Day Care Cooties

In December I increased my work hours to 30 hours/week so Seth started going to day care every day.  I knew he would probably get sick again because he would be exposed to germs all day every day...and he sure did get sick.  I think it seemed like he was sick all December, January, and February with colds, an ear infection, a weird stomach virus....too many things to count!

Then in the last week of February I got a phone call from the day care that Seth got hit in the mouth with a toy and was bleeding and that he may need stitches.  So I rushed to the daycare to get him and surveyed the damage.  He had a big fat lip but the bleeding had stopped so we didn't take him to the doctor.  We thought it couldn't get worse than this!

BUT...the very next day when we picked Seth up from daycare there was a notice on the door that hand-foot-mouth disease had broken out at the daycare and to keep an eye on your child for any potential symptoms because the virus is HIGHLY contagious!  I checked Seth's hands and feet obessively over the next few days and by Friday when I picked him up from the daycare, the daycare director said  they were dilligently checking all the kids when they changed their diapers and no one else had gotten the virus so Seth was probably in the clear.

LIES!!!!!!  When I brought Seth inside the house 10 mintues later, Clint immediately picked him up and went upstairs to change his diaper (isn't he a great husband?) and he came back down and showed me Seth's bare legs.  He had the rash all over his legs and even worse in his diaper area.  I found out later from a friend who has her son at the same daycare and from a daycare worker the next week that more than 10 kids got the virus.  I was ready to let the director have a piece of my mind but they gave us a discount on Seth's monthly tuition so I just let it go. 

But I will say that the first night that Seth had the breakout was one of the worst nights of sleep I have ever had.  They say that the virus turns into ulcers in the child's throat so it makes it really painful for him to swallow.  I could tell Seth was dealing with that.  He woke up 2-3  times EVERY hour the entire night and would cry for 10-15 minutes at a time.  All I could do was just cuddle him all night and try to soothe him but the poor little guy was in so much pain! 

The next morning we just layed on the couch like zombies and he fell asleep in my arms.  You can start to see little red dots have spread to his hands here.

This is what his legs looked like on Friday night...how could a daycare worker be "obsessively checking for the rash" and NOT see this when changing Seth's diaper...I think the daycare director was lying through her teeth!

It even spread to Seth's face! 

This was taken on Tuesday morning.  He was almost not contagious anymore.

It's these sorts of things that make me feel guilty for being a working mom but he generally really loves it there and plays all day long.  He usually doesn't want to go home when we come to pick him up so it has to be more fun than our house!