Pertussis a.k.a. The Whooping Cough

Well let me tell you, it has been a fun two weeks. After 3 doctor appointments and one trip to Children's Hospital, we find out that Carter has come down with Pertussis. Now, if you look this up on the Internet, it sounds pretty scary...oh, and it is, but luckily Carter is not having to be hospitalized for it. Basically it is a terrible cough that takes your babies breath away...they cough so hard they turn blood red/blue, they stick their tongue out, and their eyes water. They cough until all air is out of their lungs and then they take a big breath in that sounds like a loud "whoop".. hints the name Whooping Cough.
Babies are vaccinated for this but it takes 3 rounds of vaccinations to be completely covered. The vaccinations come at 2, 4, and 6 months of age. Obviously since Carter is only 3 months old, he has only had one vaccination and was still susceptible to the disease. Dr. Webster told me that there has been a recent outbreak of it, and Carter could have gotten it from ANYWHERE. The grocery store, church, Target...ect...it is airborne, so anyone who had it and coughed and we were near...well that's how he could have gotten it.
When Children's called this past Tuesday to let us know he tested positive, not 5 minutes later we get a call from the Health Department. Anyone who had been in close contact with Carter had to be treated. So that meant that Chad and I, Kerri, Jared, Mom, Dad, Steve, Debbie, and Grandma all had to be put on a Z-pac just in case we had contracted it.
I laughed and told Chad that they were going to come and zip up our house in plastic!

Anyways, Carter seems to be tolerating it okay. Dr. Webster said they had a 6 week old almost die from it the other day, so I deem ourselves lucky that Carter didn't have to be put in the hospital and we can just deal with it at home- that is a praise to our Lord.
But, that doesn't mean that Chad and I aren't on edge 24-7. We wait all day for when the next coughing fit is going to happen, and all we can do is pick him up and pat him on the back and tell him it's going to be okay. One good thing is that he is perfectly normal between attacks, so he is still smiling, laughing and playing as usual.
The cough is worse at night, so we have had to call on our Moms a few times to take the night shift so we can get some sleep. Last night, Chad and I trucked it up to the Lake to spend the night at Mom's. He was going fishing today so this way I don't have to be by myself.
His night cough seems to be getting better, it isn't a violent every time and he is waking up only like 2-3 times a night instead of 5-6 times. There have been nights where Chad and I were both in tears trying to figure out if we needed to take him to Children's again, but the last few days he has seemed to have gotten progressively better. So the Lord has definitely been answering our prayers. Chad and I prayed and told Him we couldn't do this by ourselves and we needed some help, and He has answered.
Carter is on an antibiotic that will help him not spread the sickness to anyone else. Unfortunately since we didn't find out he had Pertussis until he was in the second stage, the antibiotic will only help with the spread of the sickness...basically the bacteria has already done the damage that causes the cough so his body will just have to heal itself, which will take a few weeks. But the cough should get progressively better and less severe as the days go on. There is no set amount of time the sickness lasts, it could go on anywhere from 1 to 6 weeks.
He finishes his antibiotic next Wednesday and then we are safe to get out of the house with him and into public again. So if you see us coming and Carter still has the cough, don't worry, he's not contagious anymore after he's done with the antibiotic, but he will still have a cough for a little while. I wouldn't dare wish this on any other parent, so I will make sure we keep him in until all is clear.
Well that is our story thus far. Sorry I haven't had any blog updates lately, we have had our hands full!
Hope everyone has a good Easter...we will be watching a service from the couch this year :)

March 23rd....

The first time I have ever heard Carter laugh! It was the cutest thing I have ever seen! I was changing Carter's diaper in his room on his changing pad, and I had this little Duck that his Grandmother bought him sitting on the table. It's almost like a little hand puppet where you can put your fingers in it's legs and make them move around...well I did just that and started talking to him and making the duck give him kisses and he thought it was hysterical! I was laughing so hard that Chad came running in the room. He said he thought I was crying and came to see what was the matter...I said "nothing, look he's laughing for the first time"! It was great.

I figured he probably wouldn't do it again for another couple of days, but I was sitting in the recliner with him propped up on my legs and Chad came by; he just happened to still have on his work clothes and he started putting his tie over Carter's face and saying "where's Carter"?!...well he thought this was funny too and started laughing!
I will have to get a video of it if I can catch it because it is the cutest thing! Of course, I'm sure that every Mom thinks their child laughing is the cutest thing ever, but it was the first time and I was so excited!!

