A few nights ago Porter awoke a bunch of times, wouldn’t nurse for 2 days, and eventually made it to our bed in hopes that we all might get some sleep. He’s been teething and usually just being in my presence will keep him calm enough to sleep. This night, however, he was very restless and couldn’t get comfortable. It was frustrating for all of us, but he eventually got a little sleep with his head near my feed, right under the window. It turns out that he had Hand Foot and Mouth Disease. It’s a virus that has a lot of symptoms similar to teething, headache, fever, etc.

A few days prior, he had what I thought was diaper rash, but looked like pimples all over his bottom. It wasn’t a rash after all. The telling sign came a day after the hard night sleep when I found crazy bumps on the bottom of his feet. At first I thought he had walked across something with bare feet and was having an allergic reaction, but then I remembered a Facebook post from a friend a few months ago. She posted that her kid had Hand Foot and Mouth, and then Luke’s coworker said that his kids also had it. I decided to look it up on WebMD back then, so I would know what to look for. Thankfully, I remembered the photos and looked at Porter’s hands, and he had the tell tale bumps there too. Maybe some would have taken their child to the doctor, but my intuition tells me that I’m right and that the doctor would have told us to wait it out. I took pictures and will be bringing it up at his 18 month visit next month.He’s been in much better spirits for the last couple days, but they are now turning into blisters. Ew.

The hardest part for me is that I didn’t even know he was sick until he was starting to feel better, and started to get the bumps. We were all over town this week, no doubt infecting other children around Boise. I hate that! I’ll be much happier when Porter is at an age when he can at least tell me that he’s not feeling well and I can determine if it’s teething or illness.

Had I known that Porter was sick with fever, I would have given him some Ibuprofen, NOT TYLENOL. The fever couldn’t have been very high, because I mistook it for being really hot from the 90* weather we were having and it didn’t last into the morning. That got me thinking about a blog post I read from HolisticKid.com about why it might not always be the best idea to give a child medicine to break their fever. You can read that article here. The gist of it goes like this:

“According to the National Institute of Health:Fever is an important part of the body’s defense against infection. Most bacteria and viruses that cause infections in people thrive best at 98.6 °F. Many infants and children develop high fevers with minor viral illnesses. Although a fever signals that a battle might be going on in the body, the fever is fighting for the person, not against.Brain damage from a fever generally will not occur unless the fever is over 107.6 °F (42 °C). Untreated fevers caused by infection will seldom go over 105 °F unless the child is overdressed or trapped in a hot place.So basically, the fever is your friend.  The fear comes from a parent’s misdirected concern for their child’s well-being and also a drive to relieve their child’s suffering.”

Another article by Emily at HolisticKid.com is about how she treated her feverish child with an assortment of alternative approaches, including Lemon Socks for fever. Emily is a practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine, which I know for a fact takes a rigorous course of study at a legitimate university with lengthy testing and licencing processes. She has studied holistic eastern medicine and practices acupuncture and Chinese Medicine on children and adults. She knows whats up and is obviously ready to use alternative approaches on her own children. That’s not so easy for me as a lay-person, not having studied medicine in any form. That doesn’t stop me from wanting to do my #24. And honestly, #24 won’t require a degree, just some knowledge and advice from my local Chinese Medicine Acupuncturists at The People’s Clinic and hopefully Porter’s Osteopathic Pediatrician. 

1. Travel to 6 of the 7 continents. Let’s be honest, Antarctica is a long shot. So far I’ve been to North America (Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica) and Europe (France).
2. Spend time practicing yoga at an ashram in India, with my brother.
3. Join a choral group and sing with them regularly.
4. Tour all 50 states in an RV.
5. Visit Monet’s Gardens at Giverny.
6. Take ballroom dancing classes so I can ballroom dance for fun.
7. Travel to a far away destination by boat.
8. To be exceedingly generous to my family and friends.
9. Write a book.
10. Complete all three courses designed by BKS Iyengar in his book Light On Yoga, over the prescribed 300 weeks (5.7 years). 
11. Go hang gliding.
12. Catch a baby being born.
13. Champion a cause – out of hospital midwife assisted birth.
14. Have a garden worthy of a Sunset Magazine photo shoot.
15. Fit comfortably into a coach class airplane seat.
16. Throw a huge party and invite all of our friends and family. Dancing included.
17. Go on an epic solo adventure. 
18. See Alaska by train.
19. Blow glass.
20. Visit Lapland, Finland to celebrate the Solstice with the Midnight Sun.
21. See the Aurora Borealis.
22. Be debt free. With the exception of a house mortgage.
23. Visit The Farm and hear Ina May Gaskin speak. Better yet, meet her in person.
24. Treat common colds/illnesses/ailments holistically, before resorting to pharmaceutical drugs.