Hormone to Forget Childbirth? Part Two.

So, I wrote this post almost 3 years ago about forgetting the pain of childbirth shortly after giving birth to my first son.  It is, by far, one of the most read posts on my blog.  Most people find it by searching "hormone to forget childbirth pain" according to my stats.  So lots and lots of strangers read this post.

It talks a lot about the pain I felt during and especially after giving birth to BBZ.  It talks about it in a very scary and negative way.  I feel the need to update this post after the very different experience I had birthing my second son, without any medication.

You see, according to that earlier post, I forgot the pain I felt afterwards.  I remember it now, but until I visited my friend who had recently had a baby, I had forgotten the only time in my life that I had pain bad enough to take prescription pain medication.  It came back to me in a rush, nearly a year after my son was born.

But the experience with my second son?  It was completely different.

I did not have an epidural with my second son.  I had very little medical intervention and very little time at the hospital.  I remember every single thing about that very special day.  I remember the pain, which was extremely intense, but I don't remember it in a negative way.  In fact, I sometimes want to have another baby just to experience the birthing process again.

I don't want people who do not know me to stumble upon one blog post and file that information into their minds as truth, especially when the unknown pain of childbirth can be so scary anyway.

I feel as though I have a unique perspective as a woman who has experienced both medicated and non-medicated birth.  And I can say, with absolute certainty, that while the pain of an unmedicated birth was certainly more uncomfortable and more intense, it cannot even come close to the pain I felt following a medicated birth.

With the epidural I had back pain, pain from a third degree tear, I did not feel attached to my baby, I felt disappointed in the experience and was extremely swollen and bloated from the continuous fluid I received when the epidural was placed.  While I may have been pain-free for most of the labor, the pain that followed was unexpected and not fun.

With my unmedicated birth, I remember the pain of the contractions.  I remember my need to change positions and move around.  I remember the intensity of his movement down the birth canal.  I remember the break in the pain I felt in between contractions and am so relieved the the human body knew to give me those much needed breaks.  I remember everything, because I was present and felt everything.

So in my opinion, if a woman is present in her body, embraces the pain, doesn't hide from it with medical interventions, then the pain is not forgotten.  However, if a woman does have medical intervention and covers the pain with an epidural, something happens in the human body that allows a woman to forget the pain she experienced.  This is how it happened with me anyway.

**Updated to add** The more I thought about this post after I wrote it, the more I wondered if it was the negative experience I had with my first son's birth that caused me to forget the pain rather than the medication.  My second experience was so much more positive and what I hoped it would be...perhaps it still would have been positive had I chosen to have a medicated birth.  I certainly did experience more pain following the medicated birth than the unmedicated one, and I remember the pain of my unmedicated birth much more clearly.  But I also know of women who have very fond memories of their planned, medicated birth.  My experience was a lot about control.  The lack of control I felt with my first experience and the full and uncompromised control I had over my second.  Ultimately, I truly believe that a woman can have a positive and beautiful birth no matter what kind she chooses.  For me, that kind was unmedicated.

I hope that this post becomes as viewed as Part One has been.  I really want my words about birth to be positive and empowering to women.  Because the truth is, we can birth.  Our bodies are made to do it.  And when it is done as nature intended, our minds hold on to that incredible feeling of "I did it!" And who would want to forget that?

“Remember this, for it is as true as true gets: Your body is not a lemon. You are not a machine. The Creator is not a careless mechanic. Human female bodies have the same potential to give birth well as aardvarks, lions, rhinoceri, elephants, moose, and water buffalo. Even if it has not been your habit throughout your life so far, I recommend that you learn to think positively about your body.”  

-Ina May Gaskin

Our Crazy June, Part One.

When BBZ was 9 months and 16 days old, he underwent surgery for intussusception.  On June 22nd, when LBZ was 9 months and 12 days old, we went to the the same floor of the same hospital so he could be treated for bacteria in his blood.  Nine months appears to be the magic number for my boys.

When LBZ was sick at the beginning of the month, he apparently had Salmonella poisoning.  My last post on June 11th stated that he was doing much better.  That he was exploring and moving and smiling, etc, which he was.  But he was still experiencing diarrhea.  He also had a terrible diaper rash that week and we even had him in disposable diapers to try and treat it.  He was also waking up a lot at night.

