I’m sure I am not the only one who feels like I should apologize for not making it to work because my kids are sick. Especially, when they have been sick all week with all sorts of crud and that is what sick days are for! We can’t control when our kids get sick. Well here I am, running out of sick days for work and it is only November because when my toddler gets sick, my baby does as well. Of course, it always comes a few days later when the other one is finally feeling better. But we shouldn’t feel the need to apologize. Life happens and my family comes before anything.

Earlier this week both my kids were diagnosed with pink eye. Nobody around us had it or anyone at the daycare. Come to find out they had a viral infection that caused the pink eye. I had no idea that could happen. So my toddler was given eye drops, but my son was given oral medication because he also had a double ear infection. I was told that he didn’t need the eye drops because the oral meds would do the trick. Wednesday, my toddler had a fever of 103.3 degrees before bed, which meant she wouldn’t be able to go to daycare the next day. I of course freaked out, threw her in the bath, gave her Tylenol and Ibuprofen, and then called my sister who is a nurse. My husband was like don’t we need to take her to the hospital. Luckily My sister told me when to give her meds and what to look for, but really there was nothing the hospital could do for her. If we could get her temperature down ourselves that would be best. So I woke up at 1 am to give her the second dose of medication and again at 7 am.

So, we were home again on Thursday. After all the medication my toddler seemed fine again along and both babies seemed fine. No fever, and no pink eye, I could bring them back to daycare and get back to work after being gone for 4 days. Then we woke up Friday morning at 7 am to find out that my baby boy’s eyes were significantly worse! We call the doctor and they get back to me 45 minutes later to tell me that he will need eye drops. So here we are at home on Friday which makes 5 days I have been home from work. This hasn’t been the first time I have been at home with sick babies this year and I am sure it won’t be the last.

Saturday the kids were cranky but they seemed okay besides a cough and a runny nose. Then Sunday guess who gets pink eye? Yup, I do. I am furious. On top of all this, we have been waiting since Friday to get the medicated eye drops for my baby because they were out of stock. So luckily we had some from my toddler that we used. Or else I would be out of school again on Monday and I am sure my administrator would love to hear that. Well, I went to Google to figure out how I got pink eye when both babies are clear and not supposed to be contagious anymore because Google is my best friend. What I found was that the virus can survive on surfaces for up to two weeks. To help prevent the spread of infection:

• Avoid touching your eyes with your hands.
• Wash your hands thoroughly and frequently. If you do not have access to a sink, use hand sanitizer.
• Change pillowcases often, do not share eye makeup or personal eye care products, and do not reuse tissues or hand towels on your face.
• Follow your eye doctor’s instructions about proper contact lens care.

The John Hopkins University, 2022

The life of a mom is exhausting. I will be cleaning nonstop today. Hopefully, the babies get over this viral infection and stay healthy for the rest of the year.

Below are some things that saved us this week that I highly recommend!