N's very difficult week

Ever have one of those weeks when you feel like your kids are falling apart on you?

Well, I've seen it happen before, but this is my first time truly experiencing it as a mommy.

I mentioned that N got a dog bite (really, it was a nip gone bad) on Friday the 7th. That night, when we put him down to bed, I called the advice nurse and actually felt really good about things when the night ended. However, the wound got infected almost immediately, and on Saturday morning, we brought N into the doctor's office with a swollen face and a low-grade fever.

The on-call pediatrician looked at the bite area and sent us to the ER, where they drained the infection and then admitted us into the Pediatrics ward. D stayed overnight with N, and we got to go home on Sunday afternoon.

N kept a low-grade fever which concerned me until Monday night. I kept in contact with the advice nurse (for any mommies out there who don't utilize the advice line, I would strongly recommend saving it in your contacts. It's free for patients and it's so nice to have the peace of mind!)...

On Tuesday, N went in for a follow-up appointment. The doctor told us that the diaper rash he was developing was a result of the diarrhea he had from the Augmentin (the oral antibiotic routine they put him on) and we got him probiotics to help regulate his digestion.

The diaper rash got much worse and I called the advice nurse again Saturday evening. She said it was just a result of the Augmentin, and apparently antibiotics often cause yeast infections in children, so I should get antifungal for his diaper area and let him hang out sans diaper as much as possible.

Monday morning, his diaper rash wasn't much better, and he had a full-body rash which looked like Roseola. Concerned, I brought him in to see the pediatrician who told us that N's rash was a reaction (not a true allergy because it didn't bother him, but a reaction) to the amoxicillin in the Augmentin. Apparently it's related to a penicillin allergy, so we need to watch out for that.

The pics are of him AFTER we stopped the antibiotics.

So, in the past week and a half, my little guy has had a bite, an infection, a fever, a diaper rash/yeast infection, and a full-body rash. I brought him out of the doctor's office with a splotchy red face, a scab on his chin (where the bite was), and a big red painful diaper rash (we're talking chemical burn bad, and it developed in under 24 hours).

That said, ever since he stopped taking the antibiotics, his rash has gone waaaay down, his diaper rash has gotten MUCH better, his diarrhea is gone, and the bite still appears to be healing and the fever hasn't come back.

I'm not sure I knew anything about parenthood before these last 2 weeks, really!