When It Rains, It Pours

[***Warning: This blog post includes lots of poop talk.  If you can't handle poop talk, don't read***]

My poor little guy has been really sick!  This was his first significant illness since his bout with RSV when he was only a few months old.  All in all, I actually think we've been pretty lucky.  Ryder has had a few minor colds here and there, but besides the RSV, he's remained pretty healthy considering he spends 4 days a week at school surrounded by kid germs.

On Thursday (September 13th), the daily sheet that comes home from school with Ryder, which summarizes his eating, sleeping and diaper patterns for the day, noted that he had some diarrhea.  Indeed, he woke up with more diarrhea the next morning.  Well, things continued downhill and Ryder proceeded to have diarrhea 5 or 6 times a day (with no normal bowel movements in between).  I tried to brainstorm possible causes, but I couldn't come up with anything.  It didn't seem like a stomach bug since he wasn't throwing up, he wasn't particularly fussy, and he had a totally normal appetite.  I initially wondered whether he was having a reaction to something he had eaten, but I wracked my brain and couldn't think of any new foods he had tried in the preceding days.  Meanwhile, I watched closely to make sure he didn't get dehydrated, which is the biggest risk when you are dealing with a baby with diarrhea.  On Saturday morning, when there were still no sign of improvement, I called the after-hours nurse line at the pediatrician's office.  At that point, they told me to feed him bland food (which I was already doing), offer him pedialyte (which I was already doing) and that he probably had a virus that would go away on its own.  She did say that diarrhea from a virus should at least show signs of improvement within 48-72 hours.  It had already been almost 3 full days, so I was a little bit leery.  But although I was concerned, I wasn't overly anxious.  Again, Ryder was acting pretty normal, still sleeping through the night and napping well had a normal appetite, and never had any fever.  However, come Monday morning, there was zero improvement.  He was waking each morning with a diaper FULL of diarrhea and continuing to have several additional diarrhea diapers each day.  I called the pediatrician at 8am sharp to make him an appointment and they told me to come in at 8:30. 

The doctor's "diagnosis" was actually interesting/unusual.  Really, it was more of a theory than a diagnosis, in my opinion.  Because of Ryder's lack of other symptoms that would typically accompany a stomach bug, the doctor felt that Ryder probably had a 24-hour virus or some other affliction the prior week that had initially caused some diarrhea but that Ryder's intestinal lining had become damaged at that time.  Because the lining was damaged and unable to repair itself, the diarrhea continued.  The doctor told us to give Ryder special anti-diarrhea formula instead of his normal formula and to sprinkle probiotics into all of his meals.  He was hopeful that those measures alone would allow the good bacteria to restore itself in Ryder's system.  Lo and behold, Ryder's diarrhea was 100% gone within 24 hours of implementing the recommended measures.

It was rough to watch Ryder battle non-stop diarrhea for 5 full days, but the story doesn't stop there.  Prior to this whole diarrhea thing, Ryder had already been battling a cold.  He had a snotty nose and a cough.  The cold symptoms persisted for nearly two weeks but I hadn't taken him to the doctor.  On previous occasions when I had taken Ryder to the pediatrician for cold symptoms, Dr. Friedman had always told us to give him extra fluids, suction his nose, run the humidifier at night, and let it run its course.  So this time, instead of making an appointment, I simply did all of those things and assumed the cold would eventually go away.  But since I was taking Ryder to see the doctor for the diarrhea on Monday morning, I obviously addressed the cold symptoms as well.  It turns out that Ryder had a sinus infection and an ear infection!  Poor baby!  Ryder had never had an ear infection, let alone a sinus infection. The doctor also detected that he was wheezing and needed breathing treatments.  Needless to say, I did not feel like mother-of-the-year when I left the appointment.  I wish I would have brought him in sooner. 

On top of the sinus infection, ear infection and asthma, Ryder had a HORRID diaper rash from all of the diarrhea.  So I can only imagine how miserable he must have been.  In retrospect, I cannot believe what a trooper he was!  He slept through the night despite his ailments and his temperament was relatively stable throughout it all. 

