By the amount of snuggles we are receiving, amount of medicine we are administering, and number of hours we are not sleeping, I would say we are in the midst of a very memorable week. I'll fill you in.
We arrived home from a trip to MS on Monday with a week of catching up ahead of us. Josiah went in for his well visit on Wednesday. Sarah went to the pediatric cardiologist on Thursday.
Thursday night is when things got crazy. Sarah had been saying her tooth hurt since the evening before. I assumed it was a new tooth (there is always something new to come through, right?), so when we got home Thursday evening I pulled out a flashlight and took a look. Much to my amazement, her sweet little mouth was covered with blisters. Ouch!
The next morning I called the doctors' office and talked to a sweet nurse about hand, foot, mouth disease. We talked about what to expect and how to help relieve the symptoms. She warned that it is highly contagious, so Josiah was already exposed. I hung up and prepared for the days ahead.
Little did I know what was coming. From Friday to Sunday Sarah ate nothing aside from a bite here or there that would send her into hysterics and subsequently be spit out. She could drink some water from a skinny straw, thankfully. Her checks got swollen and she had to learn to sleep on her back and not suck her thumb. At first, she was afraid to go to bed. Twice she was thirsty and drank water, only to have it come right back out.
My heart hurt so bad watching her go through this. Sometimes she would graze her face on something and just burst into tears. She would want to eat, but what sounded good to her tummy brought incredible pain. She would want to snuggle, but could only put her forehead on my chest. I think in some ways her little bubble has been burst. She knows pain now. She knows restraint.
Thankfully, this morning she was able to eat. She hasn't been waking up crying as she naps. I think she has passed the worst of it.
Unfortunately, Josiah is just getting started. His HFM journey started with a diaper rash Saturday night. In addition to this awful rash, he has gotten sores on his hands and feet and we think a few in his mouth, though we haven't been able to get in to see them. I don't think he is in as much pain as Sarah was, but he is so confused. Last night he was up from 1-4 a.m. and just didn't want to be left alone or succumb to sleep. I don't think he has passed the worst of it yet, but we hope it won't last long.
Tonight will just be one week since we returned from our vacation. Maybe week two we will be able to say things are back to normal!
Just before our trip to Mississippi I took Sarah in for her first trip to the dentist. (Aside: we met the dentist and hygienist that day, but had to schedule another appointment for the cleaning once we had paperwork from the cardiologist.) We met the kind hygienist and one of the first things she asked was if Sarah sucked her thumb or the pacifier. Somewhat taken aback, I said thumb, but not that often. I then had the exact same back and forth with the dentist. He said that it was taking a toll on her mouth and would have to be addressed at some point, but didn't have to be pressed right away.
At that point I started really watching Sarah's thumb sucking. While it mostly happened as she was falling asleep or when she was overwhelmed, it was happening much more often than I realized. I talked to her about not sucking it and quickly found that she wasn't to be reasoned out of the habit. I was a little distraught, but at a loss. Dave noted that if the dentist said not to press it, maybe we should just let it be. So we let it go.
Then the hand, foot, mouth happened. It was miserable. Her mouth was covered in painful sores. She couldn't suck her thumb.
As the children recovered I began to notice a change- Sarah hadn't gone back to sucking her thumb. As hard as it was, she had weaned herself when her mouth had the sores. The virus was so hard, but not all for naught.
I think that for me this is an instance where I can look back and see that I was called to WAIT. I didn't want to wait. I wanted to attack the problem and develop a solution. Logically, I didn't want Sarah's mouth to get worse. But look at what the Lord did so much better than I could have done?! He took care of the problem that I couldn't solve. He is good, all the time!
The next morning I called the doctors' office and talked to a sweet nurse about hand, foot, mouth disease. We talked about what to expect and how to help relieve the symptoms. She warned that it is highly contagious, so Josiah was already exposed. I hung up and prepared for the days ahead.
Little did I know what was coming. From Friday to Sunday Sarah ate nothing aside from a bite here or there that would send her into hysterics and subsequently be spit out. She could drink some water from a skinny straw, thankfully. Her checks got swollen and she had to learn to sleep on her back and not suck her thumb. At first, she was afraid to go to bed. Twice she was thirsty and drank water, only to have it come right back out.
My heart hurt so bad watching her go through this. Sometimes she would graze her face on something and just burst into tears. She would want to eat, but what sounded good to her tummy brought incredible pain. She would want to snuggle, but could only put her forehead on my chest. I think in some ways her little bubble has been burst. She knows pain now. She knows restraint.
Thankfully, this morning she was able to eat. She hasn't been waking up crying as she naps. I think she has passed the worst of it.
Unfortunately, Josiah is just getting started. His HFM journey started with a diaper rash Saturday night. In addition to this awful rash, he has gotten sores on his hands and feet and we think a few in his mouth, though we haven't been able to get in to see them. I don't think he is in as much pain as Sarah was, but he is so confused. Last night he was up from 1-4 a.m. and just didn't want to be left alone or succumb to sleep. I don't think he has passed the worst of it yet, but we hope it won't last long.
Tonight will just be one week since we returned from our vacation. Maybe week two we will be able to say things are back to normal!
Just before our trip to Mississippi I took Sarah in for her first trip to the dentist. (Aside: we met the dentist and hygienist that day, but had to schedule another appointment for the cleaning once we had paperwork from the cardiologist.) We met the kind hygienist and one of the first things she asked was if Sarah sucked her thumb or the pacifier. Somewhat taken aback, I said thumb, but not that often. I then had the exact same back and forth with the dentist. He said that it was taking a toll on her mouth and would have to be addressed at some point, but didn't have to be pressed right away.
At that point I started really watching Sarah's thumb sucking. While it mostly happened as she was falling asleep or when she was overwhelmed, it was happening much more often than I realized. I talked to her about not sucking it and quickly found that she wasn't to be reasoned out of the habit. I was a little distraught, but at a loss. Dave noted that if the dentist said not to press it, maybe we should just let it be. So we let it go.
Then the hand, foot, mouth happened. It was miserable. Her mouth was covered in painful sores. She couldn't suck her thumb.
As the children recovered I began to notice a change- Sarah hadn't gone back to sucking her thumb. As hard as it was, she had weaned herself when her mouth had the sores. The virus was so hard, but not all for naught.
I think that for me this is an instance where I can look back and see that I was called to WAIT. I didn't want to wait. I wanted to attack the problem and develop a solution. Logically, I didn't want Sarah's mouth to get worse. But look at what the Lord did so much better than I could have done?! He took care of the problem that I couldn't solve. He is good, all the time!
God's timing and means are His very own, but always right -- we just have to be patient (and maybe suffer a bit) and then enjoy the results! (Em, do you remember the Youth Choir musical "Waiters"? It was one of my favorites and I often think of it when I need to 'wait')
ReplyDeleteIf only we could see the big picture that God sees - we'd worry and fret a whole lot less! Thanks for sharing this great story!
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