We spent last week at the beach with Vince's parents and camping friends: the Sherwoods, Mitchells, and Cantellos. It has been a fairly mild summer so far around here, but of course the first time we are away from AC at the touch of a button summer hit full force! It was very warm and strangely still considering we were right on the lake. Charlie is not a fan of being hot, so we stayed in trying to catch as much of a breeze as possible from a battery operated fan! It was a good time though despite all that.
Camping at the beach of course is not without its drama when you are with a 6 month old. On Monday Charlie developed a rash on his chest and belly that we attributed to the heat. He did not seem overly bothered by it when he was kept cool. It stuck around all week, but was losing its redness as the weekend got closer. On Thursday he was particularly irritable after spending the morning with grandma and seemed a little warm to the touch. So we took his temperature and when it read 102 we attributed it to teething and gave him some tylenol. The fever lasted for about 24 hours with the tylenol and then seemed to subside.
We came home on Friday evening (after much drama involving Vince's dad and a trip to the ER due to kidney stones) and when we woke up Saturday morning Charlie's rash, which had been improving, had spread over his entire body. His arms, legs, back, and face were now covered and he was obviously uncomfortable. A call to the pediatrician's led us to putting hydrocortisone on and seeing if that helped.
It didn't and after a sleepless Saturday night, we called the pediatrician again and asked to be seen. At this point his arms and legs looked sunburned because they were so red and irritated. When the pediatrician (not Dr Dracker, but another from the practice on call) looked at him she ruled out chicken pox, measles, or anything viral. She said to us, and I quote, "I think we have a case of G.O.K. - God only knows." Now, I understand things happening for no apparent reason - I myself have sensitive skin and break out with no cause - but there are better ways to relay this information to a concerned parent. She said to wait it out and give him benadryl at night to help him sleep more comfortably.
Sunday night, two doses of benadryl, still no sleep, and a rash that continued to look worse than before prompted me to call the pediatrician's office again Monday morning and schedule an appointment to have Dr Dracker look at him. This was not to get a new diagnosis, as I was willing to accept that it is quite possible to not get an answer, but more to find out how we could make poor Charlie more comfortable. Our typically happy baby had been crying and refusing to do anything but be held for over two days now. Dr Dracker looked him over and decided he thought it was a staph infection and put him on antibiotics. He has been on the antibiotics for a day and a half now and you can hardly tell he even had a rash.
In light of all the chaos of life for the past week and a half, Charlie's feeding progress has suffered slightly. When he got the fever we stopped his cereal in order to focus on keeping him hydrated. We have not started back up yet because we were waiting out this rash situation. He is back to waking up around the clock again every 3-4 hours and he has been taking between 4 and 5 oz from the bottle rather than the 6+ we had finally worked up to. So we continue the dance and will work at getting back to where we were again. All in due time I guess!
He is amazing though! So strong and he is just itching to be mobile. Everyone seems to think that once he starts getting around on his own there will be no stopping him! No slow transitions for him! :-) We are having his official baptism ceremony at our church this weekend. He was baptized the night he was born, but this will be a nice celebration. We wanted to get it done before the summertime is over to make us feel better about the germ exposure from being at church and around so many people at once. Hopefully we will have some nice pictures to post from that next week!
Charlie chilling out, waiting for dinner time!
Nothing better than bouncing on the beach!
"All I need is a tropical drink and life will be fantastic!"
Cousin Emanuel -
This is a great way to keep a 3 year old out of trouble! :-)
Family picture on the beach
"Mom, why do you always smooch me like that?? Its embarrassing!"
"Hi Guys! Isn't this place great?!"
This is where Charlie and I hung out most of the week. He played and people watched and I read my book. A good time was had by all!
Sleepy Charlie!
"Man, this vacation stuff is exhausting!"
2 comments:
Wow he has come a longggggggg way!! I can't believe how well he is sitting up! omg! Besides the fever, rash and kidney stones- sounds like you had a great time!! :)Can you believe that not too long ago he could only go from crib to lap to crib! ha jeez!
I know i tell you this all the time but gosh dang your little guy is soooo freakin cute! I always tell Rob to come to the computer and look at yalls pics and he thinks he's really cute 2! lol.....it's always a good feeling to hear that your baby is a cutie so i thought id say it again....hope yall are doing well
love candice
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