By Thursday (6/14), I was concerned about the ongoing diarrhea and decided to pick up a test kit from the doctor so we could do a stool culture.  I also scheduled his well-baby 9-month appointment for the 16th so I could drop off the sample and do the appointment.

The appointment went well.  He appeared to feel ok besides the diaper rash.  The doctor determined that it was yeast and recommended an over-the-counter ointment.  That cleared it up fast.  I gave them the sample and they sent it off to the lab.

He was a bit crabby over the weekend, but nothing too terribly bad.  I woke up on Monday with a low-grade fever.  I had both boys at home with me and felt terrible most of the day.  I also had diarrhea, so I figured I got what everyone else had at the beginning of the month, just a bit later than everyone.

I was so sick.  The worst part was the terrible cramping in my stomach.  Knowing that my sweet little boy experienced this was awful.  I remember him screaming out in agony and me not being able to tell what was wrong.  Now I knew.  His poor little tummy :(

So I sent him to school on Tuesday.  I was incredibly sick.  My fever broke that morning, but I still felt awful.  I tried hard to stay hydrated, but when I pumped milk I hardly got anything.  I went to pick up the boys from school and LBZ's teacher was concerned that he was a little warm and not acting like himself.  She said he still had diarrhea.

He was up a lot Tuesday night and spiked a fever.  I didn't treat it, but I knew I had to keep him home on Wednesday.  I had a really important work meeting at 11am and N had one from 9-11am, so we met at my work parking lot and he took LBZ home so I could go to my meeting.  I had called the doctor's office that morning because I wondered what was taking so long with the results and shared his new symptoms.  They called a few hours later and let me know that he had Salmonella in his stool.

About an hour later, a woman from the health department called and said Salmonella is a reportable disease and she had to get all kinds of information from me.  This is apparently an isolated case so we never did find out where he got it.  It makes me so sad to not know what caused it...how do I know how to prevent it from happening again?  Maybe I just can't.

I was still not feeling well and reported my symptoms to the lady at the health department.  Assuming I had it too, she took my name as another case.  It didn't matter though because it was clear that I probably got it from LBZ.

A little while later LBZ's doctor called back and said she wanted me to take him to a lab to have his blood tested for bacteria, just to be safe.  I knew I couldn't get to the lab before they closed, so I decided to wait until Thursday.  The only time N could stay home was Thursday morning and we were all planning to be on vacation for 10 days, so we both had some loose ends to tie up before being gone for vacation.  I went to work Thursday morning and took that afternoon and Friday off for the first part of my vacation.

I took LBZ for the blood work and couldn't believe how well he did.  He sat still, stuck his little arm out and didn't even cry!  I did though.  When we got back to the car I shed a few tears about having to put my baby through all of this.  I was also still not feeling 100%.  I actually lost 5 pounds during the past 2 weeks.  Having to hold a baby non-stop and being sick myself left very little time to eat.  All of my clothes were falling off.

Thursday afternoon I called his doctor and spoke to a nurse about the blood tests.  I wanted to know what would happen if they came back positive.  She told me that if the test was positive, they would simply put him on a different antibiotic.  I let her know that we had a trip planned next week and wondered if I should plan to go.  She said that we should plan to go and if bacteria is found in his blood then they could even call a prescription in to a pharmacy where we are with no problem.  I felt pretty good about that.

So Friday morning was pretty good.  We went to Target and got some final things for our trip and headed out to my friend's house to pick up a small steamer for LBZ's food.  My friend's husband is going to nursing school and they happened to have a discussion about Salmonella in class the night before.  Laura was much more detailed about the poisoning than any of LBZ's docs had been and I was left feeling a little confused.  No one seemed overly concerned about any of this.  They were just having me do this or do that and all seemed well.

I had been treating LBZ with amoxicillin (which is controversial for treating Salmonella, but after 3+ weeks of diarrhea it seemed like the right thing to do).  LBZ had been exploring the house, pulling up on furniture, happy, laughing and overall seeming like he was getting better.  He did have a pretty bad cough though.

At around 3pm on Friday, a different nurse practitioner called me and said that bacteria was found in LBZ's blood and that I would need to take him to Children's Hospital so they could treat the infection with IV antibiotics.  I was confused and very upset.  Why didn't they tell me this was the treatment plan for bacteria in his blood?  I was so upset.  I called N and my mom and took him to the hospital.  N had to pick up BBZ, so LBZ and I were on our own for the initial admission.

