So we've had a rough couple of weeks here in the Mari household. I think they may need to put a biohazard sticker on our house.
Mari has had diarrhea for 3 weeks, 8-10 times a day. YUM! When she came home, we tested her for everything and it was all negative. So I've been running the gamut of food intolerances, lactose issues, etc. Bananas used to constipate her so bad that I wouldn't even let her look at them. We switched off rice cereal as soon as we were home from Ethiopia for the same reason. Well last weekend, we did three solid days of the BRAT diet (bananas, rice, apples, toast) and, with the exception that I gave her some real bananas, it was all stage 1 baby food. Can you get any blander than that? I also gave her SILK and made absolutely sure she had no dairy. After three days, she was still exploding green poo everywhere.
She had a diaper rash so bad last week that she wouldn't even walk...she just stood in the middle of the living room sobbing. She would reach for a toy, stop and just cry. I finally put her in a cool tub of water, wrapped her in a towel and we read books the rest of the evening. I then slathered her with the thickest layer of desitin, put some beach towels in the crib and very, very loosely fastened her diaper and no PJs. Several nights of this made a HUGE difference.
We went to the doctor on Wednesday and they wanted a urine sample and a poop sample. We put a little urine bag on her and they were going to send me home with a cup for each to bring back but I asked if we could just wait a few minutes. So I gave Mari a sippy cup (which she sucked down in less than a minute) and a couple minutes later she made the poopy face. She peed and pooped on command! Yea! Anyway, the urine was fine. The poop showed one of those nasty little stomach bugs that you get from drinking yucky water and is very popular in developing countries. She probably came home with it but it was just laying low until now. Why now? My theory is that, because she has been on 7 antibiotic courses in the last 6 months, her poor intestines probably have no "good bugs" left, so now the "bad bugs" can take over.
So she is on medication now (which it took me calling 4 pharmacies after Wal-Mart told me that they couldn't do it before one finally told me that it had to be specially compounded and only a couple pharmacies did that--luckily the one that is a block from Mari's daycare does, that was nice). I am also giving her probiotics to help regrow her "good bugs." Dannon has those little drinkable yogurts and I put those in her sippy cup with a little milk to thin it out and slurp!
So, after a day and a half of medicine, I'm noticing a difference already. Less frequent, a little thicker, but the smell is still hazmat worthy.
So are you still reading? I figure that some of you out there that are getting ready to go should be enlightened as to one of the many fun things you may look forward to dealing with!
Anyway, not much else to report. You would never know she was ill except that episode with the diaper rash.
Well, I guess you probably want pix. And if you have read through all this, you deserve pix!
Gotta wonder when she's being so quiet....
Mommy, read book!
I'm so big. Don't I look cute in my blouse Auntie Diana got me for my birthday.
Ollie, Sit!
Okay, so her rhythm is not so great but Dora gets her moving and grooving. Before I grabbed the camera, she was literally dancing in circles.
4 comments:
Such a cutie - love all the pictures and I hope her bacteria bug is now GONE - don't want that lingering around.
Hey Jill -
I'm glad to hear you found out what was going on with Mari. Some diaper rash tricks that I've found to be super helpful are :
-use a hairdryer on cool on her bum after bath time.
-use desitin & J&J medicated baby powder w/ every single diaper change. The combo helps!
-oatmeal baths
-after blowouts, instead of using wipes on the diaper rash strip her from the waist down & put her in the kitchen sink use the sprayer on warm water to rinse her bum. Less irritation then the hair dryer trick before the desitin and powder.
I learned these tricks when I was nannying for twins Monday morning it seemed like I was always dealing with diaper rash!
Good luck! Thanks for the great pics! Mari is so sweet! Hope the Hazmat issues will be gone soon!
MandyJo
Poor Mari. So glad she's finally getting some improvement.
Malachi has the same issues with rice cereal and bananas. I wonder why that is, and if it's pretty common.
Is she still having recurring ear infections? The tubes seemed to do the trick for Malachi. He's had two colds since the tubes, but no ear infections. He ALWAYS got infections with his colds before. I wonder if it's something they both struggled with in Ethiopia, or if there's something here that triggered them.
Cute stuff! I'm glad her bottom problems are getting better - you can buy kids Kefir (I think that's what it is called) to help replace the good bugs - I think it even says Good Bugs on the label. :) I was thinking of getting some for Micah because he's been poopy lately. (Poo Crew!)
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