UPDATES *Kaedyn*

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We're going to skip over Nathan's update .... for a moment....  because his will be the longest .... by far. 

So we're going to go with Kaedyn....

Kaedyn - as you know if you know us or have been keeping tabs for awhile - doesn't have a lot going on.  HOWEVER he got some pretty impressive HIVES (linked back to the blog) back in October which causes A LOT of concern for me.  Because I'm allergic to a lot of things - we joke and say I'm allergic to "everything" because really - it's pretty close.   Soy, fruits, pollens, grass, animals, personal & cleaning products, medications....  oh and there's more I'm sure, but this isn't about me.  Daddy is also allergic to shellfish.  He has anaphylaxis to Lobster ... he can't even be in the same room.

The day that Kaedyn got the hives, and here is a picture incase you don't want to look at the blog from last October....

(there are a lot of pictures on the other blog)

The only thing I can pin-point that he ate that was different was candy corn.  And he had some of that the year before....

So we finally got him into the allergist ... and he went through the lovely allergy testing.  If you have never been through allergy testing - you should do it - it's good fun!!

What they do is put a "grid" on your back so they know what "oil" is where.  Once they have a grid in place they take these things that have "oils" in them with the pollen, dander, whatever ... to test what you are allergic to - and after these drops are on your back, they take a little needle and scrap or poke or scratch (however you want to put it) the skin under the droplet ...  then you sit there for awhile, and if a hive develops and the skin is red then you are allergic, and depending on the size of the hive... is how badly you are allergic.

Kaedyn - suggesting we leave ......... NOW ........

 This is about the time that he freaked OUT .... poor kid

 The visible hive in the middle-ish of his back is a "control" one ... I don't know what they have in it to make it a control one (what is everyone allergic to?) ....  

 They had put on Blues Clues for them to watch

 You can see several red welty areas now....

 His biggest allergies were grass, dogs, & cats ...... poor kid is screwed!

Because of this chronic croup when he's sick and his allergies and asthma - they want him on a inhaler every day ...  he gave me some advice on the eczema ... and various other stuff.  Benedryl every night before bed to keep his allergies at bay ... more if he gets bad ... etc and so on :/ 

That still doesn't explain his hives that night in October- unless he was exposed to something at school ....

Other than that ....  he's been pretty healthy and a huge handful.  His speech has gotten SO MUCH BETTER this past year.  We can now - at least are starting to - understand him.   YAY!

Kaedyn has Croup

Apparently I have a lot of catching up to do, but right now, I have just been dealing with family stuff.

With Calahan breaking his arm Friday, we have had to adjust chores (because he can't do ANYTHING right now) and pick up the slack, we've had to make sure he's comfortable, has his arm elevated, ice packs, meds, etc and everything ... which isn't a biggy ...

But Saturday night, Kaedyn started waking up every couple hours coughing, by the time 2 am hit, I realized it wasn't just a COUGH... it was a BARKY COUGH... and any mom (or Dad) out there know what that means...

yep.... the croup!

Dennis was sleeping and at 2am when I had gotten him settled, I had woken him up and told him that next time Kaed woke up, I was going to wake him up to hear how bad he was getting (not to deal with him, I just wanted him to hear it, knowing croupy coughs go away more during the day due to being upright) ... So the next time he woke up, I forgot but when I got back to bed, he said "he does sound bad"... next thing I knew it was 7:30am... and Dennis had gotten up with him the rest of the night .... I found them kicked back in my chair, cuddling... Daddy was asleep, Kaedyn was awake... I went to the bathroom and when I got in the living room he said "someone woke me up cuz he was kickin crazy after seeing Mommy up" LOL... he is a Mommy's boy.

So after doing some research online (times the urgent care clinics open) I took him into the nearest one straight away at 8:30 this morning. There were already 5 cars in the parking lot when we got there! But we got in and got seen relatively quickly. Dr. listened, asked me questions, and said he didn't quite hear the barkyness but that was normal with croup. I said "he has it when he cries" and the DR (jokingly) said "should I make you cry?" and I said "no, I'll do it, it's very simple" ... I just put him on the floor (sitting up) and walked 5 steps away from him. The little lip pop'd out and the face got sad, the tear ducts opened up and the wailing started. After abotu 20 seconds of stepping away from him, the DR said "okay, I heard it" so I took the few steps back to him, scooped him up, and he was right as rain agian!

He gave me steriods to give him (one dose yesterday, and if he had another bad night last night, another one today) but since I noticed it very early, that should be all he needs but I'm suppose to keep an eye out for runny nose & ear infections which are common with croup. If I think he needs it, I have a nebulizer at home for breathing treatments (since both Noah and I have asthma) ... So far he's been really good but he was having a moment yesterday afternoon where I thought, okay if that continues, I'll have to pull it out. Luckily it didn't though.

He did wake up several times early in the night last night, and during then night I heard him barking a bit...

He is usually a rather independent baby where you can put him on the floor and he will play play play and if he wants your attention, he'll come by you - or if I leave the room, he'll just belly crawl his way in there will me and peek around the corner with a big smile on his face. But yesterday he was VERY clingy - it's been a miracle to even get him to play on the floor at my feet, and any time Dennis or I walk out of the room (even if the other one is in it) he cries. He just wants Mom and Dad in his eye sight at all times.

I just hope he gets better! Today is Nathan's 2nd hearing test, got to get Cal in to get his cast on, a bunch of errands to run and that is it. Tuesday is ST for Nate, Wednesday is PT for Nate (they come to the house) ... and Thursday is the last day of school.

So I think I'm going to go ahead and give him that second dose.