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Thursday, November 29, 2007

Roseola

My son has had his first illness.

Tuesday night he felt warm so we took his temp... 102.5 (under arm) we were a little worried, but not panicked.... he's been teething pretty badly and we know that a mild fever can be associated with teething.... so after giving him some Tylenol, I went online to see how high a teething temp should go and found that it is usually not above 101.... so I went to my parenting group for advice and they all said that he was probably fighting a virus, give him lots of love and plenty of fluids to keep him well hydrated... I called my grandmother to see what insights she had and was reassured.... so we tried to go to bed.... tried being the opportune word here.... we finally managed to get our screaming, miserable child to sleep around 2am and he slept fitfully for about a half hour before waking up to nurse, falling asleep nursing and repeating the process... around 5am my husband got up with the baby to let me get a little sleep, but as any parent out there knows, it's kind of hard to sleep with a sick baby in the house.... around 8am I got up to relieve my husband from babywatch and he tried to get some sleep but had the same problem I did, so I dressed my son and put him in the wrap and we went for a walk... he fell asleep and slept for about an hour and a half, and so did my husband...

At this point, I was pretty sure that his temp was from some sort of illness, so when he woke up we gave him a bath, which usually calms him down, but did not this time... we took his temp again 103.6 (under arm)... going up! we called the doc and explained the situation and they said to bring him in.... off we go... Doc looked him over and said that besides the fever which was pretty high he had no other symptoms that would warrant the usual suspects (Flu, Meningitis, ear infection...etc) so he said it was Roseola and that we should expect his high fever to break Friday night or so at which time he will develop a rash and start to feel better.... he said there isn't anything we can do about this very common childhood illness except to try to keep his fever down and to keep him comfortable and well hydrated.... he told us to administer Tylenol if the fever went over 103 and if it didn't come down to administer Ibuprofen... so we went home and gave him the usual dose of Tylenol around 2:30pm (I say usual dose because we read the dosing instructions on the bottle for his weight and it said to give him a half dropper full... which we later found out was an insufficient dose)....

For the next few hours he slept in the wrap, nursed, slept in my arms, nursed.... and seemed to get hotter and hotter and more and more lethargic, so we took his temp again and found it was 104.6 (under arm)! My husband called our home teacher at around 6pm, because we had no Ibuprofen... our home teacher rushed to the store and got some for us, rushed over to our house and helped my husband to give our son a blessing and urged us to take our son to the ER.... we called the doc's office and he said to take him in so we took his temp again 104.3(under arm) and went to the ER....

At the ER they took his temp again and it was 104.9 (rectal).... they flipped out and ran to get some Tylenol and Motrin and gave him both.... within 45 minutes his temp was down to 101.5 (rectal) and holding... he had regained his usual cheerful disposition and was playing happily....they told us that the amount of Tylenol we were giving him was the recommended dose for a three month old and that he should get 1 1/2 droppers full...as I said earlier, we were following the dosing chart on the side of the Tylenol bottle... that is why we could not get his temp down so they gave us a crash course in infant pharmacology for fevers, a prescription for Tylenol and Motrin (to be administered, Motrin - wait 5 hours - Tylenol - wait 3 hours - repeat) and sent us home....

He played happily on the floor the rest of the evening... we went to bed and slept till around 1am, when he woke up and was completely inconsolable... we gave him some Motrin, danced around till around 3 and went back to bed.... Today he is normal, we have not given him any medicine since the Motrin at 1am and he seems happy, though wanting to nurse more frequently...

I am glad that we learned a few things, and didn't hurt our son too much in the process... but most of all I am glad that our son is starting to feel better...

Saturday, November 24, 2007

Thanksgiving

Well, Thanksgiving Day 2007 has come and gone and the shoppers are gearing up for Christmas (some have already started) We had a lovely Thanksgiving celebration at my mother's home, and most of the family was there. The highlight of the evening (at least for me) was when my 9 month old son, who was walking with my assistance, looked up at my mother and said "Grandma" just as clear as day.... it was a Kodak moment... he also had many firsts: his first turkey, first cranberry sauce, and first cranberry-apple juice (all major traditional foods in our family)...

Speaking of traditions, I really missed one tradition this year that we have done EVERY year that I can remember, the telling of the things that we are thankful for... so I will just do it here: I am thankful for a family that is so rich in love and spirit, and for my marriage that has lasted the last 5 1/2 years...going on forever, and for my son - the new addition to our family, and for the love that is so abundant this time of year in all the world... Let us pray that we can have this love for our fellowmen all year round!

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Henna: Act I



well I did it...

Valerie started at about 2:30pm (thank you Heather for watching my son) and finished applying the henna at around 2:45pm she used:

2 cups henna
equal amounts of apple cider vinegar and red wine vinegar
10 drops carrot oil
8 drops chamomile oil
about a tbs. of pumpkin pie spice

I thought that the paste would be red or at least orange but it was a brownish/greenish mud color, and about the same consistency of clay mud too... Valerie wrapped my head in a towel, then in plastic wrap and I went home... at 7:30pm I rinsed out the dried caked on mud using a little conditioner (Valerie told me not to use shampoo till at least 24 hours after rinsing it out) and washed the tub out... and waited (impatiently) for my hair to dry...


I think it turned out beautifully!

BEFORE henna

ok, so I have decided that a small change is in order, so I decided to henna my hair... my friend Valerie is a pro at henna and she has graciously decided to bestow her talents on my hair... wish me luck...

Monday, November 19, 2007

9 month well-baby

Alex had his well-baby checkup today and weighed in at 21 lbs 2 oz. and is 28 3/4 inches tall... doc said he is doing fantastic! He is more advanced physically and mentally than many babies his age... he can do everything that 10-11 month old babies can do and Doc was pleased... in spite of us ignoring almost all the parenting advice he gave us in the beginning... Then he said we had to get his iron levels checked..... for those of you who have never had to stand there and watch them draw blood from your precious baby, all I can say is you can't understand till it's your kid screaming!

We went to the pediatrician's office lab and they would not allow me to nurse Alex during the draw so we decided to go to another facility to have the blood drawn... I was nursing him just fine... the phlebotomist stuck him with the needle.... he looked at her like "what'd you do that for" and went back to nursing... then, because she did not get the vein on the first try, starts moving the needle around and trying to get the vein... that was it! he started crying at the top of his lungs tried to get his arm away from her, but daddy was holding his arm still and he could not move it, I tried singing to him, tried nursing him, nothing worked... finally it was over the EVIL woman got the blood she needed and put a cotton swab on his HEMMORAGING arm (okay so the lady was doing her best and it wasn't really bleeding much, maybe I am exaggerating, but he's my baby!) and let me rock him, she then tapes the swab to his arm and I gave Alex to his daddy who danced around the room talking softly to Alex till he was calmed down and snuffling from the AGONY of it all.... I hope Daddy's back doesn't pay for that later....

so all in all it wasn't so bad, but it was the first time Alex has had a needle touch him since his PKU test when he was 2 days old! I hope his other firsts go smoother....

Friday, November 16, 2007

I did it...

I finally created a blog.... been thinking about it, reading several, and generally just wanting to brag about my baby.... so I did it.... enjoy!
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