I guess I had it coming

Anyone that's followed this blog for a while knows that I wrote about pinkeye, and how I had unintentionally been judging those parents way back when. I just thought it was so gross how they didn't wash their hands, and didn't think anything of it. Obviously, from the entry linked above, you can see I realized that might be inaccurate, and it was unfair of me to assume they don't wash their hands.

Then there's today. I have pinkeye. My son has pinkeye. My husband has pinkeye. The only household members without pinkeye? My 3 cats. So I knew that pinkeye was highly contagious, and I knew that you could get it from not washing your hands after bathroom usage/diaper changes. When I got a letter from Bobble's school (Montessori -- he goes to childcare there) stating that they had a child with a confirmed case of pinkeye, I wasn't too concerned. That child was actually in preschool, Bobble is in the Toddler Program.

Unfortunately, Bobble has been sick since September started, much less October. Teething, Stomach Bug, Cold, Staph (rash), Ear Infection, Pinkeye, Thrush, Yeast..... it's been one battle after another. Two weeks ago was the Upper Respiratory Infection and Pinkeye diagnosis. Drats. I thought I got away without the pinkeye issue. Three days ago I woke up with a less-than-happy eye, but I didn't think it was pinkeye for a few reasons:

• Bobble has no visible signs of Pinkeye anymore
• I had no crusties or drainage of any type
• My eye was only bloodshot near the tear duct, nowhere else

Well, the following morning, I woke up with crusties and my entire eye unhappy. Shoot. On the bright side, I have the ability to just use my breastmilk to take care of it, though I wasn't certain how much or how often to use it. I called my doctor's office and they told me 2-3 drops 4-5x a day. Yes, they actually gave me a dosage for my own breastmilk. At least that means they know it will work, right?

I went to work anyway, as I had a deadline that only I could work on, and they needed it. When I was done working, they "strongly encouraged" me to go home. I was promised I wouldn't be in trouble for missing work (since I had missed a lot with Bobble lately... namely just leaving early for appointments), and then gave me the okay to take off today as well to get "less contagious". I argued a wee bit with them, saying I didn't see how it was that big of a deal. I was using germ-x at my PERSONAL computer if I touched my face (before touching my desk/mouse/keyboard again), the couple of times I used a public computer I lysoled the mouse/keyboard, and I didn't use my hands to open doors at all. I told them that it wasn't like I was going to rub my eye on people. A co-worker chimed in that you can get it without touching the person.... and that she knew this from working at a daycare way-back-when.

This intrigued me, so I Googled it. First things first, I didn't realize there was a bacterial form and a viral form of pinkeye. Here's what I learned:

Viral pinkeye

Viral pinkeye is often caused by an adenovirus, which is a common respiratory virus that can also cause a sore throat or upper respiratory infection. The herpes virus can also cause viral pinkeye.
From: http://www.webmd.com/eye-health/tc/pinkeye-topic-overview

Bacterial pinkeye

An infection may develop when bacteria enter the eye or the area around the eye. Some common infections that cause pinkeye include:

• Staph infection.
• Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib).
• Cat-scratch disease.
• Gonorrhea.
  From: http://www.webmd.com/eye-health/tc/pinkeye-topic-overview

 Soooo, as you can see, it wasn't just from "bathroom" related things! I honestly had no idea. So we all have had some sort of virus that has caused throat pain and coughing for the last 1-3 weeks (depending on which one of us it is), and my little Bobble also was being treated for a (staph) rash. I guess we were just doomed for this one.

I also thought we were in the clear when I caught pinkeye. Bobble had no symptoms anymore, as I said. He has, however, been poking me in the eye (learning body parts, and eyes/nose are his current favorites), and I'm assuming that's how I got it.

Yesterday I administered breastmilk drops to my eye. My husband insisted upon buying the eyedrop medicine. By the end of the day yesterday, my eye looked 2x better than it had (still bad though). It also was instant relief when milk was dropped into my eye. Today, my eye looks barely bloodshot at all. Nobody would think it was anything more than maybe an eyelash snuck into my eye. That's it. I love it! Still using milk, but it's always on hand, so not a big deal. My husband, however, put in eye drops last night. Instantly started going "owwwwwww, this STINGS!!!!!". He still insists that he must use those drops as he doesn't think the milk will help. I guess he likes the pain. I'm just thankful that I'm still breastfeeding!

"Lazy" parents

It recently occurred to me how insanely naïve I was about being a parent as I was growing up. I am significantly older than my siblings, being about 9 and 12 years older than them. This meant much babysitting as I was growing up, and you could pretty much say I raised them [due to family situations I’m really not going to delve into here]. 

I always wanted to be a mother, so taking care of my siblings was easy for me. I’m a natural with kids. I have a younger sister and brother, so I got to see the ups and downs or both genders. They had their ornery moments, they had their rebellious moments, and they had their quiet moments…. they still were easily managed by me. Yeah, parenting is easy. It was going to be a cakewalk for me!

My family wasn’t very well off when I was older, and we frequently didn’t have much in the house to eat. I always prided myself on my cooking and baking abilities, and I somehow managed to make whole meals out of what seemed like nothing. I made sure my siblings always had a good meal to eat when I was around. In fact, they would ask for me to make dinner whenever possible. My mother would lie to them and say that I made the food just to get them to eat… and half the time they would take a bite, look at her and say that I didn’t make it. I felt bad for my mother, but she just wasn’t as inventive as I was in the kitchen.

