September Illness of the Month: Croup

I know, I know, I shouldn't joke about it. But seriously, we're in the doctor's office at least once a month, usually more. So I'm always wondering what's next? After 7 ear infections, a stomach bug, tubes, and Roseola virus, Maddox now has Croup, the general term for "laryngo-tracheo bronchitis."

He came down with a fever last night before bed and then had a rough night. Started coughing, a barking cough, in the middle of the night. He would be coughing and then take a big wheezing breath. Crying made it even harder for him to catch his breath. I assumed it was bronchitis. It's Croup. Not fun. He's been pretty lazy today, laying around and sleeping all day. It was crazy at the doctor's office and Dr. Nau had admitted one little boy last night to the hospital for Croup. The cough isn't too bad today, he's just really raspy and wheezy. We got medicine that's given for asthma or other breathing problems. We're worried about tonight though. Hopefully it doesn't get too bad.

Poor little buddy.

By the way, I know I'm way behind on my posting. I have to post on our Illinois trip and meeting my cousin's baby, Faith.

Roseola

Turns out Maddox had the roseola virus. His fever was gone today and the rash appeared on his face, neck, stomach, and back. So when the rash appears that apparantly means the fever should be gone for good. If not, we should go back in Wednesday or so.

He's still soooo crabby and clingy and not sleeping well. He was up screaming and flailing all around multiple times in the middle of the night. He wants up, but then he wants down and then throws a major fit when you put him down. We're exhausted. When we got tubes at the beginning of the month, we thought we were in the clear of sickness for a while. Then less than a month later, he gets sick. Not related to his ears at all, but still frustrating. This kid has been to the doctor at least 3 times a month for the last 7 months. Poor thing.

If I got one thing out of this one, it's that I now know that a fever of 104.5, racing heart, and fast breathing all at once is okay in a kid. Although I hope Maddox never has to go through that again - he was just miserable.

Solution for a sick, clingy toddler...
























Being sick doesn't mean there isn't time for reading...

This is bad

We're on day 4 of this terrible, terrible fever. We were supposed to go to the doctor yesterday if he still had it but it was 98 degrees in the morning. It didn't come back until late in the afternoon when the doc office was already closed. Then late last night it was gone and he was up playing and acting normal. This morning it was 103.6 Friday night it got up to 104.5 at one point. Poor little buddy. Just have to get through today and tomorrow we're going to the doctor.

Sick Sick Sick Baby

Last night Maddox felt a little warm and sure enough his temp was about 99.2.



This morning it was 101.4, so I stayed home with him. He layed around alll day. I ended up taking 2 naps with him on the couch. After he woke up from his afternoon nap, he layed with me on the couch for an hour which is sooo unlike him to lay still for that long (even 2 minutes is unlike him). I took his temp and it was 103.7! The poor guy. I was a little freaked out that it was that high. We've dealt with mid 102s, but never near 104. I called the doc and brought him in. He was just pissed to be at the doctor and having him poking and prodding. His throat was red but everything else looked and sounded fine. Doc said kids have been coming in with a virus, so Maddox had a little blood drawn to verify it wasn't bacterial.



He told us to just continue with the tylenol every 4 hours (after tylenol it was down to 102.7 at the doc office). If he gets worse, bring him in. If he still has a fever Saturday, bring him in. He says it's been lasting 1-3 days for most kids.



Poor kid is sick all the time. He was playing a lot after supper tonight, so that's a good sign.



And, to add to my last post. Here is the little man asking for MORE chips.

Tubes Followup

We had our followup with the ENT today. Everything looks perfect. Tubes are in the correct position, open, and functioning properly. His ears are perfectly clear. I told him that Maddox has been fussy, clingy, and not sleeping great since he got them. Until last night when he finally slept 7:30 - 6:00 without waking up. He said that he swears the anesthesia takes a long time to completely wear off and a lot of his patients take a week or so to feel like their normal self again. He says if you talk to an anesthesiologist, they will completely deny that. I wonder if he's right. Anyways, hopefully last night is a sign of what is to come.

For those of you who check the blog every day...you can take a break until next Tuesday! We'll be laying on the beach at Gulf Shores, AL until then! Better go - I'm supposed to be packing.

I'll leave you with pictures of a couple goofy karate kids...

