Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Odd rash on The Colonel

Crazy times over Memorial Day weekend.  Friday morning Colonel Sanders had a red line near the top of her diaper. I assumed it was from how she was laying in bed with her blanket bunched up or something. We had our bath for the day and life went on.



After the Dr. office closed, this is what greeted me. The red near her diaper did not go below her diaper. I was stumped. I have never seen anything like this. We had not been outside in 2 days due to rain. No new foods. No new soaps (I have allergies to soaps). You would think with 3 boys I would have already seen it all. Especially with a child like Tyke. I had no clue. It did not itch and there was no pain when I touched it. No fever. The house has AC so it was not heat related. So I went to some fellow moms an asked them.



There were many ideas and many things that it looked somewhat like. It ranged from fifths disease to ringworm. I knew it was not ring worm, but I can understand from the pictures. So I called the on call Dr. and she told me that she was not to concerned for The Colonel, but she wanted her to go in anyway just in case it was something that could problems with my pregnancy. This made me feel a little odd.



Anyone who knows me is aware that I do not like going to the ER. If it will not kill you over night, then why not wait till morning to see the Dr? I am more cautious with the kids than I am myself, still, had this been on a Thursday, we would have just waited till the next morning to see the Dr.

The intake nurse was a little puzzled since the red marks were flat. A 2nd nurse came in, looked at it from a distance (she was pregnant) and left telling me that I would have another nurse. That made me worry a bit, but well, too late, if it was bad I was already infected.

The Dr. came in, was a little puzzled that it did not itch, it did not hurt, and it was flush with the skin. He left and so we waited. After an hour he came back and told me that The Colonel had him stumped for a little bit.  They decided that what she had was hives caused by an allergic reaction. To what? no one had a clue.

So we went home and went to bed. Saturday morning there was nothing on The Colonel. By afternoon it had come back half as bad, but by Sunday morning there was nothing again.

We still have no clue what caused them.


Thursday, May 23, 2013

The update I have been promising........

If you have ever lived with a roommate, you know it isn't easy. Everyone does things differently and what is expected in one family is totally different in another. How/what things are said (sarcasm) also varies in different family groups. So tone of voice has to be watched. Things can get stressful pretty fast. Especially when you add in 4 children and one is autistic and another one has to have a monitored diet due to acid reflux. We cut out a lot of boxed items and convenience foods. It all ends up being a learning curve for both parties involved. Along the way there is bound to be some hurt feelings and misunderstandings.

The most important thing to do is always keep open lines of communication and for both parties to talk things out. This is especially true when one (or both) parties suffer from depression and or anxiety. If you let things build up, it will only make things 10 times worse. When one or both parties fail to do this... well it makes a stressful household and ends in disaster.

That is all that will be said about that.

Going back in time a bit, January 28th I found out I was pregnant with minion #5. By early February I had the worst morning sickness ever. If I sat still I was fine. The instant I got up to do anything, I was heaving. Even on Zofran. It was so bad that the kids missed school several times. We relied heavily on Julie for a bit to keep the house going as normal as possible. Aunt Agnes was picking up the kids from school.

Things slowly got to a manageable level by mid April. In early May I started to have some constant heart palpation and a heavy chest. I also had some blackouts. One lasted a little over an hour. My OB sent me to the ER several times and I was also put on a heart monitor for 24 hours. The monitor showed the palpations but it did not show anything wrong. All blood tests came back normal. They did an ultrasound at one point (we did not get to see the baby, but it gave me an official due date) and the baby was fine. They finally decided it could all be stress related.

Julie is no longer living with us. Sadly it was rather abrupt and it took Clark a week to come to terms with it. Near the end there was 2 days of him being on a constant hair trigger and many meltdowns. I had to send myself into time outs several times. I am happy to say that everyone is doing well now. The blackouts and heart palpation have gone away.

On Monday The Elder and I had an ultrasound and were able to see the baby for the first time. I am now 20 1/2 weeks along. I still have nausea on and off and still need to take Zofran to keep it in check.

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Bowling

The Elder and Clark

We missed the cut off for spring Tball. So we signed the boys up for bowling. In the past they have enjoyed it. The good part is, all 3 boys can participate. With Tball, only Clark and Tyke can. We did consider soccer, but the field they use in this area is just to noisy. There is to much noise for Clark. It's sad because he really likes it. We may do it this fall though.

The Elder and Clark watching the ball.

Tyke getting his ball.

Pa and The Colonel



We have bowled 4 times so far. Tyke seems to do the best. All these pictures are from a previous week. Clark now needs to wear headphones to bowl. The noises in the bowling alley are to much for him once they  have the teens bowling too. That is ok though.



Oh Pork Chop... He and Pa are lining up the ball and he just tossed it.

Go! Go!