On the one hand, our pediatrician said now that she is fever-free, there is no reason for her not to go to daycare, and writes her a note to be able to attend. Nora is also acting pretty normal, though she does have a couple blisters on her fingers and I can tell the throat ulcers are hurting her a bit. On the other hand, I feel really guilty for bringing her in and potentially getting other kids sick (though it's most contagious in the 3-6 days before symptoms are apparent). In the end, I take her in, but feel like I did the wrong thing the entire day.

10) Friday- she's definitely feeling back to normal. I try to feel less guilty about bringing her in, since she's potentially contagious for weeks after the infection and obviously there's just no way I could take that much time off, but I'm sure this is just one of the hard parent choices that we'll be facing in the years ahead. Right now I'm just crossing my fingers no other baby in her class gets it- luckily she was home during the period she was most contagious.

So there was my week- hoping things are a little easier this week! It's also Kevin's last week in surgery rotation- super exciting. :)

The creative images you come up with when you're home with a sick baby all day