We have it.
Or E has it. And we're desperately trying not to get it.
We knew it was coming eventually. Daycare. Lots of babies. Drooling everywhere, touching everything. And they super rub their eyes when they're tired. Cute, but not great for trying to avoid pink eye.
The doctor actually diagnosed him with a bacterial infection that is both in his eye and his ear and the space in between. You can actually see that side of his face is a little more red and puffy than the other side. So he's on antibiotics (that I am under strict instructions not to touch*) and should be on the road to recovery. And in the meanwhile we are doing a million loads of laundry, lysoling everything, washing our hands every two minutes, and tossing any toy that doesn't go in the wash, into the dishwasher.
I actually think we're in good shape, since almost immediately after starting the antibiotics, E's eye cleared right up. And Tom and I haven't come down with it yet, so I'm thinking we'll probably survive. It was unclear if it actually started as pink eye and spread, or started somewhere else and spread to the eye, so we might have caught it before he infected too much.
The funny thing is I almost knew something was coming. Thursday night he was acting really calm and cuddly. He wasn't whiney and fussy before bedtime, and he wasn't flailing about if I tried to hold him in my lap. As we put him to bed I made a comment like, he was too well behaved tonight - watch he's going to come down with a fever or something tomorrow. Luckily no fever, but when the call from daycare came in, I almost wasn't surprised.
On the left: E still looking a little rough, especially in the eye. When Tom got home, I said "He looks better, doesn't he!??" And Tom visibly shuddered... so we still had some healing to do.
On the right: "Clear eyes, full heart, can't lose!" Looking better 2 days out.
* I'm allergic to penicillin which has never been a huge problem - I've only needed antibiotics 3 times in my life, and I just get a different prescription. It never occurred to me that it would be a problem when my kid was taking them! Since he's a baby he takes them orally, it's a liquid that I was told to avoid contact with. Of course I was also told they can't predict what would happen if I did come in contact - anything from no reaction, to hives to something more severe. Yay. So for now, Tom's giving the medicine when at all possible.
We've also been reassured that E is no more likely than any other baby to be allergic, so that's good news!
