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2007-01-18 - 11.19pm previous entry next entry
Poor Matthew :(
Too long again since my last entry, and I have wanted/needed to update but simply haven't had time or energy.
Matthew is poorly :( I can't quite figure it out though. Maybe it's several things all together that are confusing the heck out of us?
He has an abcess right where he poos from, poor little love. I don't know how he got it, but he did suddenly get a NASTY teething-type nappy rash a couple of weeks before where blood came to the surface of the rash (owch!), so maybe something got in there and it healed over? Anyway. Last week it was getting more noticable so I took him to the doctor and she confirmed that it did seem to be an abcess. It extends inside as well - poor Matthew! She gave him a 5 day course of antibiotics which he had to have 4 times a day. He took the first dose very reluctantly (he HATED it, and this boy is very easy about trying new things that go in his mouth, so he really had to hate this pretty badly!), and then the second dose he just screamed and arched his back and writhed about resisting it. We got most of it down him, and I was cuddling him better thinking, "I am not doing THAT to him again!" when he vomited the whole lot back up. It's the first time he's ever vomited properly, and DEFINITELY the last time I want to force him to take something that he doesn't want. Seriously.
So then it was the weekend, and thus no doctors except for emergency clinics. I didn't know if it was an emergency as such, so I kept an eye on it. The doctor had offered me that option at first, but I said I thought it was already getting worse just over the previous 48 hours, so she gave me the antibiotics for him. I started putting breastmilk on it, since that was better than nothing. Might as well, I have it right here and it has antibacterial properties. Breastmilk is amazing stuff and can do incredible things! So I figured it was worth a try while I waited for Monday to roll around. If it got really bad I would have taken him to the emergency clinic.
Well, over the weekend it actually reduced in size!!! I was so impressed! I literally just gave a well-aimed squirt of milk direct from source (!!) at his bottom every time I changed his nappy, before putting the new one on. I made sure it covered the abcess, and I didn't dry it off. It definitely reduced it over the next couple of days, but on Monday it was not getting any smaller, and Tuesday it increased in size instead so I stopped applying the breastmilk (although I don't know why, since I might as well have carried on for a bit) and made an appt and took him on Wednesday. By Wednesday it was looking horrible.
We saw a different doctor as ours wasn't there that day, and she was lovely. She said it definitely needs antibiotics. I had the choice of trying antibiotic cream on it, or a different oral antibiotic to see if he tolerated it. I would MUCH rather use the cream, but she couldn't tell how far inside the abcess extended so she said it MIGHT not work if I can't apply the cream to the whole thing. We'd have to try it and see. But I chose to try it first. If it doesn't work we'll have to try another oral antibiotic, which does NOT thrill me.
Okay so that's part one of the scenario. Part two is confusing me and I'm not sure what to make of it. Part one is just a complicating factor.
I gave Matthew wheat about 10 days ago, or maybe 2 weeks, I can't remember exactly when. I can't believe his first wheat product was a pizza crust, haha! I made sure there was no cheese or sauce on it, and just a little stick of it about an inch and a half long. I handed it to him to chew, as he was practically BEGGING me for some of my pizza and getting upset because I was sitting out of his reach so he couldn't swipe some! I figured what the heck, we're doing "baby led" weaning and we have to find out whether he can eat wheat sooner or later, so here we go. He LOVED it! He attacked it with more gusto than any other food so far. The next day I gave him a stick of toast, wholemeal with nothing on it, while Arthur and I ate toast one morning. He demolished it, seriously! I have never seen him actually EAT so much of a piece of food that he's chewing. He chewed up and swallowed most of the piece of toast, so I figured now we'd find out how he is with wheat! He had toast again the next day too.
The NEXT day, he had a definite "here's the wheat!" poo (no need for further info!) and it was not quite his normal type of poo. Over the next couple of days he had more runny/huge/mucousy poos than normal. BUT at the same time, he started to get very teethy and we were having to give him teething powder and Bonjela several times a day sometimes. He seemed bothered by his gums a lot and gnawed like CRAZY on anything, ramming his fists at his mouth and stuff. So I knew he was hitting a big bout of teething, and I hear (can't remember from Arthur - already!) that teething can really change poos. I just don't know whether it can change poos THIS much.
Anyway so the teething has gotten progressively worse since about a week ago. These last few days have been the worst. Except that he doesn't have the red cheeks, hmmm. He keeps battering the heels of his hands against his mouth and gums, and making like a straining sound (the same type of fussing that he was making when not able to crawl really) and then crying. Teething powder and bonjela haven't been having much effect although he's still eager to have them. I took him off wheat after those first two days of toast, and the poos remained horrible, in fact they got gradually MORE horrible as the days went by. After a few days I figured, okay so the poos are still here but the wheat is gone, so it wasn't the wheat. So I gave him another bit of toast (which he was thrilled about, and ate most of it!). That appeared about a day later in his poo but it wasn't an overly horrible poo on that occasion.
