Hand, foot, and mouth disaease

About 2 weeks ago, we had a couple of rough nights with Emmy. It was very unlike her because she is normally a good sleeper (unlike her brother). There were 2 nights in a row where she literally slept about 1hr total. She was running a fever and just wanted to lay on my chest. Since that was the case, our initial guess was a virus or ear infection. She was so tired and uncomfortable but just wouldn't go to sleep which equals a grumpy little girl.

We were able to take her to the doctor and found out she had Hand, Foot and Mouth disease (not to be confused with foot-and-mouth). Apparently, it is very common with kids 3 and under. It is really just a virus that you just have to wait out of course, no medication. It starts with a fever for 2-3 days and then you get a lot of sours in your mouth, throat, hands, and bottom of your feet. The biggest problem usually occurs with dehydration because the kid's mouth is so sore they don't want to eat or drink anything. This was definitely the case. She wasn't eating but luckily she was taking some popsicles and slushies. She was walking everywhere on her tippy toes because the bottom of her feet were hurting so bad.

Once the fever went away they say you are really not contagious anymore and then she at least was sleeping. Luckily, it was not passed on to Bo. We are not sure where she picked it up but we did take the kids for swim lessons two days a week for 3 weeks and the symptoms started that first week of swimming from the public pool. Who knows because Emmy is always finding random things on the ground and sticking them in her mouth. She is doing much better now and back to normal so that is the good news.

Here are a couple of photos from bath time that I found funny. Bo was acting like he was Santa Clause and giving presents (handful of bubbles) to Emmy to open. She thought it was hilarious.