Henry's new friends!

Henry has two new friends!
Baby Olivia was born this morning in Seattle - 7 lb and 10 oz! She is Roberta and Ben's first baby. She has dark hair, but I think she looks like her mom. Berta is doing great.

Baby Tori was born this weekend in Maryland! She is Julie and Todd's second baby and is Jessica's younger sister. I can't wait to see if Tori has red hair like her mom and sister.

Bad day.

As mentioned previously, I took Henry to the doctor a week ago Tuesday where I was told to get him a nebulizer for his albuterol treatments. After the doctor's appt., Henry and I drove to the medical supply store to get our very own nebulizer. As it turns out, it is cheaper to buy a nebulizer outright than to go through the health insurance to get one. Anyway, Henry was getting hungry, tired, and impatient. It had already been a long trip to the doctor, and, of course, he was sick to begin with so I was already tempting fate by not going straight home. There is a long wait in the medical supply store, but we finally get our equipment and leave. As we walk out the door, a young boy yells out to me, "YOU HAVE A CUTE BABY!"

I load Henry in the car, and, naturally, because we really need to get home, the car won't start. Nothing. Just a series of clicks. So, now, Henry is hot, tired, and hungry and we are stranded at the medical supply company. I make 2 calls: Mike and AAA. It has been my experience that AAA will eventually come and rescue you, but it can take a few hours. My immediate priorities are to feed Henry and get him home as soon as possible. The young boy who had yelled out to me moments before, lights up when I walk back in the store with Henry.

Boy: Yay! The baby is back!
Boy's mother (seeing my face): Is everything ok?
Me: Car won't start.
Boy: Mom, do we have a jump drive?
Boy's mom: Um, no, we don't have jumper cables.
Me: Thank you, but I called AAA and my husband so I just have to give the baby a bottle and then wait for assistance.
Boy: I have asthma.
Me: Sorry to hear that.
Boy: Do you know how to skateboard?
Me: No.
Boy: Is your baby sick?
Me: Yes, the baby is sick and he is hungry and now the car won't start so...
Boy (singing loudly): "You had a bad day. You're taken one down. You sing a sad song..."
Everyone in the store stops and turns and stares.
Boy (unfazed by the staring): I go to the best school in the state.
Boy: Have you finished college yet?
Boy: Do you know where the Checkers is?
Boy: I am 9 years old and in 3rd grade but I was not held back if that is what you were thinking.
Me: That is not what I was thinking.
Boy's mom whisks boy away.

Henry finishes his bottle and actually falls asleep in my arms. Soon, Mike arrives and successfully jump starts my car. Eventually, we all arrive home safe and sound.

Valentine's Day.

Despite the constant hacking and coughing fits in our household, it was still Henry's first Valentine's Day. Or, rather, I should say that it was our first Valentine's Day with a baby. Mike gave me some lovely roses, and we ordered Chinese take-out. Here is Henry with his Valentine's cards.

And I thought diaper rash was bad.

Well, silly me for complaining about diaper rash when, as it turns out, a far worse fate awaited us. Henry has been battling a respiratory infection for 5 days now. I would refer to this illness as a cold, but the term cold doesn't seem strong enough. We know that it is an infection because I caught it and now we are both suffering through it. A lot of coughing, lethargy, and low fevers. Henry hasn't been able to attend daycare this week so that has meant schedule juggling for Mike and me. We are lucky that we have flexible job hours and work environments. Most days this past week, I stayed at home and cared for Henry in the mornings while Mike went to work. He returned home in the afternoon to care for Henry while I worked from home. Thursday morning presented a special challenge because we both had to be at work early, and we both had presentations. Our neighbor Lillian helped us out of this jam, and she took care of Henry on Thursday morning.

On Tuesday, I took Henry to the pediatrician. Henry's lungs sounded a little wheezy to the doctor so he gave him an albuterol breathing treatment right there in the office. This treatment seemed extreme to me because the only experience that I ever had with albuterol breathing treatments was a certain someone who had to be taken to the ER every few months during college for asthma attacks. I won't mention any names but she was my college roommate, she reads this blog, and she is a dancer in Chicago. And her first name rhymes with Mickey. The doctor prescribed three breathing treatments a day for Henry. A breathing treatment consists of one of us holding Henry while the other one holds a plastic tube to H's face. He needs to breathe in a mist of albuterol to open his lungs. Surprisingly, Henry seems to enjoy the treatments. I thought he would hate it. I would post a picture of H receiving a breathing treatment, but, besides that being a potential violation of his patient rights as defined by HIPPA, Henry looks unhappy in the picture. He also looks unusually small in the picture (because of the angle of the photographer) so the overall effect is one of a small infant receiving oxygen through a plastic mask and that image is just too sad and overly dramatic for posting.

The good news is that Henry seems to be doing better - fewer coughing fits, longer periods of rest at night, and no more fevers.

Yesterday, I dressed Henry in a lovely yellow outfit given to him by my Aunt Eileen. The outfit is made of soft material and features a fuzzy cow as a nod to our Midwestern roots. He finally is big enough to wear it, and I was so delighted that the outfit has a matching blanket. It wasn't until I proudly marched him into the daycare that I noticed that his new butter yellow outfit was actually a pair of pajamas. Suddenly, it all made sense. That is why the little cow is sleeping and that is why the outfit comes with a blanket. So, I am now officially the mom who sends her kid to daycare wearing jammies.

Diaper Rash.

It has been a rough week for poor Henry. He (and I) have been battling colds, but then he also caught some stomach bug at daycare and developed one wicked case of diaper rash. He is handling what must be an incredibly uncomfortable time very well. The treatment regimen for diaper rash has been much discussed, debated, and researched in our household this weekend. If Henry could talk, he would probably remind us that diaper rash treatment is basically a matter of common sense, certainly not brain surgery, and to get on with it already. Of course, Henry can't talk so he has to lie helplessly on the diaper changing table while we negotiate a diaper rash treatment protocol and assess the merits of each of our six, yes SIX, different diaper creams and ointments. Which one is the most effective? Does the zinc oxide concentration really matter? How important are vitamins A & D? What about using each cream in a rotating schedule? What about applying two different creams at the same time to encourage a synergistic effect?

Any successful diaper rash strategies to share?