We left the doctor with prescriptions for hardcore diaper rash cream, albuterol for his nebulizer treatments (the breathing machine), probiotics, anti-diarrheal formula, and antibiotics for the infections.  He started taking all of his medicine on Monday and he is already doing soooo much better.  No diarrhea since Monday evening.  Diaper rash is gone.  Congestion is mostly gone.  Cough is lingering.  We are still doing breathing treatments, so hopefully the cough will continue to improve. 

Anway, I acknowledge that none of Ryder's ailments were serious in the least, but the fact that he was dealing with two infections, breathing problems, diarrhea and awful diaper rash all at once made it all so much worse. 

I took off work on Monday for Rosh Hashanah but ended up at the pediatrician's office and staying home with a sick baby instead of attending services.  I knew God would understand.  I didn't like having to miss services and lunch with my extended family afterwards, but I did enjoy getting some extra snuggle time with my baby on a weekday. 

9 Month Photos and another letter

 

 

Dear Ryder Spider-

 

     I can't believe you are 9 months old.  You have been in my life for 3/4 of a year... how is that possible?  Perhaps the fact that the first three months of your life were/are a complete blur accounts for the fact that time has flown by so quickly.  I believe that a natural, internal defense mechanism kicked in to cause a quasi-blackout so that I would not recall the traumatic details of those first few months.  If I am in fact correct in this belief, then I only have coherent memories from the past 6 months.  Mystery solved! 

     Some mothers claim that their bond with and unconditional, limitless love for their child manifests the very instant that their baby is born.  I am not sure whether I'll be judged (or at least side-eyed), but this was not the case for me.  Yes, the love I felt for you on your Birth Day was overwhelming, but it is nothing like the love I feel for you today.  With every day that passes, I feel closer to you and my heart fills fuller and fuller with feelings of pride, awe, love and joy.  I am totally used to sending you to school four days a week, but in a sense, leaving you on those days is getting harder instead of easier.  You are doing new things every day, and I miss you something fierce while I'm at work.

     In the past week or so, you have begun to wave "bye-bye" and clap your hands together in excitement.  You pretty much only reveal these new tricks with heavy prompting (i.e. Blake and/or I will clap our hands wildly and scream "yay" excitedly, and after staring at us like we are lunatics for a minute or so, you'll finally join in).  Same with the waiving... I don't think you understand that waiving "bye-bye" is associated with actually saying goodbye to someone, but if we waive frantically at you and say "bye-bye" over and over again, you'll eventually join in.  It's so sweet and cute.

    Diaper changes have become adventurous, as you like to try to catapult yourself from back to belly mid-change.  So far, we've both managed to escape unscathed, but I have a feeling that it is only a matter of time before you belly-flop into a poop-filled diaper.  I'm praying that I can continue to avert such a disgusting disaster.

     You are still very amused and intrigued by your daddy.  When you hear his voice, you strain your little neck as you look around the room for him.  He can always draw a smile from you.  You do shy away from him a bit, but this is only because his big personality can overwhelm you for an instant.  Daddy already loves to put you on his shoulders (holding on tightly, of course) and walk you around the house.  You loooove this.

     This past week we finally retired the infant bath tub and started bathing you in the big boy bath tub (in a smaller, inflatable tub that sits inside of the regular tub).  I must admit that I am really going to miss the infant tub for a number of reasons.  Bathing you in the kitchen sink was so easy and comfortable.  You were already at chest level, so there was no need to hunch over to wash you.  Plus, you loved to laze in the infant sling and stare dreamily out of the garden window above the sink as we scrubbed you.  It was also really easy and convenient to use the stretchable faucet sprayer to rinse your hair (instead of having to dump a cup or bucket of water over your head).  Bath time has been peaceful, fun and enjoyable since you were 6 or 8 weeks old.  Bathing in the real tub will take some getting used to.  Now I have to crouch, use a bucket for rinsing, and there is only rows and rows of white subway tile to stare at (instead of a view of the plush backyard).  On the upside, you now have space to really sit and play with toys and splash around if you so choose.  I'm pretty sure I am the only mom on the planet who was still bathing her 9 month old baby in the baby tub (with the infant sling still attached) in the kitchen sink.  Sadly, it was time to move on.

