Pecky's on the mend

Michaela: no accidents!
Maeve: at least 1
Alasdair: no idea

It was sitter day again today. Maeve hit me with one as I walked in the door after work, but other than that, I know not. But Doodie's pecky is looking much better today. Hopefully by tomorrow it'll look good as new!

It's Flaming!!

Michaela: no accidents!
Maeve: 1
Alasdair: 3

Plus, his little pecky is all flaming red! This morning I changed his first diaper of the day and saw something white and solid in the opening of his penis. I took it out and pulled back the foreskin and saw some more. I cleaned out what I could, but it was all red and kind of puffy in there. I'm not sure where it's coming from. We didn't do anything different, cleaned it all the same way as we have been for the last 16 months... When I changed his second diaper, also poopy, i found more white stuff to clean out. Then with his other diaper changes I haven't found more, but it's still very very red. Poor little guy. It doesn't seem to be bothering him at all though.

I called the nurse at the pediatrician's office and she said to keep it clean and put some zinc oxide cream (20%) on it, but come on, the kids LIVES in Desitin. What good will that do? Anyway we'll keep it clean and watch it until Saturday. If it's not looking better we'll take him in to the doc. Hopefully it will just get better on it's own. Poor Dude!! :(

Honestly, I don't remember

I didn't get to posting last night, and I honestly can't remember the tallies. I know Michaela didn't have any accidents, but that's about it.

It was just one of those days where life is catching up with me!

Monday Madness

Michaela: no accidents!
Maeve: 2
Alasdair: 2

So, we bought the huge container of flax from Costco. I'm hoping we live long enough to use it all. :) But I think it's time to crack it open and start sprinkling it over things. It's sneaky and fabulous. I love it!

And we started our charts today. Maeve = no stars, Michaela = 1 star!

Charting Fools!

Michaela: no accidents!
Maeve: 0
Alasdair: 1

So, I'm going to start making a chart for Michaela so that we can actually track her BMs. That will help us to know if she's having enough of them or not enough, even with Miralax. And maybe it will help to actually predict when she might have accidents or at least tell me when I have to force her to sit on the toilet and go.

And then I'm going to make Maeve a chart for using the potty. Even the allure of candy corn pumpkins is wearing off. She's so unwilling to even sit on the potty. It's frustrating.

Saturday Slow-downs

Michaela: no accidents!
Maeve: 2
Alasdair: 2

And his bum is clearing up nicely without having to use the Ilex! I almost broke it out last night but I was too lazy to go grab it from the bathroom, so we just used the Desitin instead. Plus it helps that his poops are slowing down, making the contact with his skin and the caustic poo less frequent. Let's just hope it stays that way for a while. :)

No new updates today

Michaela: 1 small accident right as I walked in the door from work.
Maeve: ?
Alasdair: ?

Another day at the sitter, another day free of diapers and Desitin for me!

Hot Spots

Michaela: no accidents!
Maeve: ?
Alasdair: ?

It was my day in the office again today. I'm guessing that Alasdair had at least one poop today because after the other day when his butt was on fire, he's been getting steadily clearer with the exception of 2 little "hot spots" that are still really red and weepy. There's one on each cheek. I've been keeping a ton of Desitin on him and it's been sticking really well to those weepy spots, but tonight after his bath I was putting a clean diaper on him and those two spots were really bad again. So I'm guessing that he did a doodie at some point that re-irritated it. Poor guy.

All Quiet on the Diaper Front

Michaela: no accidents!
Maeve: 0
Alasdair: 1

It was a very quiet day in the diaper department today, which is good. It gave Dude some time for his bum to heal up. It's all looking very nice now. :)

And we're continuing our attempt at potty training with Maeve. There's not been much success. I think she's really just not in to it, although she's totally ready to. She tells me the minute she goes in her diaper, she changes her own diapers, and she has plenty of vocabulary. She's just stubborn. I'm hoping to get her using the toilet before she turns 4 in 2010.

My whole house smells like poop

Michaela: no accidents
Maeve: 2
Alasdair: 5

I swear everytime I walk into the living room it just stinks like poop. Maybe it's just some sort of weird olfactory imprinting; I just know that when I'm home or in the car there's poop lurking about somewhere.

And dude sat in a poopy diaper for over an hour last night (thanks DH!) and his butt was on FIRE. He wouldn't even sit down in the bathtub and I couldn't hold him under his bum. I had to squeeze his legs instead. But a good frosting of the Desitin seemed to do the trick. In just an hour or so after the initial finding of the burn, it seemed to have already gotten better. Poor baby. I can't imagine having a rash like that on my bum.

HD Research Study

Michaela: 1 wet accident
Maeve: 0
Alasdair: 2

Tomorrow I have to call and make an appointment for Doodie's next post-op check up with our surgeon. While we're there, I have to try to sweet talk him into ordering a blood draw for me, DH and Alasdair so we can participate in the Johns Hopkins HD genetic study. I'm really excited to be a part of that. I know we don't get to have any specific information about us, but it feels good to help support the research efforts to figure out more about this disease.

What I'm not excited about is trying to get a blood draw from Alasdair. And I'm even less excited to get one from my husband. He's a needle wuss. :)

Busy Day!

Michaela: no accidents!
Maeve: 3
Alasdair: 5

I don't know what these kids ate, but MAN! I think we'll have to eat some cheese and bananas.

So, potty training with Maeve is going slowly, but in the right direction. All of last week she went on the potty for me except for one day where she went in her pull-up before anyone got out of bed to get her on the potty. And for some reason my husband can't seem to get her on the potty in the mornings during the weekend. Now we've just got to get her to go during the day. I've had her sit on the potty for over an hour at a time sometimes and she just won't go. The minute she stands up she goes in her pull-up. Dang it!

Oh well. I'm hopeful that early next year I'll have one less diapered kid to change all day and maybe she'll do better than her big sister!

Friday Fun

Michaela: no accidents!
Maeve: 1
Alasdair: 2

Another office day for me, so this is just from 6 pm until bedtime. Maeve apparently "dropped an asteroid" according to DH. However, they did both do their dookie right before I got home, so I didn't have to change them. YAY!

Frosting the Bum

Michaela: no accidents?
Maeve: 1, but she did pee in the potty for me again!
Alasdair: no idea

It was my day in the office today so the sitter took charge of the poop, for the most part anyway.

And here is my promised how-to on the Ilex cream. If you have a kid with a weeping or bleeding diaper rash, Ilex is for you! But it's not as simple to use as regular creams. When I was in the hospital and I saw that Alasdair's little scrotum was actually bleeding during a diaper change I totally panicked. I mean, he's my first boy so I don't really know what to do with all that down there anyway, but to find it bleeding just broke my heart! So I called the nurse and she said all non-chalant-like, "oh, I'll bring you some Ilex for that". Um, okay. So she brings me the tube and leaves me to apply it. Being a woman, I flipped over the box and read the instructions. It said to put on a thick layer and top it with petroleum jelly. Well, the nurse didn't bring me any of that, so I thought I was good. I mean, the nurse at a Children's Hospital would surely know if I had to use vaseline, right? So I put on the Ilex and close 'er up. A few hours later at A's next diaper change I literally had to rip the diaper off of his already tender balls. Poor guy!! The nurse came in just as I was changing him (I can't remember if it was the same nurse or not) and was like, "oh! You need to smear vaseline over the top of that so it doesn't stick!" Um HELLO!! Whatever. So she got me some and showed me how to use it properly.

1. Clean the bum area thoroughly.
2. Dry with a clean cloth or air dry.
3. LOAD UP with the Ilex cream. I mean, like you're frosting a cake. TONS of it everywhere that it is weeping or bleeding.
4. Absolutely cover the Ilex with Vaseline or petroleum jelly. Put a really thick layer on.
5. Close up the diaper and you're good to go!

Notes:

• The diaper may still stick a little bit, but no worries. It's not too bad as long as you really cover it well with the Vaseline. This stuff turns into rubber cement, seriously!
• At the next diaper change, DON'T try to pick off all the old Ilex. If it's a poopy diaper, it might turn all brown and look really gross, but just leave it on. Apply more Ilex to the newly exposed areas for any that came off and redo the Vaseline.
• At bathtime the Ilex will come off nice and easy.
• I bet within 24 hours things will be looking much better!!

Good Luck!

Back to normal

Michaela: 1 pee accident
Maeve: 0
Alasdair: 2

We had our well baby check up today and Dude is great! Tall, skinny and loud. All normal for little boys I hear. :)

So, I promised and Ilex "how to", but it'll have to wait. I cut off a slice of my left index finger making dinner tonite, so typing is a challenge.