Well...unfortunately, in this case, it stands for Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease. Yep, we got a confirmed case.
Poor, poor William! Late last week, he started with a low grade fever. On Friday night his temperature was around 99.3 and I gave him a dose of Motrin just to help him feel a little better. Then on Saturday I noticed a few small red dots on William's face. I was worried that it could potentially be an allergic reaction to the Motrin. He acted pretty normal though and his temperature was just a little higher than normal. On Sunday, his rash had spread and he wasn't acting like himself. I was starting to get a little worried. After his first bottle of the morning, he threw up...and sorry, this might be too much detail...but it didn't smell like normal baby spit up. It had the real (grown-up) vomit aroma mixed with spit up smell. Let me just say, I really like the spit up smell much better!
Through the day he was acting just pitiful. No smiles, no laughing, no talking (or some people might describe it as hollering without using his "inside voice" - it's funny)...Thomas and I could both tell that something just wasn't right. He cried a lot and it broke my heart to see his eyes all red and these big tears just rolling down his cheeks. He wanted to be held and I was glad to oblige. I did not, however, get much done during the day - imagine that. Although he was acting pitiful, he didn't have much of a fever. He threw up a little again in the afternoon and after I fed him a few bites of green beans at dinner, he threw those up as well. I called in and talked to the nurse at my pediatrician's office a few times throughout the day. The nurses couldn't diagnose it over the phone but gave me some advice not to let him get dehydrated, what to do if he continued to throw up (he didn't), how to help his rash (lukewarm bath with 2 tablespoons of baking soda) and to monitor him and call back if it got worse.
On Sunday evening, he took his last bottle and kept it down and slept well throughout the night. Monday morning he drank his bottle and kept it down as well, but the rash was even worse! I called and got one of the first appointments. It didn't take long for the doctor to diagnose my sweet William with Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease. Side note: he currently weighs 21 lb and 7.5 oz. :) Luckily, hand, foot and mouth disease is a harmless virus. I got a handout to read and learn more about it. It is very contagious and I'm actually surprised that Stokes and Ryan don't seem to have it yet. I have my fingers crossed that we can somehow avoid passing it around! Would that be too good to be true?!?!?!
Anyway, William is feeling much better and acting more like himself. I've seen some smiles and got him to laugh some but his rash is still in full effect. We will just have to wait it out. I think the worst is over and it's downhill from here. My William has been a little trooper!
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| Close-up of rash on face |
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| Rash on left foot |
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| Rash on right foot |
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| Rash on legs - but look how squeezable those chunky legs are! |
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