Tubes = Success

The surgery went well this morning. I had to wake up Maddox bright and early at 5:30 and we were at the hospital at 6:00. I didn't realize how long the morning would be. After registering, we went to the Ambulatory Care waiting room and filled out some paperwork. Then they brought us to our own personal waiting room around 6:45/7:00. We were in there until about 7:30, when we went to the holding room and waited for the anesthesiologist to come talk to us and have us sign papers. I asked Mitch how they manage to hold a gas mask on a wiggly 1-year-old for one minute and he of course had a hilarious impression that made me crack up. He always keeps things light. Dr. Griffith (the ENT doing the procedure) came and talked to Maddox and us also. At this point he was tired and hungry since he couldn't eat or drink all morning.

Then around 7:50, the nice nurse came over with some stickers. Maddox loved them. While distracted by the stickers, she snucik him away from me. :o( We waited until he was long gone so he wouldn't see us before we wandered out into the hallway and back to our little personal waiting room to wait...and wait...AND WAIT. 8:10 rolls around and I start panicking. Minus a nervous stomach, I really hadn't been that nervous all morning until then. WHY hadn't Dr. Griffith come to talk to us like he said he would right away after the 10-15 minute procedure?? It had been 20 minutes - the longest 20 minutes of my life. I sat and watched the second hand on the clock until he walked in at 8:15. All was well! Except Maddox woke up pissed as most little ones do. Sure enough, the nurse brought him in and he was all out of sorts. He was a little loopy (had to make sure his head didn't flop back) and crying and screaming. We gave him his sippy of milk which he would only take a few drinks of. He was passed out on my shoulder after 5 minutes.

We weren't out of the hospital until 8:50. They take the youngest first, but we met up with one of Maddox's best buds from daycare when we got there. We had to wait for him to get his tubes first. ;o) Poor little guys.

The doctor said that his left ear was full of fluid and his right ear was full of gel. I'm excited for Maddox to really be able to hear for the first time in 6 months. He warned us that Maddox could be scared of loud noises - vacuum, sirens, etc for a while. No more sleeping through a loud canon shot like he did at the VEISHEA parade. ;o)

Here's the little guy after surgery with the raccoon he got from the nice nurses. He's been up and running around as if today is a normal day.

And now:

Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers. ;o)

Tubes Tomorrow

We are scheduled to check in at 6:00 AM. I'm not really nervous but I'll probably be a wreck in the morning.

On a lighter note - It is July 1st and I will not be stepping into the factory again until July 13th. This is a MUCH needed vacation.

Here's Bubba...

Tubes Time!

We had Maddox's appointment with the ENT (Ear, Nose, Throat specialist) today. Turns out the reason he had a fever yesterday is in fact because of another ear infection. His "5th" one in the last 6 months. I put "5th" in quotes because really the truth is the fluid is never draining from his ears, so for nearly all of the last 6 months his ears have either been full of fluid or infected. I also put "5th" in quotes because you may consider it more since a few of them he has had for a few weeks going through multiple medicines to get rid of them. To recap:


December 28: #1 (Amoxicillin)
February 3: #2 (Amoxicillin)
March 3: #3 (Amoxicillin)
March 10: #3 (Cefdinir)
March 17: #3 (Augmenten)
April 22: #4 (Augmenten)
May 4: #4 (Rocephin)
June 19: #5 (Augmenten - maybe)


He wrote a prescription for Augmenten, but we're going to wait to see how he does tonight to decide if we give him that or not. It usually doesn't sit well in his stomach and he doesn't take it very well. Also, it didn't even work the last time.


We scheduled his tube surgery on July 2. I hope this doesn't come out wrong, but we are so excited. Maybe "relieved" is a better word than excited. A few months ago, I would've said that I hope we don't have to do tubes, but seriously we are ready to be done with this mess. Everyone that I've talked to whose kids have had tubes only have good things to say about them. I hear it will be like night and day the difference it will make - hopefully. Sure I'm nervous and will probably be a wreck that morning, but it only takes 5 minutes and I know that it will go just fine.


So we'll see how tonight goes. Last night was rough - I think his longest stretch of sleep was 2 hours. Which stinks because a few weeks ago he finally started "officially" sleeping through the night 8-6 every night. So of course this has to happen.


It's been a rough year for Maddox. You know it's been rough when after a night of waking up every few hours, Mitch says in a happy tone, "Last night wasn't too bad!" ;o)

Sick again and 1-year pictures

Maddox was sick today. He has a fever over 102. It's probably an ear infection - we meet with the ENT tomorrow. So here's what he got to do all day since I had to be at work...

