I was really hoping he would be fever free for at least his first year, but he made it to nearly ten months old. For that, I am thankful. I really do have a very healthy boy. A virus finally caught him this week, though.
Monday night, we noticed some red spots on the lower half of Liam's face. We weren't really sure what they were. I thought they might be bug bites because we had been walking around outside at night a little earlier. I knew that I ended up with a few little bites myself. They didn't seem to bother him at all. I put him to bed, and the next morning when he woke up, he was really warm. I took his temp, and I think it was 100.9, which was the highest I'd ever seen his temperature. I dressed him in cooler clothes and made sure he drank a lot of liquids.
I called the pediatrician's office and spoke to the nurse. She asked me questions and determined over the phone that it wasn't chicken pox. She said they don't like kids to come in when they have chicken pox because it's so contagious. So I made an appointment and took him in. By then he had more red spots on his wrists and his legs. Over the course of the morning, his fever had gone down some, but he was becoming progressively crankier. At the pedi's office, the nurse took one look at him and said hand, foot, and mouth disease. I freaked out a little on the inside because that sounded bad...the word "disease" is in it after all. Then she said it wasn't a big deal, that it was a virus, and that it would just run its course. Then she said the sores would get worse and that he would get some in his mouth and throat. The doctor then came in and confirmed the diagnosis and looked in his mouth. He didn't have any sores in it at that point. His temp was 100.1 at the pedi's office. I was told to make sure he stayed hydrated and that I could give him infant tylenol for the fever and discomfort. I had to buy some on the way home because I never needed it before. I also called the preschool minister at church and let her know Liam had this virus. He had been in the church nursery Sunday morning, either picking it up there or possibly spreading it. I don't know if it's possible to have it and spread it without any symptoms, though, and he certainly seemed perfectly healthy all day Sunday.
At home, Liam started refusing to eat anything, but at that point was still drinking bottles on a regular basis. He was really whiny and I spent pretty much all afternoon holding him. He was still pretty warm with fever, but not scary hot or anything. I decided to try giving him a little bit of tylenol (I actually didn't get tylenol brand, but Little Fevers since it had no artificial dyes in it. Same ingredients otherwise, though.) We were both sitting on the floor, and I squirted the medicine in his mouth...and then he immediately threw up. In my hand. Gross. I had no choice but to wipe it on my shirt. The joys of motherhood, right? Will's probably going to be mortified that I wrote about that, but I know other mothers can relate. After the whole clean up process, Liam was even more pitiful and that was when he stopped wanting to drink much. I think it also coincided with him getting some sores in the back of his mouth and having a sore throat.
Then the objective became not letting Liam get dehydrated. He was still feverish and now didn't want anything in his mouth. I knew that was a bad combination. I tried several different cups and bottles as well as formula and water, but he pushed it all away. At some point I strapped him in his high chair and squirted water and formula in his mouth with a medicine dropper and closed his mouth to make him swallow. He was not a fan of that, but it was for his own good! Sure enough, despite getting what little bit of liquid I could in him, he went seven hours without a wet diaper. Seven! I was freaking out. Then he drank a few ounces and had a wet diaper...and then he went seven hours again before the next wet diaper! I will say that he was asleep for a lot of those seven hour stretches. That's where we were on Wednesday morning, only 3 wet diapers in 14 hours. But he wasn't acting dehydrated-still smiling, playing, and his fever was completely gone by Wednesday morning.
At some point when he still had a fever, I tried giving him tylenol again. And he threw up again. This time though, I had a cup handy. Note to self: don't give him that kind of tylenol again!
All day yesterday, we played and smiled a lot. Liam was acting completely normal except the refusing to eat thing. Thankfully, he did up his bottle drinking frequency although it wasn't a lot at each feeding. I could only get 2 or 3 ounces in him every few hours. I tried all the time though and made sure he got at least some liquid every hour. Thankfully, Liam had regular wet diapers yesterday! Not much in them, but something regularly. I tried feeding him food a couple times and he didn't want it. He did eat some puffs a few times throughout the day, though. Then at bedtime he threw up yet again, even though tylenol was not involved at all.
Today is like yesterday, acting normal but he doesn't want to eat and will only drink occasionally. Regular wet diapers, smiles, and lots of playing. Still will not eat, though! How long can he go without real food, just with occasional formula and pedialyte? I don't think his mouth hurts anymore, because he's been chewing on toys. His throat may still be sore, though, and I suppose he has a decline in appetite because of the virus. Tonight was rough. He really needed to drink, but he kept refusing it. We tried lots of different ways to get liquid in his mouth. We got some in, but he wouldn't drink a bottle. It's so frustrating to me because I don't want him to get dehydrated. He fell asleep. I'm praying he wakes up thirsty.
The virus generally takes a week to ten days to run its course. The sores on his face already look better, but the ones on his wrist and legs still look bad. His legs are pretty much covered. Thankfully, they are not itchy and he doesn't mess with them at all.
So that's Liam's first illness. Poor kid.
ETA:
The above was written on Thursday and I never got a chance to post it because it's been kind of crazy around here. Will came home sick on Thursday and went to the doctor Friday. His flu test was negative, but they prescribed him flu medicine. Thankfully, if it is the flu, it's pretty mild. Liam still didn't want to drink much for most of the day Friday. He would eat puffs (seriously, with Liam, puffs cure everything) and yogurt bites. I had to give him most of his liquids with a medicine dropper because he refused to drink from anything. Thankfully on Friday night, he did start drinking from a bottle again, and I finally got him to eat some oatmeal. Today (Saturday), he has drank pretty well from his bottle, but still won't eat much except the puffs, yogurt bites, and some oatmeal. At least he's getting some greens from the puffs and fruit + probiotics from the yogurt bites! He's having full, regular wet diapers again. The sores on his legs have also gone down a bunch, but he stills looks like a swarm of mosquitoes got him. I think he's on the upswing finally :)
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