Monday, August 24, 2009

We're OK

It's been a stressful week. Ethan reacted slightly to avocado then had a bigger reaction to bananas. I had a terrible cold. Then I got mastitis. Then we were in a car accident. Thank God we're all fine.

Allergic reactions: First we tried avocado again. I put it into a mesh feeder and he sucked a little out of it. He developed a small rash on his belly. I ate bananas and Ethan seemed to be fine with them so I gave him some in different forms. We tried pureed with breastmilk but he wanted nothing to do with them. He spit them out as soon as it went into his mouth. I put small pieces of them on his tray and he didn't even touch them. I handed him a chunk and he bit into it and sucked on it. I put some in a mesh feeder and he finished about a 1/4 of a banana. Later that night he had a rash ALL OVER. It was pretty much wherever the banana touched his face, neck, and then on his belly and back. Avocados and bananas are in the same food family and it's likely that he's allergic to both. I was eating bananas almost every morning with my cereal!! Some of his diaper reactions could have been caused by them.

It was suggested by our allergist that we move on to try apples, sweet potatoes, squash, green beans, and peas. We tried applesauce with little luck. Ethan spits out ANYTHING that you put into his mouth still. It's not thrusting. It's actual spit. He gathers it and spits it right out. If you scoop it up quickly and try again he might swallow a little bit and that feels successful! We keep saying "baby steps" and that we'll get there eventually. Thank goodness he didn't react to the apples. Over the weekend we tried pureed sweet potatoes. He doesn't make a "yuck" face when he swallows a little but most of it gets spit right back out. I gave him a chunk of baked sweet potato and he seemed to like that. Once he got a small piece in his mouth you could see him sucking and chewing on it and then he swallowed it! We plan to try this again.

Mastitis: I thought I had a clogged duct b/c of intense pain but couldn't find any lumps. Other symptoms were swelling & red streaks on my breast. I also felt really run down. I tried to tough it out but ended up going to an urgent care center over the weekend. I read this page on kellymom, which I found helpful. Since I had symptoms early I was able to catch the infection before antibiotics were needed, at least for now. I'm still on the mend. What I think really helped was warm compresses, pumping or nursing every 2 hours, lots of water, and sleep. If the infection had been worse or further along then I think antibiotics would have been necessary. The worst part was that I missed my dear friend's baby shower and left another to pick up my slack. Still so bummed & sorry, Jen & Charlene.

Car accident: We decided to get out of the house for a bit & run a few quick errands. We were stopped to make a left hand turn when we were hit. The sweet 16-year-old who hit us felt terrible. He was crying when he got out of his SUV then fell to the ground crying when he saw that we had a baby in the back seat. He had just gotten his license and said that his parents were going to kill him. I told him that Matt wrecked the same model car when he was 16 years old. Accidents happen and all that mattered was that we were all OK. We got checked out at the ER and Ethan was his usual self. So aside from a few sore muscles, we're fine. Our car is not. It's totaled so we'll be car shopping this weekend. That may sound fun but I'm disappointed that we'll have our first car payment. We were hoping Rhonda the Honda would be with us for at least 2 more years. Bummer. I am very thankful that the 16-year-old did not seem to be speeding. It's tough to think about the possible damage that would have been near Ethan if the driver had been going any faster.

So, it's time to car shop. Ethan decided to help. He rolled over towards the newspaper and started reading.


Sideways at first


There, that's better. Love his bedhead :)


He decided there weren't any cars worth looking at so he'd eat the newspaper instead. No worries, we took it from him right after this was taken.

2 comments:

  1. Wow Christina. There is never a dull moment in your life. You have so much to be thankful for though! Good luck car shopping-- we caved and bought a used VUE because my little mazda just wasn't cutting it!

    ReplyDelete
  2. That is very impressive - the spitting action is impressive! I wish mine knew how to spit :)

    I wrote a post and it disappeared so am going to re-write it if it doesn't appear. Very sorry about the car! Thank goodness you are all okay. Sheeesh.

    Yes, REST, REST, REST.

    ReplyDelete