In other news, I believe the Lord has answered our prayers and the Zantac seems to be working. It's not full-proof, because he will fuss some if it has worn off and it's time for his next dosage...but it is SOOOOO much better. Praise the Lord! Unfortunately, we did have to take him off the cereal because he was getting extremely constipated. Even with Karo! And his constipated scream is 10 times worse than his reflux scream. It just stinks that you can't fix one end without ruining the other! But all the cereal was doing was helping with spit-up, so now we just have to wash lots of clothes, but the Zantac takes care of the pain of the reflux, so basically, we just deal with spit-up. I can deal with that!

Also, we have figured out that Carter despises huge crowds...in particular, noisy ones. Basically he hates cookouts where there are a lot of people talking/kid's screaming, Sunday School parties, large family get-togethers, etc. And he hates anywhere in which he cannot get down on the floor and kick around. We went to a cook out this past weekend and there were 4 dogs running around and we couldn't put him down on the floor, so he was held for 3-4 hours and he SCREAMED. There was way to much noise and on top of that he couldn't play, so he was not happy. We have a Sunday School party this Saturday and we have already called on the Grandparents to keep him so we can enjoy ourselves and he doesn't have to suffer. My baby book calls it over stimulation...he should eventually grow out of it, but right now it's just too much for him.

So, it looks like so far we have figured out the cause of the fussiness the past few months. Now that we know what is causing it, we can prevent it or nip it in the bud quickly when it starts. I never knew that parenting was such a guessing game! It is crazy! I seriously feel like Chad and I are part of this big game where we have to figure out what this baby is thinking.

Geez....

This is what our living room looked like on Sunday night. Carter had a pretty bad day...with fussiness that is. Nothing would calm the child down; as you see we have the bouncy, swing, his contoured changing pad he is obsessed with, blanket in the floor with toys, the vaccuum cleaner for 'white noise', me reading the book "What to expect the first Year" holding pappy in Carter's mouth, and of course, the thing that finally worked...Carter naked.
Once he finally calmed down, I looked around and started laughing and realized what a wreck the living room was with everything we had tried! I told Chad to get the camera, that we had to remember this night.
I thought he was just fussing for no reason, but now looking back on yesterday and pinpointing some particular symptoms I have realized that Carter has a TERRIBLE case of Acid Reflux. I knew that he has had it for a while, but it never seemed to bother him this much. Mostly he just spit up....so much that we almost use every burp cloth in the house, and I change his outfit 3-4 times daily. I said as long as it wasn't hurting him that I wouldn't worry about the medicine or telling the Dr....well that all changed today! We got a prescription called in for Zantac this morning and we are doing 4 tsp. of cereal in every bottle. He has only taken the Zantac once today, and it seems a little better...also the cereal may be helping out a good bit too. It is so heavy it stays on his little stomach better. Hopefully this combo will nip it in the bud, and my little guy can get some relief from the hurt. I am praying that the Lord will make the Zantac work because the next step would probably be Prevacid and it is WAY expensive.

Tagged

I got tagged on Facebook, and I find it easier to write on my blog so here goes..

1. My brother and sister used to always make me watch Unsolved Mysteries when my Mom and Dad went out for the night, therefore, my biggest fear as a child was getting abducted by aliens.

2. I am constantly thinking of what color I can dye my hair next. I don't know what my natural color is.

3. I have found it is virtually impossible to type on the computer with a 5 week old in your arms. No matter how much I know I can't do it, I still try it almost every day.

4. I am obsessed with chocolate.

5. Chad and I have called each other 'babe' since before I can even remember. If you ever hear us call each other by our first names, we are either ill at each other or trying to get oneanother's attention.

6. Swiss cake rolls must be eaten skin first and then the cake part. It's just not as good if you do it any other way.

7. I love to people watch.

8. I used to pretend that Fraggle Rock was in my bedroom when I was little.

9. I enjoying seeing how tightly balled up I can get a dirty diaper before I shove it into the diaper dispenser.

10. I think it's hilarious that Chad will not touch a tightly balled diaper to push it down into the diaper dispenser, he has to use Carter's baby brush or a wash cloth.

11. I am a germ freak. I have hand sanitizer with me at all times, and a small can of Lysol.

12. I loved every minute of high school and hate thinking about how long ago it was.

13. I knew Carter was a boy from week 8 on. I also knew that Liz was having a girl. Since then my brother has told me that he doesn't believe in my Voo Doo.

14. Growing up, Kerri and I used to always get the exact same stuff for Christmas, just different colors. I would get pink and Kerri would get blue. If either of us got anything different from the other one, we pitched a fit.

15. Kerri and I always do something called "Momisms". It is where we say something that our Mom always says and we try to say it in her voice. We think it is hysterical whenever we do it. We have even gotten Kevin and the other siblings-in-law into it.