It was a direct admission, so we didn't have to wait at the emergency room.  As I walked onto the floor, the doctor came out and said she wanted to look at him.  She did and said "wow, he looks great.  Especially since he's septic."

I found that only somewhat comforting.  I noticed that we were on the same floor at the same hospital where BBZ was almost exactly 3 years ago.  All of those memories came rushing back.

We got to the room and they explained the treatment, IV, blood work, etc.  I had to hold him down so they could put the IV in his foot.  That was so sad.  He cried in pain and looked at me for comfort, which I couldn't give him.  My poor, sweet baby boy.

They placed the IV, took some blood and let me take him and nurse him.  That helped him calm down.  N and BBZ came by a bit later and so did the attending physician, who was apparently the world's expert in bloody diarrhea.  He explained some stuff to us and started talking about meningitis.  He said that the only way to rule it out is to do a spinal tap.  N and I were floored.  We weren't sure what to do.  He said it was the only way to get a really early diagnosis (if it was meningitis) and an early treatment plan.

It was about 8pm by now, and BBZ was needing to go home to go to bed.  N didn't want to leave me there to deal with the spinal tap procedure alone, but we didn't really have a choice at that point.  He left to take him home and the nurse came back to explain the procedure.  They said I could be there, but that I couldn't touch him during the procedure.  She kind of encouraged me not to go, saying that it can feel very distressing to watch and not be able to rescue him.

I called N and asked him what I should do.  He suggested that I not go.  It was a really hard decision to make, but I decided not to go with him.  The whole thing took about 25 minutes and when he came back he was tired and sweaty.  The nurse said that he cried for about 10 minutes and then fell asleep.  I guess his little body just gave up.

They initially said that we should know the results in an hour or so.  I tried to get some sleep and kept waking up and wondering when I would hear something.  The nurse came in to take his vitals at one point and said I probably wouldn't know anything until morning since they wouldn't wake me up to tell me.  They had started IV antibiotics by then.  LBZ was up about every hour.  I held him on me most of the night.  He seemed really bothered by the IV in his foot.  I couldn't take him out of the room and didn't have anyone there to give me a break.  He would cry hard if I put him down in the crib to go to the bathroom.  It was a rough night.

N and BBZ came to the hospital the next morning and I was able to take a shower.  It's funny, since I spent so many days with BBZ at this same hospital, I knew exactly what to bring.  Changes of clothes, hygiene stuff, I seemed like an old pro.

The doctors still didn't give us a clear explanation of what was happening.  They kept talking about 48 hours and bacteria growing, etc.  Finally, a really nice nurse spent some time with us and explained that the blood and the spinal fluid was put into separate cultures and placed into a machine.  The cultures sit in that machine and we wait.  We wait to see if any bacteria grows.  If something grows, an alarm goes off and the doctors are notified.  If nothing grows, nothing happens and we just wait.  So apparently, nothing was growing, so nothing was happening.

We waited all day.  My mom ended up coming in town around lunch time and helped, but LBZ just wanted me to hold him.  He had a terrible cough, so they did a nose swab and diagnosed croup.  Looking back, that is probably what caused the fever on Wednesday.  They also did another stool culture.

By Saturday night I was starting to go stir crazy.  I walked around with BBZ a while and was able to get some snacks.  One of the best things about this hospital is that breastfeeding moms get free meals while there with their babies.  So I ate better in those 2 days than I had in weeks.  I gained those 5 pounds right back :)

He slept terribly Saturday and I ended up holding him in the couch/bed with me all night again.  Sunday morning at around 6am, a lady came in and said she was there to take blood.  I told her that I didn't think they were going to take any more blood.  She asked if I wanted to speak to the nurse and I said yes.

The nurse came in and I asked what the purpose of the blood work was.  She said he was on daily blood draws.  I didn't understand why I would need to hold him down and traumatize him yet again if the blood they took upon his admission had not yet grown any bacteria.  At this point, we were at about 33 hours of incubation of the cultures.  I explained that I understood the risk of if the blood grew bacteria at 47 hours, we would have to wait again for another 48 hours to leave, but I was willing to take that risk (since I really believed that the bacteria was gone).

The nurse agreed.  The doctor came in and he agreed and wanted to start the discharge right away.  I thought that they would keep us there for the full 48 hours, but they didn't.  They all said we could leave as soon as all of the paperwork was done.

They took out the IV, which made LBZ one happy little boy.  He had all of the necessary IV antibiotics and they prescribed oral antibiotics for 12 days.  I was so happy we were heading home!

