Daycare / Cesspool of Germs

We survived our first 'month' of daycare! It was really two weeks and then two weeks of holidays, but the germs she picked up lasted the whole month! Yay! OMG so many germs.

Liam's first daycare experience, 2.5 years ago, was pretty much the same, hmmm, maybe worse even. He lasted from Monday until Thursday before he came down with a two day fever and broke out in a rash. Roseola. He was off for the entire next week. I just started my new job so I freaked out and called in the reinforcements. Mother, Mother in law, Meme (great-grandmother), Aunt, Great Aunt and his Great-Great-Aunt all drove two hours over to our place to take care of him while I went to work. So hard. Poor bean. Over the next 6 months he had countless colds, 3 ear infections and a bout of diarrhea that lasted two months (salmonella - awesome). But then, once he had everything, or so it seemed, the colds didn't run into each other quite as much. Sometimes we would get two or three weeks in between! Now that he's three and a half, he gets sick about once a month, but handles the colds much much better and is a professional puker: that kid can hit a bucket or a toilet with ease.  I'm so lucky! No, I'm serious about that. Cleaning up puke sucks ass.

This year, Adeleine made it through the first two weeks of daycare with just a runny nose. Good girl! They had warned me some viruses were going around the daycare and to keep an eye out for them - well, she got those and more! The first day of the holiday she woke up with TWO super weird butt rashes that I'm now sure was Impetigo and yeast. Followed by a snotty nose and hacking cough. Then a few days later, suddenly her hands broke out in a rash, the next day it was on her feet and this new weirdness turned out to be Hand, Foot & Mouth virus.  Disgusting sounding, but really just a harmless rash. A few days after that, she had a fever for two nights in a row, with progressively more snot and a NEW disgusting cough. Then, a trip to the doctor revealed, Surprise! a double ear infection. Poor bean. Poor, poor bean. It was a good thing I had taken those two weeks off, because I likely would have had to take them off anyway, or called in the reinforcements to make the trek from my hometown. But here is where we're super lucky: she's handling the colds and snotty nose just fine. Being a preemie, with compromised lungs, we were concerned about how she would handle common colds. Many of her preemie friends have been hospitalized with infections, pneumonia and RSV. Last year, we spent the flu season in isolation, to give her lungs a chance to heal, so this year, being out visiting during flu season and, of course, being in daycare, is a big deal for her (and a lot of worry for me). I've had her breathing checked by her doctor several times this fall already and each time I'm concerned, she is just fine. Whew! Way to go Adeleine! Way to clear your snot! I think she's on her way to becoming a professional cough-er. Oh, my kids are so talented! The things they pick up in daycare!