Monday, April 28, 2008

Three Times in Three Weeks...

Emma has been to the doctor three times in the past three weeks...it's getting a bit ridiculous. The poor little girl can't catch a break. We should just move into a room at Wee Care.

Three weeks ago, we went in for her nasty diaper rash that would bleed every time she was changed. She would scream and cry because it hurt so bad, and I would cry because of the pain I was causing my baby. There were actually a couple of times I had to have Marcus do it because I just couldn't handle making her scream. Her regular pediatrician was booked solid that day so we just saw some PA or something. I wasn't very impressed with her. She said that the diaper rash was from antibiotics that Emma was on in Feburaury. Okay, that was two months ago, really? I don't think so, but whatever, she is the doctor, not me. She gave us a prescription for stuff to treat the yeast infection...I had a suspicion that that wasn't the case.

Skip ahead one week. Emma has had some nasty diapers constantly since we took her off breast milk and onto straight formula. I was pretty sure she was having a reaction to the formula. Her bum wasn't getting any better either. So we made an appointment again. This time her pediatrician was out of town, but her bum was so bad I didn't want to wait until he got back. At this visit, the Dr. (it wasn't the same PA. I didn't want her to see us this time) gave us different stuff for her bum and said it wasn't a yeast infection, but indeed caused by all the nasty diapers she has had. He too thought it was a reaction to the formula she was on. Emma can't tolerate any kind of formula. One kind we tried made her break out in hives, this kind made her sick, other kinds she wouldn't drink. So we had the option of buying soy formula in hopes that she would tolerate that until she was 12 months and we could put her on whole milk, or skip straight to the whole milk. We decided to skip straight to the whole milk and bypass the formula all together. So far, so good. When we went to the office this time, Emma had nasty water eyes and I thought it was just allergies. I was wrong. The doctor said it was Pink Eye and gave us drops to put in her eyes. Turns out he was wrong too.

Fast forward to today. Emma was so sick last night; fever, runny, nasty eyes, nose running like a faucet. She was a little better this morning, but that didn't last long. Her breathing got really raspy and horrible sounding and she wouldn't stay awake or eat. Around 6, I decided to call Wee Care and see if there were any doctors who could see her tonight instead of waiting until tomorrow to see her regular pediatrician. We made another trip to the doctor to see what was wrong this time. I am so glad we went in tonight. As soon as we got there, the nurse checked her oxygen level and sent us directly back to a room. There was no waiting room action for us. When we got back there, they weighed her and took her temperature. She had a fever, but not too high. Then they took her oxygen level again. The doctor then came in and said she was basically having an asthma attack. If I would have waited until tomorrow or if she got worse, they would have had to put her in the hospital. Those are words every mom likes to hear. She has Reactive Airways Disease (RAD). Basically, her lungs suck at the moment. She has a virus that is going around that has developed into RAD. She also has a double ear infection with one eardrum about to burst. Lovely. Her episode with RSV has scarred her lungs and made her more likely to get RAD. She is on steroids to help her lungs, antibiotics for her ear infection, breathing treatments (again), eye drops for her supposed pink eye and cream for her poor bum. Poor little girl.

When I was pregnant with Emma, we made a pact (or so I thought) with each other: she put me through hell while I was pregnant so after she was born, she was suppose to be Mother Freaking Teresa. She has had so many little issues and problems since she was born. I thank the Lord that none of them have been serious. She may develop asthma as a result of all this, but that is totally something we can live with. I will take her little issues that she has any day over something more serious. I should consider myself lucky.

2 comments:

LostinPlaceKim said...

Oh. My. Goodness!

Can you guys catch a break?? That poor, little girl! I cannot even imagine. You poor thing having to watch her go through one thing after another. Sure, it's good it's nothing desperately life-threateningly serious, but still. It rips your heart out nonetheless knowing your baby isn't feeling the best.

Unknown said...

Yikes! Hang in there. Our little guy had some serious diaper rash a couple weeks back (he does horrible on antibiotics). Doctor recommended a wicked-awesome blend of OTC drugs which did wonders. I'll email you the recipe as soon as I confirm it with Amber. :)