You always hate when your children fall ill to an ugly sickness. You can’t do much for them, other than hold them while they cry. Give them pain medicine to soothe their hurting bodies and try to get their fevers down. When your babies have high fevers for days, you try every home remedy your mother taught you. You cry with them and don’t really rest until they are completely well. Mothers always worry for their children, whether they be sick or not. Do you know what’s worse than your children being sick? You, their mother being sick as well. Do you know what’s worse than that? Being 8 months pregnant on top of it all. I’ll do you one better though...what’s worse than all this? Your husband being sick as well! When your husband has a fever of 104.3, you probably start to worry a little more than normal.
This past week has been one of the hardest, especially during this pregnancy. I felt like a terrible mother. My kids ate Nilla wafers and oatmeal cream pies all week. Oh, can’t forget the Hawaiian rolls, Xander lived on those. I had no energy to cook. It took all I could do to keep their diapers changed. As long as they were eating and drinking, that’s all that mattered. Their little mouths and throats were so sore, they couldn’t eat much of anything anyway. One of our sweet visiting teachers brought us food one night and it was wonderful. My children got a good meal and there was hardly any clean up afterwards. My sweet mother came by a few times and left food on the door, mostly Nilla wafers haha. And if they want to dunk Oreos in milk for breakfast, you better let them have those soggy milk drenched Oreos, no matter how big of a mess you already know you will have to clean up. While your whole family is sick, silly things like vegetables are not important. When they finally started wanting more to eat, I was so relieved.
I cried everyday. Everyday was more exhausting than the one before and sometimes I didn’t know how I was going to make it. I didn’t want to do anything at all. But, my kids and Josef were still going, so I figured I must be doing just enough to keep things moving along...which was fine with me. Being sick was especially rough on Josef. Anyone who knows him knows that he can NOT sit still. Being home for days, feeling terrible, not working and being pitiful are not things he enjoys. By the end of the weekend he was about to go crazy I think, so was I. By Sunday, I almost completely broke down. The boys kept looking out of the window, longing to go outside. Fitz would just look out and cry. Fitz’s blisters were so bad on his feet that he had to tiptoe around some when it hurt too much to walk. Xander missed going to preschool so much. He loves getting out and playing and learning and will be so happy to go back. Thankfully Xander didn’t get it as bad as Fitz, and I had less symptoms than anyone.
Y’all, hand, foot, and mouth disease is no joke. I understand that by the time your child starts showing symptoms and you realize they are sick, you could have already infected others without realizing it. But, if you have any symptoms at all, like ANYTHING out of the normal, stay home. I know it may not be convenient and mess up your plans, but others will thank you for not getting their babies sick. The hard thing is that it’s so highly contagious, and anyone can get it, it’s sometimes too late to do anything about it. This is why I skipped a check up, Xander didn’t go to school, Josef didn’t work and we wouldn’t let anyone come over. Why would I risk infecting a whole doctors office full of other pregnant women, a whole preschool, or anyone else? Use common sense people and educate yourself. Ugh.. What’s worse is I almost knew my kids would get it. I’ve bleached, disinfected, and washed clothes and sheets nonstop. I think this year is about the worst it’s ever been and there isn’t much you can do to prevent getting it. Unless you stay at home and NEVER LEAVE. Trust me, after the week we have had...it’s tempting.