16. My Mom has two dogs at the lake that have to have electric collars on because they like to roam and eat my parent's log house. They are awful and my Mom thinks they are angels!

17. I cringe whenever I know baseball season is around the corner...I know then that my husband will be glued to the television for hours at a time watching the Braves.

18. I could not live without DVR.

19. I love making paper airplanes out of any kind of paper...this includes any kind of candy paper.

20. I have pretended to be on my cell phone to avoid an awkward situation.

21. I joined the tennis team in High School because I loved their uniforms. I can't believe I actually made the team, I was terrible and never won a match.

22. I love Marinara sauce. I have been obsessed with it ever since I saw the Saved by the Bell episode where Screech was making his famous spaghetti sauce. It just looked so good!

23. I love Rock City.

24. When I was little I always looked forward to getting a new pair of white Keds every year. I was ecstatic the year my Mom got me the leather ones.

25. I am pumped about losing my Baby weight, I never thought I would be so excited to try to eat healthier and exercise!

1 Month Check up...

Carter had his 1 month check up today and he is a whopping 9lbs. 11oz. and 23 inches long!
Just to give you and idea, when he was born he was 7lbs. 4oz. and 20 inches long...good grief!
He is close to out-growing his cousin Avery who is 8 weeks older than him...he is all boy!

Also, on this visit he got one shot and they pricked his heel to do the PKU test. It was pitiful. When they pricked him, it took him just a second to realize that it hurt and then he screamed! But he didn't mind the prick as much as the squeezing of the foot to get the blood out.
For the shot he did the worst scream of all, it's what I call "the silent scream", which is where they are crying so hard that no sound comes out of their mouth, their face turns blood red and then all of a sudden they take a breath and start whaling. It broke my heart! But once it was over he sucked on his paci as fast as he could and then he was fine :)

Dr. Webster was awesome, as usual. She said his growth and weight gain looked good and she said that he was a very handsome little man and had great color and complexion (sp?) :)
She asked if we had any questions and my answer was "OH yeah". Basically we told her about how he has been screaming bloody murder whenever he takes a bottle and it has been getting progressively worse over the past week. I told her that I was at my wits end this morning and I broke out a sample of Similac Sensitive (we had been on Similac Advanced-a non-sensitive formula), and when I gave him his bottle I didn't know if it was a coincidence, but he didn't fuss during or after the bottle, and he went right to sleep. She said she was pretty sure he didn't have an extreme case of reflux, and that it was basically a tummy ache due to gas. She told us we could start him on the sensitive brand or the soy (which is Isomil). We said that we would probably start him on which ever one they had at Sam's. Right after the appointment we went to Sam's and they only had the Isomil, so that is what we bought. When we got home, I gave him his first bottle of Soy milk (which stinks horribly by the way) and he was so relaxed when he was taking it that he kept falling asleep. Normally he is kicking, arching his back, and straightening out his legs, so I will take a sleepy baby over that! He did wonderful and he is still asleep right now at 9:15 pm and he took his bottle at 5:45- Praise Jesus!

That was about the extent of the appointment. We go back in a month and he will get 4 shots and an oral vaccine. I told Chad that he is going with me to that one too! He will definitely be taking some Tyelenol before that fun little trip. Chad didn't seem to mind going though, he is very attentive to little Carter. He calls multiple times a day to check up on us and see how he is doing. He is pretty protective...I thought I would be the only one worried about germs in the Doctor's office, but he is as bad as me! The other day he even asked me if he needed to Germ-x his hands...and let me tell you, before we had Carter I couldn't even get him to touch a Germ-x bottle! He has turned out to be a great Dad- I mean not that I didn't think he would be, but you know what I mean!

Oh, and I had my Doctor appointment this morning. Everything went well, my incision is healing perfectly. The only sad thing is that I found out my doctor that delivered Carter is leaving in May and moving out of state to be closer to her family : (
So she won't be delivering any more of my babies. So sad! She is an amazing doctor.

I think I am going to try to take some pictures of Carter here at the house tomorrow if he cooperates, so I will post them if they turn out cute.

The calm after the storm...

Lately Carter has been SUPER fussy. If he is awake, he is usually fussing. We try everything...diaper, feeding, bouncing, burping, rocking, gas drops, tummy time...you name it, we've tried it. Eventually, as in 30 minutes later, we can usually get him to sleep. The two pictures below are what I call "the calm after the storm", after he has had a fit and has finally fallen fast asleep. He looks so peaceful, right? Don't let him fool you!

