On Wednesday when I went to pick Brenna up from daycare, she was playing with a baby boy a month older than her. They were face to face, and he took her toy out of her hands and put it right in his mouth. I teased her about giving it up so easily. And then I looked at his face. There was a massive amount of disgusting puss oozing from this kid's eyes!
I quickly grabbed Brenna away, and I asked her teacher what the deal with the other baby's eyes was. Ms. K. sighed and said, "I know. His parents say it's not contagious. They took him to the doctor and everything," and she made an eye roll as if she didn't believe them. I like Brenna's teachers, and I know their hand were tied in the situation.
I took Brenna home, but I couldn't get it out of my head (it was a lot of puss!), so I told Jamie about it. He encouraged me to call the daycare and speak to the director, so I did.
She assured me that this baby had a clogged tear duct and nothing more. I asked her to please send this child home if it was anything more, and she promised she would, and she would let me know if something contagious was in the room. So, it put my mind at ease.
Until Brenna woke up today with both of her eyes crusted over. She has never had an eye problem once in her short life, and all of a sudden she does. What a coincidence! Jamie was FURIOUS, and he was cursing.
She was in fine spirits though, and obviously this daycare doesn't consider eye crust to be all that sick (though they call me to pick her up when she poops too many times), so we just wiped the crust away and dressed our little elf. She was all set for her last day before our long break!
I got to daycare, and I nonchalantly pointed out Brenna's crusty eyes, and one of her teachers got mad about the whole situation. She was on my side, and felt that the boy that infected the room should be sent home, so she must have said something to the director while I brought in the teachers' Christmas gifts.
After hearing my concern, the director came to tell me that she thought it was best I take Brenna home until I could get her to a doctor! While this little puss oozing boy was permitted to stay and play! While I agreed that maybe Brenna should not be there, I was livid. I couldn't believe that he could stay after getting my daughter sick, but she could not.
And the director looked at me in the face and said, "That boy is not contagious. She probably got it from an older child from one of the other rooms." And I didn't even think to say, "WTF is she doing playing with an older child here anyway? We pay for her to be cared for in the INFANT room." The point is, she got it here. From Puss Face Magee or some other dirty baby, she's not alone in this.
I don't even remember what I said. But, I know I said something about how I didn't believe that for a second and how my husband wanted to pull her out anyway (from issues like them often breaking the law with their staff/student ratio, and refusing to let us use a half-tution vacation week - we get 3 a year- when she was out sick one week from Wed. - Wed., it has to be Mon.- Fri.) and this is just going to make him more mad, and I wished the teachers a Merry Christmas and slammed the door in the director's face.
So, I think we need to find a new daycare, if not now, then very soon...
I then proceeded to have one of the hardest work days of my life, lugging a miserable elf around with me on 8 different car trips as I delivered presents for needy children in our area. After that was all done, Brenna came to a high school pep rally with me, which she liked much more.
Sitting outside the gym.
Ready for the cheerleaders.
I took Brenna back to my office and to the doctors in the late afternoon. She was put on an antibiotic, and it turns out she also has ear infections in both ears! Poor girl. I feel guilty for not noticing how long she might have had that for!
I hope she feels better this week for Christmas. I'm glad I took her to the doctor, but I'm still very angry with our daycare and will spend our week off looking for other options.
We had a good night, though, and she even looked cute and pathetic with her sick eyes before bed!
Jamie and I then had a present wrapping party, and let me tell you, it was wild. I am so grateful for the next 10 days of vacation! Goodnight!
