The baby had something coming out of his face.
The doctors were surprised when they discovered what it was.
Lena left her house every morning to the animal daycare center she had founded two years ago, and that had brought her a completely unexpected economic success to her life wife. It had all started because one of her friends had to travel urgently, she complained because it was difficult to find someone to take care of her cat the day she was going to be away. And while they were talking, she said that she wished there was a daycare center for pets. For Elena’s friend. It was nothing more than a random comment, but for her, it was an idea that obsessed her, and she started an animal Daycare Center.
She had inherited a large piece of land from her grandparents a few months ago, and she did not know what to do with it. She was in a bad financial situation and had tried to sell it, but there seemed to be no one willing to pay the amount she considered fair. Until now, she had felt unable to start a business there. She had considered building a greenhouse or sheds, but neither option seemed viable because there were already several businesses like that in her town. But there was no pet daycare, and perhaps her friend was not the only one who would wish that something like that existed.
When she had to travel and trust her instincts and desperation, she invested everything she had left to adapt the grounds for that purpose. With the help of a veterinarian friend, she began advertising all over town door to door with posters and Flyers. She was sure someone would need her services soon. Her friend, who had to travel frequently, was the first to drop her pet off at the daycare, and the cat had so well cared for that she took it upon herself to recommend Lena’s business to her friends, and they were recommending her to more people. There was not a week when the daycare was not full.
Dogs, cats, rabbits, turtles, birds, and even hamsters were successfully cared for there. A few months later, her work team had grown and everyone was earning very well. And when she decided to start offering dog training services, the profits doubled, and there was not a single client who was not satisfied with her work. So Lena, who six months ago was at the lowest point of her purchasing power, saw herself now not only living better than she had imagined but also guaranteeing the wellbeing of the 15 people who worked with her and who adored her. To Lena, the animals they cared for were like her children, and she hadn’t sat down to think about whether she would ever want to have a biological child.
By then, she was engaged to the man who had helped her start her business, and they were such a good team at work that it wasn’t unreasonable to think they would make good parents if they wanted to. However, neither of them was ready yet for that conversation that came up a few months later, spontaneously after their first month of marriage. The moment Lena suggested that a child might be good in their lives, her husband didn’t hesitate. They both agreed, and it would just be a matter of starting to try. They didn’t have to wait too long because two months after that conversation, Lena had become pregnant.
They were happy and hopeful for the future until her doctor told Lena that she had to stay away from animals if she wanted to avoid risks in her pregnancy and the proper development of the fetus. But Lena was not willing to leave aside her furry friends and did not pay attention to the recommendations. Fortunately, her pregnancy was completely calm and there was no indication that her baby, who they already knew was a boy, had any health problems. Mother and child were doing perfectly well and it was not long before she would be able to cradle him in her arms only during the week before the birth, Lena stopped working and decided to take a two-month leave after giving birth to devote herself completely to her son. But after that she would return to work and her son would go with her and she was sure that nothing bad could happen.
Both the delivery and the first two months of life of their Little Manuel passed calmly and filled the hearts of the first-time parents with the purest love. The child was very calm and surprised them all. They didn’t know what it was like to be kept awake by their babies crying, nor were they afraid to stop looking at him for 2 seconds because he was so judicious that wherever they left him they would find him again looking at them with his curious eyes, knowing that their son was so calm made Lena’s confirmed that they might as well take him to work with them. They would also leave him in their office with his toys and from time to time they would entertain him with the animals and teach him to be close to them and to love and respect them at the same time. They hoped that he would grow up with the same vocation and that he would work with them when the time came.
So it was that as soon as the two months were over, Lena went out with her husband and baby to the daycare center. She was anxious to see her baby’s reaction to the animals and to introduce him to all her employees who were also anxious to meet Little Manuel and the first day back went so well that Lena no longer doubted that she could be a mother and continue working normally without her work interfering with each other. Manuel, on the other hand, never laughed so much as when he saw the dogs doing jumps and tricks or when he saw the cats licking themselves. He tried to imitate them more than once, and his parents were happy to see that their son was growing up, as they would have wanted him to be in contact with pets and sensitive to animals. The beautiful baby was now six months old and happier than ever in the midst of his animal friends, and the animals loved him, too, because when they were near the baby, they moved with the utmost gentleness and looked at him as if to tell him that they were there to take care of him.
Many of the clients thanked Lena because since she brought her baby, her dogs had started to be friendlier with the children in the parks, and in general they interacted better with humans. It seemed like a win-win. Lena, who knew it was an ignoble prejudice to believe that animals made baby sick, was also aware that she just had to keep him safe from fleas or ticks, and so all the pets she cared for were always clean and well cared for, and she kept her baby clean and checked him after each day to make sure everything was going well. However, one day something unexpected happened this morning, Lena discovered a red spot on her son’s cheek, perhaps a mosquito bite, and she did not pay much attention to it. But by the afternoon the spot had tripled in size.
It was swollen and hot, and so they went out with the baby immediately to the doctor’s office. They were told not to worry that it was probably a bite that had become a little infected and with an ointment it would soon go away. But the next day the ointment had no effect. Instead, the spot had become a large lump that looked like it was about to explode, and Manuel had a fever. So even though the doctors seemed unwilling to pay attention to it, Lena and her husband were so insistent that they finally got it taken care of.
When the doctors put some pressure on the lump, something white started to come out. They thought it was puffed, but it had been reabsorbed when they stopped putting pressure on it, which was unusual. So they put pressure again but prepared with the forceps. They took what came out, which to their surprise, turned out to be a worm. They pulled carefully until the worm came out completely.
It was 5 CM long and Lena almost fainted when she saw it come out of her son’s cheek. How had the worm gotten there? What they deduced was that it had been caused by the bite of an infected flea. Manuel had to be put on antibiotics for several days until the swelling and fever went away. However, after that experience, Lena realized that no matter how hard she tried to keep her baby and the animals clean, it was too much to control and that it was a risk for her baby to be around all day.
But as they did not want to deprive him of contact with animals, they adopted a cat and took him home with them. The cat would always be clean and inside the apartment and could be close to their son without risk. So they did. And just as they expected, Manuel grew up and never again had any problems derived from contact with his cat that had become his inseparable friend. And after his first seven years of life, the boy was again close to all the animals that were in his parent’s daycare and grew up sensitive and loving, dedicated, and respectful of nature just as they had wished.