I'm not really sure what is going on with him. Colic? Well symptoms of colic include inconsolible crying for more than 3 hours a day for at least 3 days a week for at least 3 weeks. I don't think he's quite there yet. The fussing usually starts during feeding, so of course I've thought of reflux, gas, constipation, ect. Frankly, it could be any of these but it's just hard to figure out. We have our 1 month check up tomorrow with Dr. Webster, so we will ask her and see what she says. I kind of hope that we don't have to change his formula because we just got a ton of free samples from a lady at Chad's work, and I would hate to have to waste those.

I really don't think our issue is constipation anymore because we are doing a teaspoon of Karo in every bottle...and he goes about once a day or once every other day.

The next picture below is pretty funny. Here Carter is sleeping in his swing. I had been cleaning the bathrooms and I swept and brought in the dust buster to clean up what I swept and as soon as I turn it on this picture below is what I see! It was so funny, one minute his hands are at his sides and the next minute I turn around his arms are up like this, still fast asleep! I know it's that startle reflex in infants, but I think it is so funny and cute! Any time we make a loud noise we get some kind of pose like this : )

First Pictures

Carter was 4 weeks old as of Tuesday of this week. I can't believe it's already been 4 weeks! He is growing and changing every day and even starting to give us a few smiles :)
Today, we had an appointment to get our first pictures done at Portrait Innovations...thank the Lord for the $9.99 special, or we would be taking out own pictures at home ; )
Anyways, our appointment was at 10:40, and have I mentioned this is the first time we have been 'scheduled' to be somewhere at a certain time and Mommy is all by herself to get she and Carter ready? Huge disaster.
Well first of all, Carter gets up once in the middle of the night and once early in the morning. I had "planned" on staying up after his early morning feeding to get myself ready so all I would have to do is get Carter ready and fed once he wakes up.
He woke up at about 6:00 AM and took his bottle and I put him back in bed, and of course I talk myself into going back to sleep for ONLY an hour. I thought, I won't set an alarm because he will wake me up...no sir. Not this time. Every other morning the little booger is ready to get up again by 7am or so, but not this morning. I am suddenly awoken at 8:30...crap! As soon as I get out of bed and run to the shower I hear Carter starting to stir, so I take the quickest shower in history (I haven't had more than a 5 minute shower in 4 weeks mind you). I am out just in time to grab him up and shove a bottle in his mouth...then he takes 45 minutes to eat (this could be a whole other blog post in itself, but due to times sake I will hold off...). After he eats, it is 9:30. I have wet hair, no make up, and both Carter and I are still in our PJ's. WE MUST leave the house by 10:20 to get there on time. I lay him down in his boppy so I can attempt to blow dry my hair and put on some makeup...he seems content for the moment, so I bring all my stuff in the living room because if I am gone too long he will fuss if he can't see me. We make it through 15 minutes of Fraiser and my make up and blow dry...then the fussing begins. He is tired of being in his boppy and wants to be held. I need 4 arms apparently.
So I run around the house, baby in tow, trying finding to find what I'm going to wear (note that I haven't quite gotten into most of my old clothes yet, so this is a task in itself).
I lay him on my bed, he cries.
I lay him back in his boppy, he cries.
I lay him in the floor, he cries.
By this time it is about 10:00, I still need to straighten my hair, dress myself, pack Carter's bag, change his diaper, put on his outfit, pack extra outfits just in case, and load him up in his carseat.
Aunt KK is supposed to come to my house to help and she is still no where in sight...by the time I straighten my hair, it is 10:10, and Carter is still in his night attire...where the heck is Aunt KK?!
By 10:15, I am dressed (somehow, don't quite remember how I did it), and Aunt KK is walking in the door...I am changing Carter. I give him to her and pack his bag, throw in the first outfits I see, and strap his fussy self into the carseat...mission accomplished! It is now about 10:22 and we are out the door.
We get to Portrait Innovations right on time and I give them my name...and of course they don't have me in the computer. By this time I am sweating, my incision hurts from moving around so much, and I am pretty ill.
LUCKILY, they aren't crowded and just tell me that they will be with me in a minute, thank goodness! That is really about the worst of it. Apparently, I have to allot myself more than an hour and a half to get both of us ready and somewhere on time...lesson learned.
As for the pictures, they went pretty well. Other than him falling asleep, we got a really cute pose of him pretty alert. And you'll notice that he is naked in the picture, that's the only way we could get him to open his eyes :D
Although, I am some what of a germ freak and putting him on all the blankets and props that 10,000 other children have been on made me want to take out the lysol that I had in my purse and spray everything down he touched...but I restrained myself somehow.
So, without further delay, here is the first professional picture of my sweet baby: