Life + Sick Baby = Not Much Time to Blog

As you probably already know, Matthew has been sick almost continuously since the first of November. He's had lots of ear and sinus infections. When he's on an antibiotic, he's fine. When he finishes the antibiotic, he is usually sick within 2 to 3 days. This happened again this week. He finished his antibiotic on Monday and had a fever, green runny nose, and cough by Wednesday. When he had his surgery in February, the doctor ran a partial immune system test on him. The results came back and showed that his IGG immune levels were low. Our pediatrician referred us to a pediatric immune specialist but we were told it would be one to two months before we were able to get an appointment. This was Thursday a week ago. The specialist's office called on Wednesday. They had a cancellation and were able to see Matthew this morning. Praise the Lord!

We saw the most wonderful doctor this morning. She diagnosed Matthew with Transient Hypogammaglobulinemia of Infancy. This is a temporary condition in infancy and usually resolves itself by the time kids are two. Basically, his body is behind in producing some antibodies so he gets sinus infections and ear infections more easily. His immune system is functioning and just needs a little more time to develop. He is going to take a sulfur antibiotic for 2 months to keep him well. She ordered a full immune profile be done on him. They were not able to get blood from the veins in his arm so we spent a few hours at Children's Hospital waiting on an IV specialist to take his blood. She got it right away when she finally was able to get to us...thank goodness! In 2 months, we go back to the specialist and she will check him and draw blood again to retest his immune system. At least next time we know to ask for an IV specialist to draw his blood!

Thank you for all the prayers. Please continue to keep us in your prayers and pray that all of the other levels in the immune system profile come back normal. Also, please pray that Matthew's immune system is able to correct itself in a short amount of time. As always, we'll keep you updated!

Matthew the Red-Nosed Baby

We woke up Tuesday morning to a little boy that looked like this...our very own red-nosed baby just in time for Christmas! We took both boys to the doctor on Tuesday afternoon and both were diagnosed with Sinusitis. Tyler had a very mild case but Matthew's was much worse. We left with two prescriptions for each child in hopes they would be better soon. Tyler's cough was better immediately but Matthew got much worse. Because of all of the congestion and drainage, he began throwing up on Christmas Eve...only on me, of course...and continued until the day after Christmas. (I'm not joking when I say only on me. He got sick 4 times and all 4 times he managed to cover me with it!) He did not eat solid food for 4 days and would only drink watered-down formula.

I am glad to report that he is actually feeling better today. He's eaten a total of 2 jars of baby food today (he usually eats close to 6 each day) and is back to drinking formula that is not watered down, although he is still not drinking as much as he usually does. Hopefully he will continue this trend and will be back to 100% in a few days.

This is how we all started out on Christmas Eve.

Here's how Matthew and I ended up looking at my dad's house on Christmas Eve...Matthew in his PJs and me in one of my dad's t-shirts!

Even sick, Matthew has still been happy for the most part. He also loves to sleep right now. After being up for an hour and a half, he lays his head down on the floor and says "night-night". It's pitiful but so sweet.

Sick Day

Do you remember sick days when you were a kid? I mean the days you couldn't go to school and you had to go to the doctor or simply stay home all day? I remember dragging my Barbie dolls into my dad's room and sitting at his feet while he worked on the computer. I remember going to my mom's office and playing with wind-up toys underneath her desk while she worked. I remember sitting in the doctor's office waiting room petrified of getting a shot and then crying when the doctor looked at my parents and said "Lauren's going to need to get a S-H-O-T".

Today has been one of those sick days for us. As I was leaving my doctor's appointment this morning I received a phone call from the director at Tyler's daycare. She informed me that Tyler must have been bit by something while playing in the water today during swim day and he was broken out in some sort of rash from head to toe. When I got to the daycare I found my child bright red from head to toe. He looked like he had a severe sunburn. He had white and red whelps all over his body and his feet were so swollen that he wouldn't walk on them. He immediately wanted me to pick him up (in his damp bathing suit and all!) so of course, I did. He laid his head on my shoulder while I talked to the director and carried him to the car. Definitely not the typical behavior of my three and a half year old rambunctious little boy! We went to the doctor and found out that Tyler was broken out in hives. He called in some medicine and told us to keep giving him Benadryl for the next two days until the hives go away.

I asked Tyler several times what had happened and he wouldn't answer. Maybe he just didn't feel well and was tired of talking about it. After nap when I asked him again, he finally told me the story. While playing in the pool a ball rolled into the grass in a pile of dirt (AKA an ant bed). He told me he didn't step in the ant bed when he went to get the ball but he looked down and had bugs on his feet. So, in typical 3-year-old fashion I guess, he ran to the pool and put his feet back in the water to get the bugs off. Never once did he scream or tell his teachers there were bugs on his feet until they were back in the classroom. By that time, his feet were so swollen that the ant bites couldn't be seen. Only after nap today, around 5:00, when his swollen feet were a little better were we able to see the ant bites. I have never seen so many ant bites on one person in my life! I can't believe Tyler did not scream or yell when he was bit so many times. He was too consumed with playing to pay attention to the "bugs" on his feet! Ah, to be three years old again without a care in the world...

Update: Tonight his feet are still swollen and he's still broken out in hives but not nearly as bad as this morning. Hopefully he will recover soon and we will be able to go to Atlanta on Wednesday to see a Braves baseball game as we've been planning to do for several weeks. Keep us in your prayers!