And for my loyal blog follower, Chelsey, as requested, here are Maddox's 1 year pictures. :o) I haven't decided which ones to order yet, which is my #1 goal for this weekend. The pictures were taken by my coworker's wife who does photography in her home. She does a great job! We were hoping to take outside pictures but it was a crappy day. They turned out great anyways. The best thing about her is that she gives you a CD of all of the pictures she took (we took 100) with the print release so I can do whatever I want with them. The next best thing is that she edits the best photos and saves them in an online gallery that you can order prof. prints from but then never bugs you about purchasing from her (even though I will of course). I highly recommend her if you are in the area.

Diana's Photo Expressions - http://www.dianasphotoexpressions.com/

I'm a sucker for black and white...

I would love to get into photography and do what Diana does someday in the future. So I asked her how she got into it. She actually just bought her first DSLR last summer (also a Canon like mine but different) and her and her husband took a class in photography together. She gave me some great information including the name of the guy that taught the class and his photography store that has been really helpful for her.

Someday when I have more free time I'll get more serious about it, but until then I'm just playing with my new camera to figure it out. I had my first photo shoot a couple weeks ago with Avery Jo and I think I can finally post the pictures since Teisha got her birth announcements sent out. ;o) I'll do that over the weekend.

AHHH, STUPID EAR INFECTIONS!

Maddox had his ear infection followup this morning. After a looong weekend, I knew it wasn't going to be good news. On Saturday night, he went to sleep at 7, woke up at 11 and was a monster until 3! It was really awful - the worst night ever for him. He has never done that - not even when he was a newborn. The last time he slept almost that bad was his first ear infection in December - and this time was worse than that.

Sure enough - it is still full. So we moved onto the shot (Rocephin). It is a big shot and Maddox screamed but Mitch had him calmed down after a couple minutes. Mitch had to take him since it was in the morning and I had a meeting that I shouldn't miss at work. He has to get another shot Wednesday and another Friday. Friday Dr. Nau will check his ears again.

The next step is tubes. I'm definitely ready to be done with this ear infection mess but I would rather not have him need surgery. I know it's a minor surgery but the fact that heaven forbid things could go wrong scares me big time. :o(

Are you sick of reading about ear infections on here yet? Well I'm sick of typing about them and I know Maddox is sick of having them. Being the nerd I am, I created a calendar to show the days that Maddox has been in pain since cutting his first teeth and its obvious that pain is all he knows. This is being "generous" assuming that 3 days before and 3 days after a new tooth, he is hurting. Same thing with ear infection - 3 days before I take him to the doctor, he is probably hurting already - if not longer than that especially recently since they are harder to discover - and 3 days after unless it carried through to the next followup. Poor guy! He probably thinks it's normal to always be in pain. You can see when he started sleeping through the night in January but that came to an abrupt stop and there has been no end in sight since the end of January. You can see that he's really only had 2 weeks off since January 24th!

It's hard to read, but the red days are days that a tooth cut through or the doctor confirmed an ear infection. The weekend that he had the stomach flu is also included in red. I know, I know, I should find better things to do with my free time. ;o)

You've got to be kidding me!

You can add another ear infection to that list I posted last week. And I think we are working on even more teeth (as if that's possible).

It was actually kind of funny this time. He's had a cold basically since he cut his last tooth. It's been over a week and hasn't gone away. He's been sleeping really crappy and is hard to get back to sleep in the middle of the night but hasn't been screaming or acting like he is in pain at all. So I assumed it was just a cold and was cautiously waiting for an ear infection to appear.

A coworker of mine is going through the same thing only Evan has had TWO TIMES as many ear infections as Maddox has. So we keep eachother updated...get double the doctor information. Yesterday she took Evan in for a double ear infection. I told her I was waiting for one because of his cold and that it's hard to tell anymore whether he has one or not. With all of the ear infections and new teeth, it seems like he is just normally a bit of a crabby baby. Deep down inside I remembered that he is a "perfect" baby so maybe something really was wrong? Anyways, my coworker mentioned that the last two times, she has felt silly bringing her son in because it is like he is used to have ear infections now, but both times she was right. It inspired me to bring in Maddox just to check and sure enough - he has fluid in his right ear and an infection in the left!

We got augmenten again. He hates augmenten. Also he had to take that while he had the stomach bug in March, so we are nervous that it is going to make him sick. But it worked the best - cleared the infection and fluid, so I agreed to taking it.

