?>

Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One

Cooper has diarrhea and a rash.

Alright…didn’t hear anyone protest…

About two weeks ago, right when we were bringing Cooper back in for his never-ending ear-infection, I noticed he had a few suspicious-looking blisters in his diaper-region. But since he had chronic diarrhea stemming from (at that time) two bouts of antibiotics, he was sporting a bit of a diaper rash on his butt. It was mild enough for me to see that these blisters were not part of the diaper rash and they looked a lot like small chicken pox blisters. But I wasn’t 100% sure and I forgot to mention it to Justin when he brought Cooper into the doctor about the ear.

We treat the ear infection with antibiotics that made the diarrhea worse, but countered the diarrhea with soy toddler formula and Florastor, and countered the diaper rash with A&D Ointment and Desitin. The diaper rash cleared up but those chicken pox-ish blisters did not. They started drying up on Sunday and Monday, and where there were a couple where the leg of the diaper rubbed, they scarred-up and look identical to the chicken pox scars I’ve been sporting since the 5th grade. I called the pediatrician on Monday and let them know, since they have to report back to vaccine authorities on instances of break-outs after receiving the varicella vaccine. Thankfully they didn’t ask me to bring him in to see it because I am tired of paying for their children’s college, one co-pay at a time.

A few hours later, however, I get a call from daycare asking to pick up Cooper because he’s had 4 episodes of diarrhea in as many hours. I try to explain that he’s had 6 weeks of antibiotics; that his gut has been wiped clean of any beneficial bacteria; that we’re treating with Florastor and yogurt and an IV of bananas; that he’s working on a second tooth and is drooling more than Ginger*. They didn’t want to hear it and kindly requested again that I come get him and keep him home until his poops improve (in their defense, there was another baby with similar symptoms so they were concerned it was a bug going around).

As I’m driving to get him, I realize I totally forgot to give him the Florastor in his morning cup of milk because he got up so early. I also realize I forgot to give his teachers a packet of it to mix in with his yogurt. Crap. Literally. And oops. Bit of a blunder on my part considering he’s not been off the antibiotics even a week yet.

So I worked from home with him on Tuesday, and both him and Gavin on Wednesday since Gavin was up for over an hour in the wee hours of the night complaining of ear pain (which seemed to have disappeared by the time he got up around 8:30am and has yet to return). Cooper was overall very good…just very very very EXTREMELY busy. Thankfully I logged on early and got a couple hours logged before he got up. I was able to work intermittently during his waking hours and he was awesome and took a four-hour nap for me on Tuesday and a three-hour nap on Wednesday. But the house looked like Godzilla had gone through it. And I found out that he has learned to climb and is inventive on what he’ll climb on. Mind you this child is not walking independently yet. Instead he is stepping into the open Costco-size box of granola bars in the pantry to climb up and steal the honeybear off the second shelf located three feet off the floor. This is when he wasn’t eating dog treats.

I went back to the office today since Coop’s poop was starting to look more normal, and found out since they have to do some emergency work to our A/C on our wing of the building, those who can are being allowed to work from home tomorrow (those poor suckers who can’t, get to wear shorts/tank-tops and swelter in a building with non-opening windows in 90-degree heat, surrounded by heat-belching video equipment and computers). I can hardly put into words my glee in being able to work from home without Godzilla Baby keepin’ me hopping.

I will however, miss that little trouble-maker. Also, I don’t want to jinx anything, but *looks around* I think his ear infection finally cleared up. SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

*ever since Ginger’s poisoning incident three years ago, part of her lower lip sustained some nerve damage and she perpetually has a string of slobber hanging down like a numbed-up dental patient.

About the Author

Colleen

This is a blog where I will share my adventures and mundane tasks as a work-out-of-home-mom. I now have 2 kids and my wonderful husband, so the juggling has gotten a little bit more tricky (man-on-man defense). We also have 2 dogs and 3 cats (we used to have 4) so as you can imagine, our household is pretty busy. Since I never feel like I'm being listened to, I figured I'll just start talking at the general Internet community and see what happens.

15 Comments

Tranny Head

Cooper is awfully cute … poop and all. I’m with you on the “shh” thing … I swear I can jinx stuff like that by making comments.

I hope that effing ear infection is gone once and for all.

Reply
Tranny Head

Oh – one more thing. I kind of wonder if that rash is viral … I mean … it’s possible he had some sort of intestinal virus on top of everything else and is showing a rash at the end of it, right? Though I’m also quite confident the poop of fury is due to the neverending antibiotics.

Reply
Nicole

Oh, how glamerous the life of a mother is! Cooper is so stinkin’ cute, and I am glad to hear that he is on the mend – what a mess (literally and figuratively!)

Reply
Valerie

Dear Cooper,

My mommy told me you have been sick again…I am sorry to hear that, though its nice to know I am not the only “sickest baby on the planet”. Hope you feel better soon.

Love,
Morgan

Reply
Flea

Okay. How much do you like your job? I’d be looking at a long term vacation till preschool starts. Or till they’re both out of diapers. I’m sorry that Cooper’s butt keeps exploding, though. That’s no fun for anyone.

Reply
LL

Poor little Cooper! Those antibiotics are tough! I’m so glad the tubes worked for Landon – after 5 straight rounds he hasn’t had one dose since the tube surgery. It was wrecking havoc on his little system (and our lives in general).

I do hope it’s all cleared up and I’m glad you were able to get a little work done!

Reply
ascapecodturns

Did you mention to Cooper that it is summer and he is not suppose to be sick?

One of my kids got the chicken pox after the vaccine too. Yay vaccines. Although it was very mild.

Hope you have smooth sailing for awhile!

Reply
caramama

I hope it’s cleared up for good! It’s nice that you can work from home with no one else there! What a treat!

Reply
Colleen - Mommy Always Wins

He’s a cutie! Love those little ham hocks! Now, if I follow my theory of “if I write it, the opposite will come true” (as in when I plurk my dang kids aren’t sleeping) I’ll now, just for you, say:
“Wow – he’ll probably be sick for like WEEKS yet, huh?”

Reply
Roger

I hope that this is the end of the ear infections, we’ve been blessed to not have to suffer through them *shhh.

Have a great weekend!

Reply
Jesse

The more I hear about the numbers of parents refusing vaccines for thier children, the more I fear chicken pox outbreaks! Glad he’s doing okay… but I promise not to say it out loud!

Reply

Leave a Reply