Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Best Served Chilled

Currently sitting on my refrigerator shelf, resting comfortable between my box of caffeine-free diet coke and leftover spaghetti sauce, are two poo-filled diapers. Parenting is so glamorous.

Landon had two bloody stools yesterday. We called the pediatrician last night and she is very concerned about Clostridium difficile, a bad bacteria in the colon which is able to thrive because all the good bacteria in the gut has been eradicated by repeated antibiotic treatment (which Landon most certainly has had). JP is staying home from work again today to take him to the doctor's office for a stool culture. He has been such an enormous help over the past few days with Landon being sick (he's also developed a horrible cough and is tugging on his non-infected ear) and my finals looming ever closer. I'll keep you posted about the results.

Update, 3:45 PM: Landon is fine. The red poop is, well... red poop. Landon likes to keep us all guessing- including his pediatrician who had theories, but no certainties about what's causing it. Despite the mysterious poo, his newly developed 65-year-old-smoker-like cough, and the recent fever and ear infections, his surgery is still on for tomorrow at 1 PM. He is not to have any food after midnight, no formula after 6 AM, and no clear liquids after 11 AM. Yeah, it'll be fun trying to explain that to him tomorrow. He'll probably rub some bacteria in his ear to create another ear infection the night before my con law final as his revenge. The good news is that his baby modeling career can take off soon - maybe he can pay us back for his medical bills! (Just kidding about the modeling, though JP is convinced that Landon is the best looking baby ever and we could make millions if we sent his picture into Gerber. I'm just happy to have that bump off his eyebrow. It was getting really big and moved so easily it was starting to freak me out. And I'm sure the lady babies at daycare will appreciate his bump-free visage.)

15 comments:

  1. oh man. i hope his belly feels better and no more bloody stool.

    I'm going to enjoy my current poo-free fridge:)

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  2. Ugh. Hang in there. It has to get better. I make sure to keep Bear on YoBaby yogurt to help his tummy with the constant antibiotics. It seems to help or maybe it just makes me feel like I am helping. I hope Landon gets better really soon!

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  3. What the hell! You guys have the worst luck!

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  4. LL, if anyone deserves a month of no illness, no stress, and no state intervention, it's you and JP. I'm hoping that month is coming soon!

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  5. Ugh, poor little guy! I agree, the YoBaby could be a help. Or maybe the doctor can recommend some other probiotics. Hope he starts to feel better soon.

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  6. Ugh, poor little guy! I agree, the YoBaby could be a help. Or maybe the doctor can recommend some other probiotics. Hope he starts to feel better soon.

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  7. aww, poor Landon. Mystery poop is not fun for baby OR mommy!

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  8. Good luck tomorrow, Landon! I hope the tummy feels better too.

    Gotta love parenting and how relaxed it makes you with pee, poop, and vomit. I never thought I'd say things like, oh, no big deal. That's just vomit on my shirt.

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  9. I was hospitalized for a week with C. diff. It was -not- fun. Poor Landon. With all the antibiotics he's taking it's no wonder they suspected it. I agree with the other post, time to look into probiotics! I hope tomorrow goes well.

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  10. Has he been eating lots of Indian food lately? Heh - glad he's doing ok!

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  11. Was the antibiotic Omni*cef? Really common side effect is red or orange pigmented feces. VERY freaky.

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  12. It was! And that must be what was causing it. At first it looked like streaks of red, which is what worried us, but by the next morning it was just solid reddish orange poo. Reminded me of "burnt sienna" in the crayola box...

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  13. thank you so much for the illustrated update. i was wondering how it went. i'm so glad that's over! he is so so so beautiful.

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  14. I have TOTALLY been there with the poop cultures. And I couldn't just bring in some poopie diapers...no!...I got to scoop out measured amounts of poop and/or diarrhea into samples with different caustic liquids in them. Ew. And then both children (yes, I got to do it with both kids) had the darn nerve to not really have anything wrong with them!
    Have you started Landon on baby yogurt yet? that might help protect the good bacteria a bit.

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