Also, I asked about a rash he has on his leg. It's eczema - likely allergies - from grass, pollen, or something...if he's like his Dad he will be allergic to everything. She told us to apply hydrocortisone and lotion once daily and if that doesn't work then twice daily.

Will we ever have a week without teething?!

It seems like it's either teething or an ear infection. Luckily we've been without the ear infections for a while but he just cut his 8th tooth! These last two teeth were the worst. He just would not sleep and would not go back to sleep in the middle of the night. We were just in the clear from the 7th tooth, gradually getting back to sleeping through the night (we were back to 9-5) and then this one came along. I told Mitch that hopefully we have a couple months now before another tooth comes along...wishful thinking.

It's been a long road:

11-23-08 1st tooth
11-27-08 2nd tooth
12-28-08 Ear infection
1-27-09 3rd tooth
2-3-09 Ear infection
2-18-09 4th tooth
2-26-09 5th and 6th teeth
3-3-09 Ear infection
3-10-09 Ear infection still
3-17-09 Ear infection still
3-27-09 7th tooth
4-12-09 8th tooth

All three of us are ready for a break from this nonsense! But I have a feeling his first molars will be appearing earlier than I would hope.

Ear Infection Free!!!

It's gone! It's completely gone! That's right - no more infection, no more fluid! His ears are finally in perfect condition. When doc said that both ears are good, I said "Really?!" and he said "Yes, are you surprised?" I was - but more I was relieved. I thought for sure we were going to be stuck with this fluid in his ears forever if we didn't get tubes put in. Now we can just cross our fingers that the ear infections don't come back.

I also had him weighed since he had been sick. He is still 19.5 lb so at least he didn't lose any weight!

Lastly, he had to get one shot since we didn't do that at his 9 month appt. It was funny. She stuck it in his leg, he turned and looked at me with these sad puppy dog eyes, let out a tiny whine and then looked up and smiled at the nurse. That was it. Hopefully we don't have to go back until he turns 1 year.

Sick Baby

Poor little Maddox had his first stomach bug over the weekend. It was not fun for any of us.

At daycare he had a new shirt on when I picked him up because he had "spit up" his food on his shirt. I thought nothing of that. Then around 5:00 when we were packing up the car to head to DeWitt, I noticed Maddox started coughing/gagging a little. I thought he had something in his mouth but he started throwing up...a lot. We decided we were staying home. Around 7:00 he threw up again two times in a row. We had brought his old baby tub in the living room to catch it. I called the First Nurse line and they said to wait for an hour before nursing him and only nurse a little bit at a time and also to give him pedialyte. And of course told me to watch for dehydration. Mitch went on a Walmart run for Pedialyte and a rocking chair. (seriously, I can't believe we've gone this long without a rocking chair and I wasnt about to go a few days with a sick baby and not be able to rock him). That was it for the night, he nursed fine and slept "okay."

In the morning, it was diahrrea. We went through 2 pairs of pants and onesies by 8:00. Then I made the mistake of trying to give him his antibiotic, Augmenten. It came up right away and poor Mitch required a shower after this one.

Sleepy...

This is our "sick" baby

2:00 rolls around and Maddox hadn't had any wet diapers - maybe there was pee in one of his morning dirty diapers and we couldn't tell, but it had been at least 6 hours which I had been instructed to watch for. So I called the First Nurse line again. Maddox was really in good spirits for being sick. He was in a good mood, but sleeping a lot more than normal. At this point he was just laying around on Mitch. First Nurse said we needed to take him to the hospital to get fluids in him before he became overly dehydrated. His doctor's office was closed since it was Saturday afternoon.

I hesitated - he just didn't look like he needed to go to the ER. But we decided if we were told to go then we should probably go before things get worse and we regretted hesitating. We felt silly being in the ER since Maddox was flirting with the receptionist and nurse, but that's just how he is - even if he's sick. Luckily there was absolutely no wait. Our doctor was super nice and said he looked "haggard" and his mouth looked a little dry but not completely dry. He said his eyes and soft spot looked fine (not sunken in) so it didn't look like he needed fluids. He recommended giving as much pedialyte as possible and just skipping breastfeeding for a while. He also said to wait until the morning to try the Augmenten again. He checked his ears and the infection is cleared.

So we left. I was ashamed to be "one of those parents" who brings their kid to the ER when not needed...but it wasn't my fault! They made me. ;o) And Mitch pointed out that we did get a lot of good info and reassurance from the doctor...which is well worth the hefty bill we will be getting, right? ha!

"Haha - I can't believe you fools brought me to the ER."