The frustrating thing about this is hind-sight.  The blood that was drawn upon admission was clear of bacteria.  That means that the oral antibiotics he took Wednesday evening, twice Thursday, and Friday morning killed the bacteria sometime between when his blood was drawn on Thursday afternoon at the lab and Friday evening at the hospital.  That is wonderful news, but I wish we didn't have to put him through the whole hospitalization for what now seems like no reason.

I do know that there was a reason though.  Had they been right about any of it, the meningitis, the sepsis, any of that could have turned very bad very fast.  So I understand the urgency and the precaution, I just wish he didn't have to go through all of it.  Thankfully, he is no worse for the wear.  He is back to his old self.

Did I mention through any of this that we were scheduled to leave for a week vacation on this very same Sunday?  Well we were, and we decided to go after all.  We left Monday around 10am, just one day late. 

That story will be Part 2 of our crazy June, so stay tuned!

To jump to part 2, click here.

Just some random things I've been up to.



I have been obsessing over my boys' eyelashes lately.  BBZ's are so incredibly long.  We have a pretty steady night time routine on our house that includes N reading a few stories sitting on the side closest to the light, BBZ in the middle and me on his other side.

I often fall asleep in his bed after the stories and I have found that if I don't come into his room until the stories are almost over I have a better chance at staying awake to do the many things I need to do after the boys go to bed.

So anyway, the light from the lamp made BBZ's eyelashes shine and look so incredibly long.  I looked over at N and his looked exactly the same.  They actually looked exactly the same length.  I wonder if BBZ's will continue to grow or if they will stay the same and he'll grow into them.  I guess we'll have to wait and see.



I can't seem to capture an accurate depiction of how gorgeous his eyelashes are

But I love this one that I got while trying :)

We all had such a wonderful day together today.  Yesterday was rough.  BBZ's attitude can be so terrible sometimes.  I know it's a toddler thing and he's going to have bad days, but I feel like N and I were redirecting him and his behavior absolutely all day long.  Today was so much different.

We played, we laughed, we went out to lunch, we planned a picnic but got rained out, and I just cannot believe how well he listened and how sweet and caring he was for me and for his brother all day.  It was a fantastic day.

LBZ had a new kind of light in his eyes today.  He was exploring, was happy, was interested in everything around him, was pulling up on furniture, was happy, didn't cry when I put him down for his nap and, in other words, was back to himself.  I missed him and didn't even realize how different he was when he was sick.  Or how really sick he actually was.  For over a week!  I'm so glad that's over.

How have I never watched the show Glee?  I'm not sure why it even happened, but I decided to watch the pilot one day last week when the boys were sick and N was out of town, and I am completely hooked.  I've seen pieces of more recent episodes because I record Grey's Anatomy, which is on right after Glee, but this is the first time I have actually watched the show.  I love it!

A fellow blogger also mentioned a favorite show of mine today, Downton Abbey.  If you have not watched this show, do it now!  It is one of the best TV shows I have ever seen.  I could only watch the first season on Netflix, which sucked because it was so good!  When we visited my parents for Easter they had become completely hooked too and also had the second season on Amazon's version of Netflix.  We watched the whole second season in the 3 days we were there.  I cannot say enough great things about that show.  Beware...it's addicting!

I have also been reading lots of birth stories lately.  I subscribed to this new blog that posts lots of various stories, and a blog friend that I have been reading for at least 2 years now just had a beautiful home birth after 2 hospital births.  It's a beautiful story.  It almost seals the deal that we are done having babies because I don't think I could ever give birth in a hospital again and since there are no birth centers in our area and there is no way N would go for a home birth, we might just be done after all.  (Ask N and we are DEFINITELY done).

I have finally taken the time to learn Instagram.  I'm already a little addicted.  Geez, the last thing I need is another Internet obsession.  I am avoiding Pinterest like the plague because everyone talks about how addicting it is.  While I have a twitter account I have never tweeted.  The fact that I have tried a new Internet anything is shocking.  But I do love that it saves my photos to my phone and post them to facebook automatically (if I want it to).  It's super fun.

I cleaned out my freezer today.  I planned to make some fish patties tonight because I knew I had some in there that had been there for a while so I dug in and checked the dates.  One expired in 2009!  I am not kidding.  We didn't even move into our house until 2010, so I managed to move expired frozen fish from one house to the next.  Gross.  So that got me digging and left us with this fresh and clean freezer.  I'm super excited about filling it with delicious food!  That's not expired.  Ahem.



