Category: Health

Categories
Cole Health Mothering

Cole’s Latest Illness

I am beyond being in disbelief, but Cole is sick again.  He started on Sunday night with a high fever.  At one point it was around 103.  It finally broke Monday night, and then on Tuesday, he started to break out in a rash around his mouth and diaper area only.

He actually had his follow up appointment that was rescheduled from last week, for his croup and lung issues on Tuesday.  His lungs had cleared up, and our doctor, Dr. B., said the rash looked like a yeast infection from the antibiotics.  He suggested I give him some Kefir, to bring up the good bacteria count in his gut.  He noticed that his tonsils were inflamed and debated doing a step throat culture, but we decided not to right now. Most babies don’t get strep throat before age 2, according to Dr. B. 

I am supposed to call Dr. B., back tomorrow and let him know how Cole is doing.  He said if he still had a temperature, and seemed like his throat was still sore, he’d call in another antibiotic, but at this point I think he is over the worse of the sore throat, and he hasn’t had a fever again.

The rash is bugging me though.  Yesterday it started to appear on his back and upper legs, but very faintly.  My mother-in-law pointed out there are a lot of baby viruses that result in rashes, and we probably just have to wait it out.  The good news is, the rash isn’t bothering Cole at all.  He is totally happy, and doesn’t even know the rash is there- he isn’t trying to scratch or pick at it.  I guess this is a case where it truly looks worse than it is.

After telling one of my friends about this today, she pointed out that it could be roseola.  After reading up on it, it probably is- but maybe a milder version, since Cole doesn’t have the rash over his entire body, and only around his mouth and diaper area, is the rash red.  So maybe he does have roseola, and then the yeast infection on top of that as well- who knows anymore!

I am at my wits end with Cole getting, what seems like every illness!  He just gets better and then one day later he is down with something else.  Roseola says kids come down with it 10 days after they are exposed.  I don’t even remember what or where we even were, where he could have been exposed.

I am going to work with my friend who is an herbalist, in trying to build his immunity up. She mentioned that he may just need some more immune support, and when I told my boss today what was happening, she reminded me how weak babies this age immune systems can be. 

She said her nephew who is three now, was sick every week from the time he was 1 until he was 2.5- she said she wasn’t kidding. That made me feel a bit better, but I hope that is not in store for Cole.  This really bites, one sickness after another.

Categories
Activities Family & Friends Health Ryan

Winter Birthday Party Ideas- UPDATE!

After all the great suggestions, and ideas, (thank you everyone who e-mailed and posted ideas), we decided to have Ryan’s party at a kids indoor amusement park “in the big city.”  It is about an hour from where we live.

We went to another kiddie amusement park (outside) not too long ago, and Ryan just loved, loved it.  He has already stopped talking about Christmas, and now just wants his birthday to come.  As he was falling asleep tonight, he said, “Mommy, I’m going to dream about my party.” 

Now the hard thing is deciding a theme- Ryan goes back and forth between wanting trains and construction, so I think we may just do both- have Thomas plates, and construction truck cups.  I guess it will all work out in the end.

The only down part to having the party so far away, is it is not a convenient location for our friends in our town.  Fortunately, the place doesn’t have a time limit, so if people do make the drive, they can stay as long as they want- they won’t just get there, have an hour, and then have to turn around and drive home.   

We have quite a few family members “in the big city,” so it should be a fun time.  Now if I can just get everything done between now and then, and hopefully, cross-your fingers that no one is sick on the big day.

Here is the original post on Winter Birthday Party Ideas if you missed it.

Categories
Health Me

Braces for Mama?

I had a dental cleaning today- about six months late.  I am usually very good about going to the dentist every six months, but the time has gotten away from me. Last time I was there, (which was almost a year ago), I mentioned to my dentist, Dr. K, that I wake up sometimes with aching teeth.  He told me that is a sign of clenching teeth in your sleep.  We talked about a night guard, which will prevent it, but I never made a decision about it one way or another.

I have tried to become more aware of my mouth to see if I was clenching my teeth during the day, and I didn’t really notice it.  It also seemed like the days I woke up with sore teeth were fewer and fewer, so I liked to think mind over matter was working.

After the hygienist was done scraping and cleaning, Dr. K came in.  She told him everything looked fine, but there was one tooth where the gum around it looked inflamed.  After checking it out, he told me the tooth was loose, and he said he couldn’t believe how “off” my top bite was.

He poked around, made me do that tap,tap, thing so he could see my bite and he told me my top teeth were seriously out of alignment.  He “sandpapered” some of the offending teeth down a bit, and told me to try that.  I couldn’t believe it!  My mouth and jaw felt so light- like a lot of pressure had been released.  I hadn’t realized how tense my jaw was, and evidently it was because of my bite problem.

Dr. K told me I need a consultation with an orthodontist, because the “sandpapering” was just a temporary fix.  He said the teeth will keep moving back out of alignment, and pretty soon I’ll be right back to where I was.  He said he was pretty sure I was going to need braces!  He gave me two referrals.

I was a bit stunned!  Braces, at MY age?  Evidently I am a thirty-something mother with two young children, going on 12.  I had braces from the age of 13-17; most of my teenage years, and now I am facing the possibility of having them again-some 20 plus years later!

Dr. K told me the misalignment could be causing me to clench my jaw too.  He told me which tooth was loose, and of course I immediately had to wiggle it, and he told me not to wiggle it or play around with it- it could fall out!  WHAT?!  Now I am not only a thirty-something mom, with a 12 year old’s mouth, I am going on 70, where my teeth (or at least a tooth) is in danger of falling out. 

