Date Day has been cancelled, the boys have Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease

So we have had a hectic few days at the Bormann household! Starting late Sunday/Monday Carter had been extra irritable and it had seemed his teeth were bugging him. Both have had fevers on and off and throwing more food on the floor than normal!

Last night at dinner I could tell Carter was a little off, it was strange because he would close his lips tight and did not want anything to do with his dinner and would cry if you attempted to feed him. Then every now and then he would have outbreaks of crying and he truly seemed in pain, much more than normal when he is teething. But we thought it was his teeth. We got the boys to bed and then Keith went to work out. Around 9:30 Carter woke up crying really hard and I picked him up pretty quick, but not quick enough because then Dylan woke up and started crying. Fortunately, I haven't been in this situation for a long time where I was on my own and both were crying hysterically. So I managed to get both to the living room and Dylan somewhat calmed down and he sat in the chair. I had a hard time getting Carter to settle down and then he finally let me sit with him. So the three of us sat in the chair until Keith got home and we were able to get them back to bed.

Then it was a ROUGH night! Almost every 20 minutes one was waking up. This lasted until around 2ish and we brought Carter to our room. Keith said he didn't get much sleep at all, but I barely noticed Carter in bed with us and was out cold. Then around 5 it started again. Keith gave up and finally got up with both today at 5:30 a.m.

So tonight Keith had a happy hour for a guy retiring at work and I got to daycare pretty close to six and right away I noticed this rash all over Carter's hands. Last night I noticed he had a few dry bumps, not red at all, so I was hoping it was just some dry skin.

So I called our clinic right away and luckily they have a lot of doctors and great hours! We were able to get a 6:45 appointment, so I got the boys home quick and tried to feed them. And they basically threw everything on the floor.

Keith got home and took Carter in and the doctor said he has a classic case of Hand, Foot & Mouth Disease, which he had been seeing several cases the past few weeks. Sounds weird and gross, right? And it is. So he certainly had all the signs: fever, rash all over his hands, feet, knees and some on his tummy, no appetite and his mouth and throat are full of blisters. Hence the irritability with his mouth, it was the blisters, not his teeth. We didn't really see them because they are back a ways and like I had said early, he had been keeping his lips closed tight! And explains the painful crying and why it seemed much worse than teething. Dylan has some symptoms. The doctor said Dylan has a 99% chance of getting it. And it generally goes away after 7-10 days and they will most likely get it again! The worst part is, it is a virus and there is absolutely nothing we can do other than give them Tylenol or Ibuprofen for pain. The doctor said the rash shouldn't cause itching or irritability, but the blisters are pretty painful. I did read online about some ointments for the blisters so I might call the doctor and ask about them. I feel so bad for them, I hope Carter has peaked and gets better quickly. Hopefully Dylan gets away with a mild case. If you want to read more, I found a good summary here.

I'm also super bummed because Keith and I decided to take the day off of work tomorrow and have a little "date day". We had a couples massage scheduled for 9 am tomorrow and then we were going to have brunch and we were still planning the afternoon. I was so excited about it and looking forward to a day together, but we will reschedule soon. Since we moved to the toddler room, they hadn't been sick once! Sure enough the day we had something special planned they got sick.

Last night they sat on my lap like this for about an hour.

I didn't get a good shot, but you can see the little red bumps all over.

He was still excited to cheer on his favorite Idol contestants.