While digging I did find some (not expired) salmon and cooked that up right tonight.  It was delicious and the timing was just perfect for when N got home.  All the stars aligned for us today.  If LBZ sleeps all night (or at least goes back to sleep easily when he does wake up) this day will be near perfect!

We went to the chiropractor today for the first maintenance visit for LBZ.  I decided to keep taking him once/month to help avoid any ear infections.  I tried stopping drinking milk, but it didn't seem to make a difference good or bad.  He didn't get an infection, but I didn't see a big change either.  I didn't stop all milk products because I read that if there is a mild sensitivity cutting out milk is sometimes enough, but I didn't want to do all of that just yet.  Plus, since I am taking him to the chiro again, it's hard to tell which intervention is working if I do too many at once.

I think I might stay off of the milk wagon though.  I've been drinking almond milk, which I really like.  I feel pretty good, so I might just continue.  I have had ice cream that last couple of days, so we'll see if I feel any differently, but I might just stick with the almond milk since I do like it so much.

BBZ is also been off of both of his allergy medicines for about a month now and is doing great!  I took him off the last time he had a runny nose because it seemed like it wasn't working anyway.  His nose cleared up and has remained clear since then.  I'm not sure why this is, but I think it might have to do with the chiro adjustments and the probiotic he has been taking.  Whatever the reason, I'll take it!

Whew, this was a crazy random post!  I'm back to a regular morning routine tomorrow for the first time in a while (it seems).  I'm actually looking forward to working and getting things done.  We go on vacation in two weeks and I'd like to be able to not think about work at all!

Happy Monday!

Little Brother Z is 9 Months Old!

Oh, sweet LBZ, today you are 9 months old!  This was a month of new things.  So many new things that your sleep and your demeanor changed somewhat.  You are still a happy little boy, but with all of the developmental things going on, it makes sense that you would change a bit!

You continue to crawl all over our home.  You lift your tummy up occasionally, or sometimes you even scoot on your bum with one leg extended to get where you're going.  You want to get there fast, so the army crawl continues to be your fastest mode of transport.

You're also pulling up on things, which means you fall occasionally.  You've taken a few tumbles that have left bruises on your head or face.  You seem to always fall head first!

Look at you standing up!  Within 3 weeks you got 2 more teeth, learned to sit up on your own, clap your hands, pull up to your knees, pull up to your feet, and even said a few words!  It was a developmental explosion!  No wonder you are waking up much more frequently at night.

You still love the water!  We bought this little splash pool for you and your brother and you both had such a fun day playing and splashing.  We became members at the rec center where you and BBZ go to school and you love that pool too!  I don't know if I'm ready to take you and your brother on my own yet, but when I am we'll have some fun Mondays there, I'm sure.

We got some hand-me-down bikes from your aunt and uncle and your daddy got me this bike trailer for mother's day!  You haven't tried it yet, but your brother loves it!

I love watching you pull up and explore your world.  You were so sick during the last week it seems like you have a little catching up to do.  I'm sure you'll be completely back to yourself in another day or two.

Oh how I love the way your cute little fluffy-butt diaper sticks out of your pants :)

And those blue eyes still melt my heart!  Your eyelashes are getting longer, and I wonder if they will seem to go on forever like your brother's and your daddy's.

Look at those big 'ol teeth!  The ones on top seem so much bigger than I remember BBZ's being.  You use them to chew your food too!  You love cauliflower, bananas, puffs, zucchini and hummus.  You are probably ready for harder foods, but I still stick with really soft cooked veggies.  You're past purees, but not quite to regular table food.

Oh, how I love you and your brother!  You boys (and your daddy) fill my heart with such joy.  Hearing you match words with objects and people is so fun!  You now have words or sounds for ma-ma, da-da, ball and bye.  And you wave to us too!

I remember so vividly the day you were born.  I remember the very first time I saw you face, with the bag of water still covering the right side of your face.  The last 9 months have flown by, yet I can't really remember life before you joined our family.  It's as though you have always been with us, my sweet littlest boy.  I love you so much.

Love,

Mommy

Sickness. And my thoughts on fever reducers

Ugh.  What a week this was.  Where did I leave off?  Oh yeah, 2am or so Saturday night/Sunday morning.

