Staph Infection

Somehow Caleb ended up with another bug bite on his upper left thigh. He had one there about 2 inches from this new spot about 3 months ago. This was the bite that I assumed was an ant bite that we treated ourselves instead of taking him into a doctor. That's why when he got his last ant bites we were sure to take him in and have a doctor's diagnosis rather than treating it (and by that I mean popping it) ourselves. This time around, I was so confused how he could have ended up with a bug bite all the way up his thigh when he had been wearing long pants for 4 days previous to when the bite showed up (and we get our house sprayed on a regular basis for bugs). It didn't make sense, but being a pro with how to work with his ant bites now, I started the Benadryl to help with the swelling and started the ointment with band-aid. After three days of the bite not getting better, but a red ring growing progressively larger, I finally called a nurse to see if I could get a refill of the oral medicine we gave with his ant bites. I described the "bite" to the nurse, and instead of helping me get a refill for the prescription, she said I better come in and see the doctor. My immediate thoughts were, "Typical answer. They always say that...they're just trying to make money off of me." Well make money off of me they did, but I'm glad the nurse told me to come in.

As I failed to take a picture of Caleb's leg, here's the closest picture I could find on the internet of what it looked like (I actually only looked at a few pages of google images before I thought I would throw-up):

It worked out that my mom came with me to the doctor's appointment because she was going to watch Caleb that afternoon so that I could go get some blood work done for my pregnancy (check for down syndrome, diabetes, and whatever else they check). I'm so glad she was there! While the doctor was washing his hands preparing to look at Caleb's leg (and by the way, Caleb is screaming his head off--nothing good ever happens at the doctor's office and he freaks out every time starting with the moment we walk in to get his weight checked), I start rambling to the doctor about this bite on his leg, except I don't know how he could have gotten a bite due to the long pants, and hopefully the doctor could help diagnosis the bite. He took one look at it and said it wasn't a bite at all, but a staph infection.

Whoa! My immediate thoughts were, "What have I done wrong as a mother? I bathe my child every night and sometimes twice a day because he loves to jump in the shower whenever Matt or I do." So I asked the doctor how he got the infection and how to prevent them in the future. I wasn't prepared for his answer that there was nothing I could do, although I felt slightly relieved that I wasn't doing anything wrong! Everyone has staph all over their skin, and some people are just prone to infection more than others. Looks like Caleb is one of the lucky ones.

I explained to the doctor how Caleb had had one of these before on the same leg and instead of taking him into the doctor, I confessed that Matt and I treated it ourselves by popping it as that seemed to help the situation to relieve the pressure. Although Caleb screamed bloody murder when we popped it (and by we, I mean Matt), you could tell he felt better afterwards. Again I wasn't expecting the doctor's answer that that is exactly what you're supposed to do with staph infections, squeeze the infection out...preferably by a doctor, however. (I had horrible feelings of guilt whenever Matt popped the infection remembering all past doctors' counsel of not to pop blisters, bug bites, zits, etc.) He explained that I should take Caleb to the doctor anytime it happens again (duly noted) because if it ever gets to the point where Caleb can't walk or use the limb where the infection is and he has a fever, then we have an emergency room situation where it could get serious real fast. I think at this point I started a cold sweat remembering how with the other staph infection on his leg, there was one day where he would not walk on his leg at all, and I had to carry him around like an invalid all day.

After all the talking, questions, and answers, the nurse gave him some Tylenol Codeine to help drug Caleb up, and then twenty minutes later it was "surgery" time. Caleb knew something bad was about to happen and was acting completely terrified. I had to pry him from my arms to lay him down on the table, all the while singing songs as he clutched his trains in absolute terror. The nurse held his legs down, while I held Caleb's arms. Even through the process of cleaning the wound where there was no pain yet, Caleb bawled and kept saying "all done". Then the doctor got ready to lance the wound and squeeze out the infection. I positioned myself so I couldn't watch because I knew I would break down. The doctor told me that he wasn't going to be as "nice" about it as my husband probably was and that Caleb was not going to like him after he finished. My mom watched the process though. The doctor got a sample of the infection to test for the type of staph, and then squeezed out quite a bit of goop.

Afterwards, Caleb wouldn't go to me ("How could you let him do this to me?"), but would only go to my mom. Needless to say, the whole process was heart wrenching and traumatic. It's not fun being a parent sometimes. To continue to take care of his leg, we have had to give Caleb yucky, yucky medicine 3 times a day (1 1/2 t each time, which is quite a bit) plus give him bleach baths along with regular baths twice daily. During each bath we are supposed to squeeze the wound to see if we can get anything else out of the infection. We're on day 4 of 8 days of doing this, so we're halfway there of being done! His leg looks a lot better already...healing much faster than the last time he had staph.

Overall, not fun. I hope that the infections are infrequent from here on out, but of course none of us would complain if we didn't ever have to do this again! I'm afraid that might be wishful thinking.

Pregnancy Update

I didn't post pictures of my pregnancy first go-around, and I probably won't post pictures up to the end this time, simply because I don't like to be reminded of how I look 8 and 9 months pregnant. I know very few people who can pull off looking good with a watermelon belly and an extra 30 lbs.

