Diapers and Diabetes

Yesterday was another rough day for our family. Some of it humorous, some not. But rough, just the same. Here are just two of the things that happened, in chronological order.

Disclaimer: this first story talks a lot about baby poop.

The antibiotics my son has been taking for the last eleven days has given him terrible diarrhea. Even when he passes gas, poop comes out. The problem, besides the obvious constant clean-up, is we can't smell it. The antibiotics have killed all the bacteria in his intestines. So, he could honestly say, if he could talk, "My s**t don't stink" and he wouldn't be bragging. It's really true.

Therefore, we don't always clean the poop right away because we don't know it is there. A few days ago, I lifted him out of his high chair and his diaper was wet. Not with pee, but with poo. Wet with poo. This is disturbing when that happens.

Anyway, his poor little behind is getting terrible diaper rash from the acidity of the diarrhea. One day it was so bad that twice he cried when we changed his diaper. It broke our hearts and I couldn't help but cry too, seeing my son in such pain! We have been caking his bootie with Desitin and A&D and other butt pastes, which is helping somewhat. But, the A&D is like a moisture blocker, so if we put too much on, the pee and diarrhea won't absorb into his diaper and it will slide right out the side and down his leg, usually onto my lap (which also happened yesterday. Peed on my dress).

Apparently, the night before last, we put too much A&D on him because yesterday morning, when I went into his room to get him up, he was sitting in the middle of his crib, naked and covered in teeny tiny crystallized balls. At some point in the night, the A&D, the Desitin, the pee, all of it together, caused his diaper to rip open and so Max just decided to take it off. There were little crystal balls everywhere, I'm assuming a mixture of the A&D and the absorbent stuffing from his diaper.

Max had thrown those teensy balls all over his crib, they were all over his legs, his chest, he had thrown them around his room, and the floor in front of his crib was covered in them. The balls were clear, sticky and gooey. When I walked in, he was so happy and proud of himself, all smiles and giggles, naked, covered in God knows what. I couldn't help but admire his innovation and gusto, while I shook all the little balls into the bathtub, washed all his bedding, vaccummed his carpet and washed his body.

Second, we found out yesterday that my mother has diabetes. It was a blow. I don't know much about diabetes and neither does she. I do know it can be a dangerous disease if not kept under control. My mom is disheartened, having to learn new ways to eat and cutting out some of her favorite drinks and foods. She probably feels the way I did when I discovered I could no longer eat gluten. It is overwhelming, trying to enjoy a new diet that one must follow for life. And learning to prick your own finger every day probably isn't her ideal wake-up call, either.

I believe the pieces will fall into place for her, though. My mother is a smart lady and she knows this is a blessed opportunity to get healthy, exercise (okay, so exercising isn't really considered a blessing to most of us...more like torture), lose weight and generally feel better. I love you, Mom and I know you can do this!

And h-e-double toothpicks, I think it's time for some good news in this family! Can I get an Amen? Woot, woot!

My mom, Max, my sister, and I on Mother's Day 2009