All this while, the abcess was getting worse. His poo was bothersome by the day he was forced to take the antibiotics, and it has just continued to get worse since then. He is more miserable and screechy and jaw-clutchy every day that passes, and I started giving him Calpol incase it was just REALLY bad teething pain. It did seem to help after about 20 minutes, so I knew he was in pain. I couldn't tell if it was the abcess or the teeth, and the doctor told me that he would definitely be in pain from the abcess now, so I give him Calpol every 4 hours to the maximum daily dosage. Even so, it seems to wear off after about 3.5 hours and he's miserable(r) until I can give him some more, and then continues to be so until it kicks in a while later.
Meanwhile the poos continue to worsen. They are getting more and more frequent as well as mucousy and yucky. He seems really uncomfortable in his tummy these last few days, worse each day. I can't fathom what that is about. We haven't been anywhere at all that he could pick something up, and everyone else is fine (even the brother who shares the breast with him!), plus it doesn't SEEM like a bug to me. When I mentioned the pooing to the doctor she felt his tummy (which was soft and normal and he didn't flinch or anything), and just said it was probably a little tummy bug. I HATE when doctors say that. It feels to me like they always pass off unexplained tummy problems in children as "probably just a little tummy bug" when - not that I actually KNOW - I just feel like it isn't. Maybe it IS, but it's a bit weird isn't it? He's feeding fine, a bit fussy when he's very uncomfy or tired, and it's been going on for so long now, and not just the same all the way through but this gradually worsening thing. By Tuesday (it's Thursday today) he was pooing every time I fed him, literally. Sometimes I'd feed him, change him and clean him up, and then put him on the other breast and he'd poo again. He also started pooing early in the morning when he woke for the day, at around 6am. The doctor said the cream might be less effective if it was continually being washed off with poo and nappy wipes! She told me to put it on him twice as frequently as it says to, if he's pooing a lot.
Of course today (the first full day of his antibiotic cream treatment), his abcess looks like it might have popped (something the doctor thought might happen soon, and she said it would be no bad thing, but not something compatible with nappies) and still looks huge and dreadfully sore. So we have decked the downstairs in my home birth supplies (plastic sheets and old towels and sheets - my, that stuff has come in so handy over the years, hehe!) and left him pretty much nappy-free as much as possible. Of COURSE it would choose to blow freezing gale force winds from the Arctic today which gust in around our doors no matter how we try to block them (one gust even blew our loft hatch open (upstairs!!) this afternoon!!). And Matthew's poos would be reaching an all time record for frequency and discomfort (11 nappy changes today, and the first one was at 4.15am, since when I have been awake, ugh). And NATURALLY he would of course really get the hang of purposeful crawling yesterday evening and spend today practising it. I mean, he's been crawling for a week or two, but so hesitatingly and in such a cute slow way! He did this thing where he'd lift his hands up and down at twice the frequency of his knees, hehe! It's as though he knew he had to put his hands up and down on the floor to move, so he tried doubly hard and they just went up and down on the spot and then his knees followed in a more normal manner! It's hard to visualise from my explanation but it was very cute :) I'm sad that he's already stopped doing that. Now he's crawling forwards smoothly. A bit doddery sometimes still, but he's definitely crawling forwards continually in a scissor-like movement - hand and opposite knee and then the other hand with its opposite knee. So yeah. Lovely timing of everything! I ended up dressing him over no nappy as it was so chilly and drafty, and then I realised that I could put him in a little nappy (say a Kissaluv) with no wrap and that would at least catch wees and poos a little and I'd still KNOW the instant he'd done one.
It has been a really hard day. He has been crying and miserable alllll day long, and only quiet and settled-ish when asleep for a nap or at the peak-time of his Calpol kicking in. He has a new nappy rash from allll the cleaning of his bottom that I've had to do, and I've been putting barrier cream on that like crazy but it still looks sore as anything. His abcess is the same, and looks awful. He's a bit coughy this afternoon. He has taken his Calpol fine all day but sometimes I've needed to distract him or coax him to take it a bit. He just doesn't seem himself any more, he seems poorly and I can't seem to do anything to make him better, and MOST frustratingly, I can't figure out what it is that's wrong with him, exactly.
Is it the wheat? Can a wheat allergy present like this in a young baby? Does it go on this long? Or can I exclude that because of the length of time or symptoms that don't match those of a wheat allergy in babies?
Is it just HIDEOUS teething? Is he just reeeeally unfortunate in the teething stakes? He seems absolutely beside himself with how bad his mouth feels at the moment. Maybe I'm misinterpreting his signs though? Maybe he's doing all that face-ramming and chewing and grimacing and strainy-expressions and crying because of some OTHER pain, and not teething pain especially? How do I figure out where the pain is?! Does it sound like I'm wrong about it being teething pain? Can teething REALLY cause this amount of poo trouble? I've heard it can definitely cause poo issues - some say it can't and that if your baby has diarrhoea when teething it's more likely a bug than teething-related. But plenty of mothers will swear blind that their child's horrible diarrhoea is down to their teething, as it happens every time or something. Or they just know their child. But even in those cases, can it be this bad? Could I put it all down to teething? I just don't have the knowledge or experience of such things to decide an answer, and I REALLY need to be able to figure out the answer, even if just for my peace of mind.