 

 

     We have also FINALLY, within the past two weeks, retired the stroller converter attachment that is used to hook your infant car seat onto the stroller.  You now ride in the stroller like a big boy and you love it.  You can look out in front of you while we push instead of being harnessed into your car seat and forced to stare back at whoever is pushing you.

 

 

     Although you aren't crawling in the traditional sense.  You can log roll like a champion and you also have developed a rather odd-looking quasi-crawl maneuver.  You can't sit yourself up yet, but love to be placed into the sitting position so that you can play with your toys like a big boy.  And even though you can't pull yourself to standing yet either, as of the last couple of weeks, you enjoy being placed into the standing position and will stand by yourself (while leaning on a toy or couch or whatever) for quite a while before tiring out.  The rest will come.  I'm in no rush for you to start getting around any faster/better than you already do.

     Last week, you had your 9 month check-up.  Boy have you grown!  You now weigh 17 pounds, 8 ounces and are in the 18th percentile for weight!  This is up from the 5th percentile for weight at your six month check-up.  You are a normal sized kiddo now, and I doubt that I'll ever have to worry about you (in regards to weight) again.  You are in the 25th percentile for height and back up to the 70th percentile for head circumferance.  Oh, that huge head.  You still fit into some of your 6 month clothes, but for the most part, the 6 month items are too hard to fit over your gigantoid head.  You are fitting nicely into 9 month clothing.

     Luckily, even though you are changing ten-fold by the day, you still hold on to some of the same precious habits that you've had for months and months.  For example, you still ADORE your lovey blankets.  When we hand you one of your Loveys, you automatically smile, kick your feet in excitement, and draw the Lovey close to your face so that you can squeeze and hug it.  I shutter at the thought of having to break you from your lovey-addiction one day.  You may, in fact, still be sleeping with a lovey when you are 12 years old... but let's hope not.  You also still like to play peek-a-boo with the lovey.  I apologize if I've already described this in a previous post, but you love to lay on the floor, put the lovey over your head to cover your face, kick your legs up and down like a possessed lunatic, and then once Blake or I start saying "where's Ryder? where's Ryder?" over and over again, you yank the lovey off of your face and grin at us.  Adorable.  Funny, too. 

     Instead of going to the Labovitz house after school three days a week, you now have Ms. Peggie picking you up from school each day and bringing you home until Blake or I get home from work.  We all miss the extra time with Ms. Cynthia and JuJu, but Ms. Peggie has been phenomenal, and it is so wonderful to get to come straight home to see you rather than having to pick you up at a third-party location after school.  Plus, Ms. Peggie can help with bath time and/or dinner, so that daddy and I can play with you and simply enjoy our time together before your ridiculously early bedtime.

    Oh, bedtime.  I've never felt so lucky/blessed and yet frustrated at the same time.  Sometimes you demand to go to bed as early as 5pm, but usually you can make it until 6 or even 6:30.  Most mothers would glare at me with envy, as I know it is pretty awesome to have a baby that goes to bed early and sleeps straight through the night for 11-13 hours almost without exception.  And don't get me wrong, I do enjoy getting to relax, unwind, and spend time with your daddy in the evenings after work.  However, I miss you so much while I'm at work, and it is really hard when I rush home as early as possible at the end of the day and still only get anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour to spend with you before bed.  I know that the pros of this situation outweigh the cons.  I also know that you won't always go to bed so early.  So for now, I suck it up and make the best of the weekends (soaking up as much Ryder-time as possible).

     We have been slowly introducing more and more finger foods, but you've still only tried a handful at this point.  Bananas are still your favorite.  You also love cheerios (and puffs too, of course).  You still love all of the Gerber, level II purees.  You currently take 3-4 bottles a day and are drinking approximately 15-18 ounces of formula per day in total.  The pediatrician says that this amount of formula is normal at your age, so I am no longer concerned.

     I could ramble on for forever, but in lieu of writing a novel, I'll cut myself off now.  Your daddy and I are so proud of you baby.  Just when we think you can't possibly get any cuter, you do.  Just when we think you can't possibly get any smarter, you do.  Just when we think you can't possibly learn a new trick, you do.  Just when we think we can't possibly love you any more, we do.  Now please quit growing up so darn quickly!

 



       XOXO,  Mama and Dada

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Naked, squishy legs