While I was gathering my free toothbrush and free sensitive toothpaste (yes, I have sensitive teeth on top of it all), the hygienist told me the good news was (really, there is good news in all of this?) I was young, (I had to hold back a laugh there), we were catching it early, and she said with the proper treatment, my teeth and loose tooth will have the pressure taken off of them, and the ligaments and tissue can grow back correctly and not be loose anymore.  So maybe I am not facing dentures before the age of 40.

I walked out of the exam room, pretty stunned.  I was making my next appointment in 6 months, (look what happens when I slack off and miss my cleanings!) and Dr. K came up to me and said, “Please, please call the orthodontists today.”  He told me this was very serious and could cause me a lot of problems down the road if I don’t take care of it.  He told me if by chance I don’t need braces, then I would definitely need the night guard.

Still stunned, I came right home and called the orthodontist.  I have an appointment the second week in January.  Joe and I have almost every insurance possible, but of course we don’t have insurance for adult orthodontics.  He had braces too, when he was a teenager, and we have orthodontic insurance for the kids.  Who would have thought we would need adult orthodontic insurance?  Our days of wearing braces were  behind us- or so we thought. 

If I do have to have them, I hope I can get the clear ones, although I hear food and stuff shows up in them more- lovely.  My two adorable teenage cousins just got braces, and they have bright pink ones, and lime green.  Somehow, I just don’t think those colors are appropriate for someone my age. It would look like a box of crayons exploded in my mouth.   But I don’t think I can take being called “metal mouth” again in my thirties…let alone what my boys will think.  Ryan notices everything.  They will probably think I am a robot taking over their mama’s mouth.

Oh, good times are ahead for me and my mouth!

Categories
Cole Health

Update on Cole

Cole is doing a lot better today, and did well during the last two-nights.  His stridor is almost gone, and now it seems like that gunk is starting to drain in the form of a cough, sneezing, and runny nose.  But his breathing is so much better.

We got out for a little while today and took a very short walk (it was colder out than I thought, but cold air is good for croup), and went to a hardware store to look at all their Christmas trees, and then on to the health food store for some groceries. 

We all rested a lot yesterday ( I stayed in my PJ’s until 1pm!), so hopefully we are all on the mend.

I’m taking Nicole’s suggestion and carrying hand sanitizer w/ me now, and putting it on all of our hands right away- all these colds seem to start w/ Cole since his hands are in his mouth constantly. 

I found a neat one at the health food store today called Clean Well.  I was looking for a spray, since the gels are harder to distribute.  Clean Well is a spray, is alcohol free, is made with ingenium (which is made from essential plant oils), and it’s safe if kids put their hands in their mouth with it on, and it kills 99.99 of germs naturally.  From Clean Well’s website: It is the only all-natural antimicrobial that meets EPA and FDA standards for germ killing efficacy.

We’ll see if this slows down these colds and illnesses we keep catching.  It certainly can’t hurt!

Categories
Breastfeeding Cole Health

This is Getting Ridiculous!

On Tuesday, just short of a week from my last bout of sickness, I started getting some pain in my breast.  I thought maybe my bra was too tight.  Later in the evening,  I realized I had a plugged milk duct, but by then my breast was burning and turning red.  I knew I had mastitis.

I had mastitis at the beginning of the year, and even though that had been the first time I had it, I didn’t call the doctor right away.  I tried some natural remedies to cure it over the weekend.  For me, that was a HUGE mistake.  By Monday, I was so sick, I could barely get out of bed.  It felt like the worst flu I had ever had, and my breast had swollen to about 4 times it normal size, and I was in extreme pain from it.

So this time, no messing around with it!  On Wednesday morning, I called my doctor and left them a message before I had to go to work.  At 9am the receptionist called me and said the doctor had a prescription for me!  I went right after work and got it, and took the first dose.  I am so happy that I never got that flu feeling, and my breast didn’t get any more swollen, or painful.

Yesterday I felt under the weather, but I rested in the morning until it was time to get ready to go to the relatives for Thanksgiving.  I felt OK- not great, but I have certainly felt worse.

As we were leaving my uncle’s house at 8, to come home, Cole started this deep, chest coughing, and he was burning up!  By the time we got home, he could barely breathe from the congestion, and he had a very high fever.  We thought he could have croup, but he wasn’t “barking,” and if we held him upright, he could breathe much better.  

 He did not have a good night.  He tossed and turned and woke up about once every hour.  At one point he was just crying, saying, “mama, mama,” over and over again.  I felt so bad for him.  He finally fell asleep on me, and we both slept for about 3 hours. 

Today he was pretty cranky, still had a fever, but his breathing sounded better.  Then this afternoon, Joe took him to sit down stairs with him, so I could rest, and he threw up.  Right after that, Cole seemed a lot better.  He started pointing at food, and he ate a lot!  He didn’t vomit again, and I think it is the congestion is all piling up in his stomach as well.

So I am listening to him breath while he sleeps, to make sure he doesn’t have any problems, but he still has a fever, and is having some congestion in his chest.

I am SO, SO, tired of us being sick!  I don’t know what else to do. I have started taking some Emergen-C, and an immunity builder herb, since I think that is what brought on my mastitis- I am sure my immune system is weak, since I am still recovering from my last sickness.

Oh yea- Joe caught that same stomach bug I had last week, on Monday and Tuesday of this week. Please send us some healthy thoughts- we sure need them!