Florida 2015 - Out with the Bad

We just recently went on a vacation to Destin, Florida.  We tagged along with Kevin's parents and had a great time.  We went non stop while we were there and it ended up being one of our best family trips so far!  We had a few little hiccups that gave me a little anxiety before we left, so I figured I'd talk about those and then move on to all the many highlights!

Late in August Hayden took quite a spill on his bike.  He landed face first on the concrete and his bike landed on his arm.  His face as pretty beat up, but I was most concerned because he wasn't using his right arm much.  He wouldn't write with it, and complained of pain.  I took him in for an x-ray and it came back normal.  The doctor we talked to thought he strained his shoulder.  She put him in a sling to wear only as he needed it, and scheduled a follow up for the next week.  We were seen by a new doctor, and he looked at the original x-ray and said he probably had sprained his elbow.  He told me it will be sensitive for several weeks and just to have him take it easy.   Vacation spoiler #1 avoided!  (Can you even imagine the beach with a cast - I can't!)

We had planned to leave on Saturday (August 29th) for vacation.  I spent much of the week before pre-packing what I could.  I noticed early in the week Austin was very clingy and drooling constantly.  Like most moms would, I wrote it off as new teeth coming in.  I even bought him a new teether hoping that may ease some discomfort.  As the days went on and the symptoms stayed, I started thinking maybe I wasn't dealing with teeth.  His appetite was poor, he wasn't sleeping well, and those are red flags for my happy go lucky baby! 

On Thursday evening, about 36 hours before we were planning to leave, I looked at his toes because he told me they hurt.  And then it all registered.  Hand foot mouth disease.  I looked at his hands and sure enough I saw blisters forming under the skin.  The bottom of his feet were the same.  That's when I started to feel like a dummy because he complained of "toes hurting" for days but I thought he was complaining about his stubbed toe. 

I called the after hours clinic and asked what I could do for a speedy recovery because we had a vacation to get ready for - and they gave me that dreaded answer - I just had to let it run it's course.  I could make him "comfortable" with tylenol and Advil.  When your child has blisters in his mouth, and on his hands and feet, unfortunately, there is no way to make them comfortable... because they are miserable.  The Doc said he's contagions if the blisters open or if he has a fever.  He never did have a fever and the only open blisters were in his mouth.  We kept our plans like usual, and somehow it all just worked out.  He was at the peak of his sickness when I realized what it was, so every day he got better and better.  The drive to FL wasn't too bad and he managed to stay pretty happy.  I worried about Krissy getting it, but she never did.  Vacation spoiler #2 was not all that bad, and I'm so glad we hit the peak while we were home.

We were able to really enjoy this trip because we all were healthy (Austin was 100% by Monday), babies slept fairly well, and the big kids did too.