Another Mother’s Day has come and gone! I’m glad this one is passed too. Having TWO sick kids is not my idea of a relaxing Sunday day!
I’ve always been thankful for how healthy my girls have been. I swear sometimes it’s like I get done talking to one friend about how sick her kids are, and other calls telling me the same thing.
When Anna was a baby she did have her annual bout with Rotovirus, but other than that it’s just been a little cold here or there. Nothing too major.
Well that has all come to blow up in my face! For the past 3 weeks at daycare, the kids have all passed the same nasty cold back and forth. And not just the common cold with buggies and sore throats, oh no! This cold came with a roaring cough AND horrible chest congestion. Our poor Nina got the brunt of it and lost her voice for a good 2-3 days! Her grandson came down with Croup and since Abby’s cough was so bad, I had her tested for it. Luckily hers was just a chest cold! There were nights I had the humidifier on full blast, Abby was loaded with nighttime cough medicine and I lay in bed, sleeping between her coughing fits. A few times she would cough so hard, she’d force herself to throw up. Then she’d just stand there looking at me as if to say “WHERE DID THAT COME FROM?” Anna didn’t get it quite as bad as Abby.
So the colds are letting up, the coughing is going down and last week Anna suddenly comes down with a low grade fever for about 4 days. Now if you know Anna, you know she’s FULL of energy. The kid could play from sun up to sun down with no breaks in between. The fever really slowed her down.
And the timing for sick kids could not have been any worse. Chris has just transferred to the Layton branch and I was going to be attending our company meetings at Snowbird Resort for three days.
Wednesday morning I drop the girls off to my neighbor who was pinch-hitting for me for daycare. Now this is her first time EVER meeting my girls and we show up and Anna looks like a homeless kid! I’ve learned to pick my battles with my 4yr old, and coordinating the pinks on her outfits is not a battle I’m going to war over. I inform her about how Abby is getting OVER her cold and I’m 99.9% certain she is not contagious or anything. It’s just that residual cough that won’t go away. I also mention that Anna has dry lips and has two small bumps on her bottom lip, so I’ve packed some chapstick for her to use.
I head up to Snowbird, attend my meetings and I’m enjoying my “adults only” time.
Thursday rolls around and I call Chris. Abby had come down with Rotovirus and he is home with a sick baby. He briefly mentions something about Anna’s lips and I again mention the chapstick.
So Friday comes, I send a text “How are the girls?” Let me just say my husband is not the best at texting. In fact he RARELY texts me back, so I assume since he hasn’t replied that means he’s busy at work and the girls are fine.
NOPE!
Abby now has diarrhea and Anna has developed some type of infection on her lips, nose and chin. When I came home Friday it literally looked like she had been in some type of accident. Her lips were blistered and bloody and her chin and nose had sores all over them. Her poor little mouth was so sore she could barely eat anything without it hurting. She just cried and cried when I held her.
I relieve Chris of his doctor duties so he can head to work for a few hours since he’s now missed 2 days, and I scoop up the kids and we head to Urgent Care.
I’ve always been thankful for how healthy my girls have been. I swear sometimes it’s like I get done talking to one friend about how sick her kids are, and other calls telling me the same thing.
When Anna was a baby she did have her annual bout with Rotovirus, but other than that it’s just been a little cold here or there. Nothing too major.
Well that has all come to blow up in my face! For the past 3 weeks at daycare, the kids have all passed the same nasty cold back and forth. And not just the common cold with buggies and sore throats, oh no! This cold came with a roaring cough AND horrible chest congestion. Our poor Nina got the brunt of it and lost her voice for a good 2-3 days! Her grandson came down with Croup and since Abby’s cough was so bad, I had her tested for it. Luckily hers was just a chest cold! There were nights I had the humidifier on full blast, Abby was loaded with nighttime cough medicine and I lay in bed, sleeping between her coughing fits. A few times she would cough so hard, she’d force herself to throw up. Then she’d just stand there looking at me as if to say “WHERE DID THAT COME FROM?” Anna didn’t get it quite as bad as Abby.
So the colds are letting up, the coughing is going down and last week Anna suddenly comes down with a low grade fever for about 4 days. Now if you know Anna, you know she’s FULL of energy. The kid could play from sun up to sun down with no breaks in between. The fever really slowed her down.
And the timing for sick kids could not have been any worse. Chris has just transferred to the Layton branch and I was going to be attending our company meetings at Snowbird Resort for three days.
Wednesday morning I drop the girls off to my neighbor who was pinch-hitting for me for daycare. Now this is her first time EVER meeting my girls and we show up and Anna looks like a homeless kid! I’ve learned to pick my battles with my 4yr old, and coordinating the pinks on her outfits is not a battle I’m going to war over. I inform her about how Abby is getting OVER her cold and I’m 99.9% certain she is not contagious or anything. It’s just that residual cough that won’t go away. I also mention that Anna has dry lips and has two small bumps on her bottom lip, so I’ve packed some chapstick for her to use.
I head up to Snowbird, attend my meetings and I’m enjoying my “adults only” time.
Thursday rolls around and I call Chris. Abby had come down with Rotovirus and he is home with a sick baby. He briefly mentions something about Anna’s lips and I again mention the chapstick.
So Friday comes, I send a text “How are the girls?” Let me just say my husband is not the best at texting. In fact he RARELY texts me back, so I assume since he hasn’t replied that means he’s busy at work and the girls are fine.
NOPE!
Abby now has diarrhea and Anna has developed some type of infection on her lips, nose and chin. When I came home Friday it literally looked like she had been in some type of accident. Her lips were blistered and bloody and her chin and nose had sores all over them. Her poor little mouth was so sore she could barely eat anything without it hurting. She just cried and cried when I held her.
I relieve Chris of his doctor duties so he can head to work for a few hours since he’s now missed 2 days, and I scoop up the kids and we head to Urgent Care.
Yep, I'm THAT mom who takes pictures of her sick kid in the doctors office. This was actually after I was able to clean her lips up a bit. They were puffy and her gums were swollen too.
Abby + rotovirus = the B.R.A.T. diet. The Dr. did check her lungs and said they sound great, the cough is almost completely gone now.
Anna on the other hand not only has a funky bacteria infection on her lips, but she has STAPH. Now I have no idea what STAPH is. I’ve heard of it, but never actually dealt with it. We’re sent home with 2 prescriptions and a request to come back Monday for a follow up and told to keep her confined for 48 hours. IT’S CONTAGIOUS! Great! So not only did I take her into a NEW home to be babysat on Wed, but she was playing with her friends just the day before!! We hunker down for the weekend, Tivo in hand and the fridge stocked with popsicles!
Because Chris missed almost 2 full days of work he now has to work on Saturday so I wasn’t able to attend the Race for the Cure walk. I felt so bad I couldn’t be there to support Angie, but it’s not like you can get volunteers to babysit TWO sick kids!
As for my actual Mother’s Day, it was quite nice and relaxing. Chris made crepes for breakfast, and meatloaf and artichokes for dinner. Oh and I can’t forget the roses Anna told him to buy and the CHOCOLATE CAKE he made! He took care of everything in the house and I was able to relax and unwind. The kids were both feeling better by Sunday, but we were still in lockdown mode so we couldn’t go visit my mom or Grandma Perkins.
Monday rolls around and I get in to see regular family physician. He confirms the STAPH diagnosis and bacteria infection on her lips, but said it also appears to be cold sores on her lips.
Then the puzzle pieces start to come together.
About 3 weeks ago I had a bout with cold sores. The severe change in temperatures always does it to me (that’s what I get for living in Utah during Spring. Winter one day! Summer the next!) So here I had just gotten over mine, and *BOOM*, Anna gets a low grade fever, then *BOOM*, she gets a breakout on her lips. She’s NEVER had them before; usually she’ll set me off by using my lip gloss. So our doctor mentions that usually the first episode of cold sores is THE worst in kids, which would explain the “I just got in a narley accident” look she’s been sporting all week.
I was so hoping that Anna would not have to deal with cold sores. The Holding forehead, fine. Perkins split teeth, fine. But cold sores? UGH!! Luckily my kid is a quick healer and they appear to be going away pretty fast.
So once again we walk out of the doctor’s office with 2 more prescriptions to help prevent cold sores the next time around. It was also recommended to add Lysine to my daily vitamin intake; it’s supposed to help prevent them from even starting up. You can bet your butt I headed straight to the store and bought that right away!!
Anna is healing great and wondering when she can start to play with her friends again. I think after I make a few “I’m sorry if my kid got your kid sick” phone calls, she just might be invited for playdates again!!
On a funny note: Yesterday night I did notice a small “sore” on Abby’s bottom lip. I just about dropped to my knees to plead that she wasn’t getting the sores/STAPH. Then this morning Nina informs me that Abby bit her lip yesterday. WHEW!! WHAT A RELIEF!
I tell you what…I’m one tired mama!!
Looking out of Moab on the top of the trail.
There was a lot of waiting around on the trails this year. People break down, people get stuck, they stop for lunch and have pow-wows, but we've come to expect that with the safari's. My first safari was in 1993 and this year marked my 7