I do want to post some of the fun and not-so-fun of this pregnancy. In general, I don't mind being pregnant. I fall into the lucky 45% or so that don't get sick in their pregnancy. I have felt a lot more nauseous this pregnancy than the previous one, but I have quickly discovered that I need to avoid taking my pre-natal vitamin on an empty stomach and that small snacks fend off the nausea. I enjoy going to the doctor visits to get a check-up and hear the baby's heart beat. I love that the doctor's visits are so frequent so that I can always ask questions and just feel reassured that the pregnancy is going well. I think I have already felt the baby move, and Matt confirms that he think he has felt it move as well, but I'm not entirely positive. Overall, pregnancy suits me, and I recognize how lucky I am not only to get pregnant, but to have healthy ones (thus far...knock on wood).

That being said, the thing I like least about being pregnant is purely selfish. I hate how it limits my physical activity. I love to be really active, and it's hard to have to slow down. I am still running every day with my sister, but our general pace has slowed down, as well as my times in the mile. Whereas 4 months ago, I could average 7-minute miles (when timing myself in 1 mile), I am now averaging between 8 and 8:30-minute miles. As long as my body will let me, I am still attempting to do long runs on the weekends. Up until 2 weeks ago, I was running 7 miles every Saturday at my usual long-distance pace of a 9-minute mile. These last two Saturdays have been very difficult, however. I have only run 5.5 miles, and have turned the timer off these last two weeks because my times were starting out horrendously after the first few miles. I don't have the ability to push myself faster, and this past Saturday I even had to take a short walking break every 2 miles. It's really hard for me to give up this new passion for running I've developed over the last 2 years, albeit temporarily. It takes a long time to build up to running long distances, so it's difficult to let that slip away knowing it will be a lot of work to train up to again.

Besides running, I'm playing tennis twice a week with Matt as well as some friends on Saturdays, and I hold my own (as the pregnancy progresses, then I'm sure Matt will be able to beat me ;o). We are also playing Ultimate Frisbee still, because it is one of our favorite things to do together. I'm afraid that with 2 kids, it will be a lot more difficult to ever play again though.

Along with the limited activity, I really struggle with the increased cravings and hunger. For me, it's difficult to find a balance between meeting those hunger pains, but not putting on an excessive amount of weight, which is just a pain in the butt to have to work off afterwards. Just like with my first pregnancy, I'm really going to try to keep it around a 25 lb. weight gain. (The first one I gained 30 lbs.) I read in a pregnancy book that you should gain 3 lbs in the first trimester, and then 1 pound per week after that. If I did my math right, it works out to gaining about 28 lbs. Right now, I'm on track with that.

Anyway, so that's an update. Less than 4 weeks till we find out the sex of the baby!

Green Thumb

Matt's trying his hand at gardening while I applaud from the sidelines. We decided to start small and have only started with cauliflower and broccoli.

Getting Ready for Fall

Caleb and I had a fun outing last Friday as we visited a place that had all the great activities a kid could want! There were several "park" areas with swings, slides, and jungle gyms. They had animals that the kids could pet (llamas, goats, ponies, a donkey, some deer, and chickens). There was a pumpkin patch, miniature golf, an area for scooter races, little car races, tether ball, a football area, basketball, volleyball...pretty much kid heaven! Caleb had a great time!

Getting Crafty

At a past Relief Society activity, we had a craft night and had the opportunity to make several different decorations. I chose to make some jewelry and a Family Home Evening board. The jewelery-making was a lot of fun, and much simpler than I expected it to be. I'm excited to have an FHE board. I thought all turned out well although I do regret using stamps to put our names on the FHE board rather than doing it freehand. Maybe one day I'll paint over it and re-do our names.

Why We Shouldn't Live in Texas

We have discovered a big reason why we should not live in Texas...fire ants. No one likes the itchy bites, but apparently Caleb is extremely allergic and puffs up like a balloon wherever he is bit. We've had two incidents thus far. First time he managed to get a bite on his upper left thigh. It got so swollen and infected that Caleb limped around for a few days, and one day I had to carry him around like an invalid as he wouldn't put any weight on his leg. Stupidly, Matt and I decided to treat it ourselves with some Benadryl, Neosporin, and eventually by relieving the pressure (i.e. popping it). This all worked, but it took upwards of a week for it to get better, and in the meantime we had miserable days and nights.

After playing in the park last week, Caleb somehow ended up with 3 ant bites on his hand. I immediately treated them with Hydrocortisone cream all day, but by the next morning his hand was swollen to twice the size it normally is. Again he coddled it and would not use his right hand for anything. Learning from the last experience, I scheduled a doctor's appointment right away rather than have another week plus of misery. In addition to Benadryl, he was prescribed an oral medication and an ointment. The swelling went down in two days, and it all healed much more quickly this time. Before we started his medicine, his ant bites turned into huge blisters about the size of a Skittle. The picture below was taken after the medication started and the swelling had already begun to recede. If only I would have thought to take a picture the previous day to really show just how poofy Caleb's hand got! Caleb was very protective of his hand and wouldn't let me take pictures of it, so this is the one picture I got, and it is very blurry. Poor kid! Maybe he won't be as allergic as he gets older...?

Bowling

Caleb joined Matt and I on a bowling double date because we couldn't find a sitter. He did really well and even got to bowl a few frames!