We had a sleepy baby the rest of the day, but no more sickness. He had a lot of pedialyte (which he loves) and I didn't nurse him until bedtime. He really didn't have a wet diaper until this morning so he was pretty dried up yesterday!

Anyway he is back to his normal self today! We rearranged the living room which he was all about. He was exploring like crazy.

1st side of the new living room...

2nd side of the new living room...

Tuckered out from moving all of the furniture and loving the new rocking chair

Eventful Weekend + St. Patty's Day + Ear Infection

We had quite an eventful weekend. Mitch went to DeWitt and Maddox and I stayed behind. Teisha and Alexa came out for the weekend! We pretty much just relaxed all weekend and enjoyed the great weather. It was nice out Saturday (just a little windy) so we took the kids to the park. They both enjoyed swinging and Alexa enjoyed going down the slide about 100 times (no exaggeration). Teisha and I even managed to get a few pages of Maddox's scrapbook done over the weekend. It was fun having them out here...Maddox and Alexa truly LOVE eachother! Alexa always says, "Maddox is my best friend and my cousin." How cute!

Also on Saturday, my good college friend, Eric, stopped at our place briefly with his family. They live in Dubuque and were in the area staying with friends. It was so great to see him! I hadn't seen him since our wedding. His boys, Kyle and Caleb, sure have grown up. I used to babysit them. And I got to meet his 4-month-old daughter, Adelyn...what a doll!

Sunday, after Teisha and Alexa left, Maddox and I went to Rieman Gardens in Ames. I can't believe I had never been there before. It was a get together with my work mom's group, but due to spring break and st. patty's day everyone was out of town that weekend so there was only two of us moms that decided to go. Again it was an awesome day out and Bek & Maddox had fun playing together!

Over the weekend, Maddox started getting pretty fussy, not sleeping well, and always wanting to nurse. I wasn't sure what to think of it. He has become a complete mama's boy lately and is really starting the separation anxiety thing so I wasn't sure if it was just that. After minimal sleep last night and crying/screaming that was unusual for Maddox I called the doctor's office. We went in at 2:00 today and sure enough, his left ear is still very infected. I found it odd that his new medicine cleared his right ear but it was doing nothing to his left ear. But then again his left ear has been the worst one all along. We got the next antibiotic - augmenten. So we've gone through amoxicilin, cefdinir, and now augmenten. The cefdinir caused him to have red poop which is typical for that medicine, but it didn't seem to bother his tummy too much (unless that's why he was crying of course). We were warned that the augmenten will only be worse. :o( We'll find out. Here's mommy's cuddle bug...

Happy St. Patty's Day from a little boy who can stand up by himself for 3 whole seconds. ;o) We've been practicing by holding on to him and letting go and he can now balance (even wobbled and corrected himself) for about 3 seconds. It makes him get really excited and giggle.

LOVE this picture....

9 Months Old

Can you believe that I am 9 months old already?!

Maddox's List of Favorite Things:

1. Crawling and climbing EVERYWHERE. And I just started cruising (not very far yet just back and borth between two chairs) today.

2. Yelling/Screaming - not because I'm mad, just because it's fun to be loud.

3. Getting into everything I'm not supposed to. I like to keep Mommy and Daddy on their toes.

4. Brushing my teeth - I'm getting pretty good at brushing my own bottom teeth but need to work on the top ones.

5. Las Vegas!

6. Flying

7. Amoxicilin - I might go on withdrawls if I have to go a whole month without this good stuff. I'm not sure about the new stuff yet.

8. Looking out the window.

9. Saying Mama, Dada, Baba, and my newest - Nana.

10. Turning on the radio and dancing to the music.

I had my 9 month checkup at the pedi's office today. He said that I look healthy. He checked my ears - bad news - they both are infected! :o( So I got new medicine that is called Cefdinir. I have to go to see him again in 2 weeks. Also, mommy asked him to look at the cyst again under my tongue. He looked and said we will check it again at my 1 year checkup and see the ENT (ear and throat specialists) to see what they recommend that we do about it.

Weight: 19 lb 8 oz (35th percentile)

Height: 27 1/4 in (15th percentile)

Head Circumfrence: 47 cm (above the 95th percentile)

Mommy doesn't want to get my 9 month pictures taken - she doesn't want to take my 6 month pictures down yet. So we had a quick photo shoot at home to capture my crazy 9-month personality. The theme of the photo shoot was..."Take a picture as fast as you can before I crawl away." ;o)