So BBZ woke up Sunday morning feeling like a million dollars.  I can't believe how resilient his is.  N on the other hand, he was in and out of the bathroom most of the day and drank about 52 Nalgenes of water trying to rehydrate.  He sucked a few back Saturday night too, so he began the stomach flu journey a little dehydrated anyway.

LBZ woke up with a low-grade fever.  It teetered around 100-101 all day.  He slept a lot and I didn't do much besides nurse a lot and let fight the fever.  I had been engorged to the point of almost having to pump because he wasn't really eating.  I didn't really realize he wasn't feeling well either until N and BBZ got sick.  Then I realized that it probably started with him, and hopefully this fever was the end of it.

We hung around the house all day.  I ran to the grocery store and felt nauseous the whole time.  Looking back I may have had a very minor taste of what they had, but nothing like any of my boys did, so that was a relief.

We all slept great all night Sunday night and we needed it.  I think LBZ only woke up once, even with his fever.  Monday was more of the same.  LBZ's fever continued and he wanted to be held a lot.  N was at work.  BBZ was really cooperative.  It was a pretty good day.

I am not completely against medication, I do have it in my house after all.  But I generally don't give medicine to the boys or take it myself unless it's absolutely necessary.  I started to research the theories around not giving fever reducers like Tylenol and decided I really wanted to avoid it.  I believe that a fever has a reason and trying to reduce it will only extend it.

I watched the fever slowly go up, as fevers do and LBZ was still playing and interacting somewhat even though he got tired easily.  Most of the things I read online said that not treating the fever helped it last only 24 hours.  Here I was a good 36 hours into the fever and no medicine and no sign of it letting up.

At around 2pm, LBZ woke up from one of his very frequent naps and had a listless affect.  He didn't want me to put him down, but he didn't want me to hold him either.  He was hot and it was scary.  I took his temp and it was 104.5.  I had taken it throughout the day and it was slowly creeping up, but this number shocked me and I freaked out.

I didn't have anyone to call that wouldn't tell me to give him a fever reducer.  So I did.  And it worked.  It lowered it to about 101, which was actually a good thing to me because at least that meant that the fever was still working to fight against whatever was in his body.

Some of the theories I read said that the fever itself is doing what it needs to and if you give the reducer it only prolongs the fevers need to go back up to compensate and fight the virus.  I get that.  Really, I do.  But when the number says 104.5 and I'm the only one home and my husband is getting ready to go out of town, I wanted that number to go down.  Fast.

N came home around 3:30pm so he could leave for his business trip.  The thought of being home by myself with a sick baby scared me and reminded me of when BBZ was so sick almost 3 years ago.  Right as he was leaving I decided to take LBZ to the doctor.  His fever was still around 102 and he was crying inconsolably, which was really scary.  I had to rush the boys into the car to make it to the office before they closed and as we were leaving it was a ridiculous down pour of rain.  We got completely soaked running into the office, but BBZ got to use his spider man umbrella, so life was good.

The doctor said that LBZ was the third child she saw that day with identical symptoms.  That actually made me feel better.  She said it was a virus that needed to run its course.  The co-pay sucked, but it was worth the peace of mind.

Monday night was rough.  Both boys were up a lot and both ended up sleeping in my room.  BBZ woke up feeling warm but I sent him to school anyway.  I knew he needed to do something other than hang out with me while I held his brother all day, so I dropped him off and had in the back of my mind that I would need to pick him up early.

LBZ's fever was 103.9 that morning so I gave him another dose of medicine.  He was in my arms absolutely all day long.  I don't even remember if I ate Monday Tuesday or Wednesday.  I must have eaten something.  I know I made a PBJ one night.  The ring sling was my best friend.

I headed out the door to pick BBZ up around 4pm and I got the call that he had a fever of 101.  We got home and he didn't eat much.  His temp went up to around 102.5 or so and I didn't give him medicine.  I got LBZ to sleep and moved on to BBZ.  He was really tired and went to sleep without trouble.  LBZ woke up screaming a lot.  I was afraid he would wake up BBZ, but surprisingly he didn't.  He woke up about every hour until 3am or so when I brought him to bed with me.  Then BBZ came in around 4am.  We all slept until 8 the next morning, which was glorious.

BBZ woke up feeling fine and fever free.  He gets over sickness so fast!  It was a blessing.  LBZ on the other hand wasn't getting any better.  He still had a fever, but it stayed around 101, so no medicine again.