Could it be a bug? I know there are some WACKY bugs out there these days - diarrhoea for weeks, etc. But I don't know. I don't even know if I can totally call this diarrhoea. To the extent that I'm going to google "diarrhoea breastfed babies" in a minute to see exactly what that is supposed to look like. 'Cause I don't know if that's what he has. Mucousy, is that normal? It doesn't seem normal to me.
WHY am I so clueless about everything?!?!?!?!!!
I don't know what to expect for tomorrow. Or tonight for that matter. Matthew conked out at 6.30 tonight, not an abnormal time for him, and he'd had a very tiring day and a long stretch from the end of his last nap. He slept peacefully till 10.30 and then when he woke I nursed him and he strained a bit while I did so, but didn't poo. He farted once I put him almost-asleep in his cot on his tummy. I think the antibiotic cream will take a few days to even start to make a difference, so I think we'll be looking at another day of misery tomorrow :( Plus the tummy/teeth thing, I don't know what it's about so I can't begin to estimate when it might go away, or how to help it do so. Poor Arthur hasn't had the best day either. We haven't been out because Matthew has been too poorly and the weather toooo horrible (lashing rain and gale force winds, and cold with it), and the same kind of weather is forecast tomorrow. I don't know what he'll do being healthy and stuck indoors like this two days running! I'm praying for help with coping with him! He also gets less attention and activities from me. This morning I was SO indescribably exhausted from my midnight-4.15am sleep (with a 2am waking) that once Matthew was napping I just had to lie down and close my eyes as I just felt grim and my eyes were sooooo sore. I usually do stuff with Arthur while Matthew sleeps - things that I can't do with him when Matthew is around, and that's so nice, but today Arthur had to just get on with things himself a lot, which ISN'T FAIR for such a little one. When Matthew was up, he was miserable and I couldn't sustain any activity with Arthur for very long. He ate lunch and tea ALONE on the sofa watching TV while I nursed and tried to settle a very unhappy baby down to sleep upstairs for his naps. That's just WRONG, but I didn't know what else I could do about it. Matthew needed to sleep. I needed him to sleep. Arthur needed him to sleep. But he was taking ages about it and Arthur needed to eat. The TV has been on for HOURS today. I hate that. Hate it. It's on way too much here as it is, which I really dislike and MUST change, but it's been awful today.
I did manage to do a short playdough session with Arthur this afternoon, but it meant that Matthew lay on the living room carpet crying miserably while I did so :( I tried alternating between the two of them for a while, but in the end the playdough was the thing that had to go. Poor Arthur. He has been wonderful though, and not complained. He loves Matthew and wants him to feel better. He says, "Poor Mashew, need Mummy make feel better!" He is just precious. I wish I had a clone for days like this! After Matthew went to bed, I let Arthur stay up a bit longer than usual (only to about 7.30pm, he's usually in bed before that and sometimes asleep before that too), and we built a Duplo farm and talked about things and played a bit with Noddy and read his "By-boo" in bed.
Nappies are just going round and round in the washing machine and tumble dryer! We're almost out of nappies for Matthew with all the ones he's gone through in the last 24 hours! He even wore one of Arthur's earlier and it didn't fit him toooo hugely either! He's growing.
Well. I don't know what to think. Does anyone have any advice, or knowledge about this stuff? Anyone who can answer even one of my questions above? I'd really appreciate a note or comment about it. I think if there is no improvement tomorrow I will either call the doctor again (but I don't fancy dragging the boys out to the doctor's again, especially in this horrible weather) or else if I get time, maybe I could copy and paste some of this entry to a parenting forum where there might be more people to read it and give advice? I don't know.
I just want him to feel better!!! My poor baby love.
Matthew is seven months old, by the way! He turned 7 months on Tuesday. I can't believe he's nearer his first birthday than his birth. That is crazy. I'll replace the breastfeeding milestone blinkie in a bit. I am proud of breastfeeding him for 7 months like I was with Arthur, but it's odd - since I am still breastfeeding Arthur and it's been like 26 months (!!), 7 months doesn't feel anything like the HUGE number it felt like the first time around, with Arthur! It just feels... I don't know, normal to be breastfeeding a 7-month-old. It feels to me like, "Well, what else would I be doing?!" hehe!
Okay it's getting late, and I have nooo idea of the potential sleep disturbances ahead so I had better go to bed while things are peaceful.
I am longing to post photos. I just uploaded ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY SIX photos from my camera, that I have been taking since the Christmas/Boxing Day stuff!!!! Yikes! Obviously I need to seriously cut those down before posting them here, hehe! But I neeeeed to start posting them, otherwise it's just going to get WAY out of hand! ;)
Okay, back when I can. I'm just too tired in the evenings to post lately. Or tending to a wee one.
I love my little boys. They make my heart mush. I love them so.
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