HFMD

That stands for Hand Foot Mouth Disease. Yep. Toni has it. Poor thing. And she JUST got over her ear infection. So last night after her bath i noticed all these red pimple like bumps all over her knees. Freaked me out. I pointed it out to junior... we could figure it out. It didn't seem to bother her. So we figured, maybe since she just started crawling and she got some sort of rug burn? I didn't know. Figured, we'd wait until morning before really worrying. If it didn't get worse, then we'd just wait for it to go away.

Well she woke up around 4am which normally she doesn't do that anymore but since her ear infection, sleep isn't as great as before. Anyway, so i get her from her crib and take her to our bed. Usually she'll fall right back asleep. She didn't this time... even after a bottle. I was trying to rub her back and legs because that usually helps and i felt it. I felt the bumps all down her legs and on her ankles. I felt her arms, but they were fine and so was her back. I didn't get it. I couldn't go back to sleep myself I thought about it for about an hour and half before I went back to sleep and had to get up in 30 mins! She finally fell asleep thanks to Junior. He held her and bounced her around until she fell asleep.

So morning came and she was dead asleep. We got ready for work and let her sleep until we were ready then we'd get her ready for school that way she could sleep in a little. So I hear I am undressing her and holy cow. the bumps on her legs and ankles are also on her feet and soles. Oh man... at this point I'm freaking out for her and for me... I've never had chicken pox! But Junior makes a good point. It's not on her arms or chest or back and chicken pox usually first shows on the chest. So Junior thinks maybe it's something in the rug... maybe she's getting bitten by dust mites. But I'm a little weary... that's WAY too many bumps to be bites. Junior thinks it's fine... she has an appointment on Saturday anyway to follow up with her ear infection. I start to go along with what he says... he is the nurse. But it just doesn't seem right to me. So he says, "If you're so worried, see if Dr. Hsu will see her today to give you peace of mind but I think she's fine." Hmmm... so I'm going along with what he thinks and then I think... I know he's a nurse and he knows way more than I do, but I think there's mothers intuition and you know when something is wrong. So I told him, I'm going to take her in. So he's all ok, let me know what he says.

I call him and tell him what's going on and the dr asks if the bumps are on the palms of her hands too. I say no. Just legs and down. So he schedules me in for today so he can take a look. After I get off the phone I think... well I didn't notice it on her hands... let me check. Duh.. I should have done that when I was on the phone. Sure enough, she has them there too. Oh great. So I call him back and tell him that she does have them on her palms. He says he thinks it may be hand foot mouth disease and that is the very first time I've ever heard of that! I was thinking hand what? He says it can be very irritatable and has she been eating well. Actually she hasn't. He says it can cause her to not eat well b/c of the pain in the mouth. Great. But at least now I know why she hasn't been eating well. I thought it was just because of ear infection and teething at the same time.

So I take her in and he looks at her and yup... it's hand foot mouth disease. Which, before the appointment, I researched because well... that's what I do. Here's a link in case you are interested to learn more: http://www.babycenter.com/0_hand-foot-and-mouth-disease_1614.bc?page=1 But he presses on a spot and says he likes the blanching (when pressure turns it white). I don't know. He inspects her mouth and yup... there are spots in there too. I would have never known. So there's not really a cure for it. All he can do is prescribe something for the pain in her mouth so that hopefully she'll eat more.

So that's we are. Is she doing better? She's doing the same. But since it's contagious, we have to keep her home which means I worked from home today and will tomorrow too. I think Monday too. Junior's off Tuesday so he can stay home. I'm really hoping I don't catch it but it almost seems like there's no hope. You catch it from contact with drool and secretion like poop and boogies. So.. she's teething and drooling all over the place and she poops like every other baby and still has a runny nose from before. Sooo... hmmm. I mean I'm washing her hands and my hands all the time cleaning her toys... but you can only do so much. Hopefully that, plus a stronger immune system, will be sufficient enough.