Let’s fast forward to me moving out. I’m living on my own in an apartment complex. There is a family living above me with a 1 ½ year old daughter. She was one of the most adorable little girls ever, and I told them they simply must let me watch her for them sometime and they can go out and enjoy some quality time. I insisted that it would be free, as I want my “baby fix”. Heck, I was in college…. I didn’t need to be getting pregnant from my (non-existent) boyfriend then! A baby fix would be great! They took me up on it a couple of times, both for going out on dates and for just cleaning around the house (or taking a nap). I loved it. We read books. We played with (read: pulled hair, appendages, and poked eyes) my (surprisingly well-behaved) cat (who hid every time she heard that little girl from that point forward), and we baked.

Yes, we baked. I would hold this little girl in one arm, hand her a spoon, and we would bake. I made pies, cookies, whatever. Yes, a toddler in one arm, and freshly baked goods in the other. The mother would be so surprised when she picked her daughter up and was sent home with fresh (from scratch) baked goods.

When I found out I was pregnant, I was thinking ahead to all the things I’d be doing. On my days off from work, I could clean, bake things with my son, and just have fun. It would be great. I just didn’t understand those people that had children and had (overly) messy houses, or claimed they couldn’t get a meal made. Those parents must just be lazy! I managed to cook, clean, play games, relax, etc. with both of my siblings and with that little girl I would watch. Yes, they must just be lazy.

Oh boy, was I ever in for it. I seriously thought that these people just made excuses because they didn’t want to make dinner, they didn’t feel like cleaning, or any other number of things.

Then I had Bobble. Bobble is now 18 months old, and I am definitely hit hard with reality. I get absolutely nothing done.  I blink an eye and he’s throwing things off of a shelf. I pick those up to turn around and see he dumped all the cat food on the floor, threw something in their water bowl, and is now throwing all of my cookbooks on the floor. I get those organized to find him having flipped a table, standing on a couch (or table), chewing a cat’s tail, you name it. I can’t even get my mind around how other parents manage to go to the bathroom, much less clean or make a dinner.

I’ve tried to cook since having Bobble. Let me rephrase. I’ve tried to cook since Bobble became mobile. I think I got as far as setting out a couple of the ingredients. Yep. That’s it. I didn’t even get dinner PREP WORK done, much less make anything. I look back on my earlier experiences with caring for children and I realize that it wasn’t me being awesome with children (although caring for children does come naturally to me), it was luck. I was lucky my siblings were obedient (for the most part…. and it was because they were scared of me), and I was lucky that neighbor girl was just such a sweet, calm, helpful little girl. She didn’t try and fling a spatula of batter across the room, she just wanted to watch me and stir if I said she could stir. Bobble will fling food whenever possible, shove his hand in whatever might seem interesting (lately, that’s been the toilet water), and if we try to get him to do something he simply MUST do the opposite. I honestly do not have any idea how my husband manages to make meals with Bobble home. I am very impressed, and very thankful.

I also tip my hat to all you other parents. For those of you with those helpful, obedient toddlers: LUCKY YOU! For all you with toddlers like Bobble: I understand, and I won’t call you lazy!

I still have no idea where this craziness that Bobble has is from. I remember crying (as a toddler) when my mother wouldn’t let me help fold the laundry because it would take too long. I was a super well-behaved child. I just wanted to be helpful and be with my mom. I’m assuming my mother just got lucky. I’m also assuming that Bobble behaves this way because my husband was a crazy child. Of course, I’m assuming my husband was a crazy child… but it certainly wasn’t me!

So there you have it: my complete misconception of how parenting would be. What sort of things did find out you were completely wrong about after becoming a parent?

Realizations

I was changing a messy diaper this morning, and I realized a misconception I've had for a long while. Everyone knows how you get pink eye.... and that's a very important reason to wash your hands! I realized that I always thought how sad it was mothers were not washing their hands after diaper changes when I read about, heard about, or saw infants and toddlers with pink eye. This morning, however, I suddenly realized how foolish of me that logic was.

Today my son left a nice, messy poop in a flat diaper that I had snappied on. This being my second time EVER with folding flats (as opposed to just doing a pad/tri-fold and laying them in a cover), I didn't do the greatest job. Great enough to look like he was diapered? Yes. Great enough to do their job for urine and stay within the Bummis cover? Yes. Great enough to hold really loose poop? Uh.... *cough* well.... you see.... um.... No. Not at all.

As I struggled to hand my son something to distract him from the diaper change, I kept having to catch his quickly moving hand and re-direct it. His hands would be near his face, and then, in the blink of an eye, he's trying to grab his bum, his toes, the wipe I'm using to get the poop off him.... anything and everything. Certainly there must be something exciting and fun down there since mom is doing something and doesn't want him to see! So as I combat his fast little hands and try to get him diapered quickly before he grabs poop, it suddenly dawned on me that I was wrong. I was dead wrong. Sure, maybe some instances of pink eye are from someone not washing after a diaper change (or worse, after they used the bathroom themselves!).... but it is far more likely that the baby was able to get their hand where they shouldn't in lightning-fast fashion.... and then find their face just as quickly.