He woke up from his afternoon nap really sweaty and his fever went down from there.  N came home around 6pm and gave me some much needed relief.  I spoke to LBZ's doctor again because his diarrhea was persistent and she recommended I give him a probiotic.  I meant to when he has his last ear infection, but I never did find one for him and I kept putting it off.  I had some capsule samples I got at one time from the pediatrician, broke it open and mashed it into some banana.  He ate it all.

The whole night was rough on all of us...except BBZ who seems to sleep through everything.  N tried to help but LBZ really just wanted me.  BBZ ended up in our bed at some point.  Thursday morning LBZ and I slept in so N took BBZ to school.  When I finally got LBZ up and about, I saw a red rash all over his body.  I figured it was consistent with his virus and didn't think much of it.  He was still fever-free.

Then he had more diarrhea, which was more than the last few days.  I tried more bananas with the probiotic but he didn't want much to do with that.  It was about an hour later that I realized his belly was making crazy gurgling noises and he was screaming out in pain.  Then I remembered that a friend mentioned once that some probiotics contain milk.

I stopped drinking cow's milk after LBZ's last ear infection.  I didn't want to cut out all dairy and read that sometimes cutting out milk alone can make a difference if someone has a mild sensitivity.  It's hard to tell if it's working or not because he's been so sick.  But, I suddenly wondered if this was a reaction to the probiotic since he seemed to get worse.

So long story short (too late), I'm pretty sure it was not an allergy.  I did try giving him a very small dose of benedryl last night to see if it helped the rash, but it didn't, so that sealed the deal for me that this was not an allergic reaction.

I sent him to school today and went to work for just the second time this week.  I got a HUGE project done today, which feels more than amazing.  This was a project that I first learned about almost a year ago and it has finally come together!  I'll talk more about it when I launch it at work.  So exciting!

So he did ok today, but was still not himself.  Luckily, he took a nice long nap when he got home and woke up seemingly feeling great.  His rash was fading and he ate really well.  He woke up a few times when trying to fall asleep, but has been resting well since.  We might just be over this!

The only saving grace in this whole situation is that I did not get sick.  I do feel like I got an extremely mild case of what they had, but the fact that I didn't throw up once this week is beyond words.  While I was rocking my feverish baby one night this week, I actually thanked the universe out loud for allowing me to stay healthy enough to take care of my family.  It was a gift.  Seriously.

Oh, and just to add to the amount of poop and puke I cleaned this week, my cat pooped all over our bedroom.  Ugh.  He is not my favorite earth creature at the moment.

So anyway, we are all on the mend and will hopefully stay that way for a nice long while.  We have some fun things coming up this weekend that I'll be excited to blog about...including LBZ's 9-month update!

Have a great weekend!

It's 2:09am

Be warned. I'm going to talk a lot about puke.

Let's see how long it takes me to type this post on my iPhone.

BBZ and N have been simultaneously puking since about 11pm. When BBZ has puked in the past, he does so at night, in his bed, and all over himself. The only part I hear is his crying afterwards. This time was no different.

I've stayed in his room after the first instance before, and didn't sleep a wink. I even get sympathy sick thinking of him puking. So since the last puke was a one-timer, I thought I'd go back to my bed this time. I heard him crying shortly after and ran into his room. "not again!" he shouted. He had puled all over himself, his pillow, and his bed. Again.

So I stripped him and his bed for a second time and even gave him a bath this time. N woke up too and helped clear some sheets. BBZ fell back to sleep on a bed covered in towels where he is now. I decided to stay with him with a bowl in hand to catch any more of this and save another bed change.

I heard N stirring after BBZ's second bout and checked on him. Sure enough, he caught this too. He was ok so I returned to BBZ's room. I'm staying distracted by my phone so I both stay awake and avoid making myself sympathy sick. I really do feel nauseous anytime he's sick like this.

He starts to stir and I know it's coming. I get the bowl under his mouth just in time! Success!! He didn't even have to get out of bed.

This last time very little came up, so I think he's about done. N was up at the same time as BBZ each time since the first, so I have two sickies on my hands. LBZ had some tummy trouble yesterday, so he may have started this, so hopefully that means he doesn't have this coming to him. As for me? All I can do is pray that this misses me all together.

Please, oh please, oh please.

2:25am. Not too bad!

Brothers at the Playground.

Oh, how I love my boys!

My hope for them is that they will always enjoy each other.