Quick update: Josh's fever seems to be the result of a staph infection on his right bottom cheek. I noticed it yesterday when he fell down on it and came in screaming with pain. It was a bright red bump a little hard and warm to the touch. Not knowing what it was, I put on some ointment during diaper changes. But obviously that did nothing. So this morning his bump was bigger and more painful for him so I scheduled him for a visit to the pediatrician's first thing. The doctor took his vitals first: weight 27.6, ears have a little pussiness (minor ear infection), lungs sounded a bit wheezy (continue nebulizer treatment over weekend), and then looked at his butt. She immediately said the puss needed to be pushed out and he wasn't going to like it.

Boy was she right.

We laid him on his tummy- diaper down, butt exposed- then the doctor proceeded to first prick the skin then squeeze the bloody pussy stuff out. Oh man it was awful. On the first good squeeze, some of it shot out getting me on the cheek and arm, the wall, the nurse... Yuck! Meanwhile Josh was crying out for mommy and daddy, even though I was holding down his chest and arms and trying to soothe him. Finally she got the majority out, put on a band-aid and prescribed ointment and recommended a bath with 2 tbsp. of bleach added to the water for the next several days/weeks. If the redness doesn't go away, we're to call her tomorrow and may have to go to the hospital. ugh! I kept thinking, not again! I'm hoping this will get better. We will go back for a check up Monday. Until then, Josh will be taking it easy and lounging with his butt up and diaper loose.

Addendum- I did further research and found this from kidshealth.org:

Without treatment, folliculitis can either heal within 1 week or progress to become boils. With a boil, the staph infection spreads deeper and wider, often affecting the skin's subcutaneous tissue (deeper tissue under the skin) and the oil-producing glands, which are called sebaceous glands. In the first stage, which parents and kids often miss, the area of skin either begins to itch or becomes mildly painful. Next, the skin turns red and begins to swell over the infected area. Finally, the skin above the infection becomes very tender and a whitish "head" may appear. The head may break, and the boil may begin to drain pus, blood, or an amber-colored liquid. Boils can occur anywhere on the skin, especially under the arms or on the groin or buttocks in children.
I think Josh had a bug bite or something that he scratched open making the area susceptible.

The poor little dude has a fever this evening. He woke up from his nap with a temp of 102.6. I gave him some Tylenol and he just lounged on my lap going in and out of sleep until I finally laid him in his bed at 6:45.

I'm working on making a sign or button to wear around when I go out. I'm tired of the same questions (and really tired of the dumb ones, but more on that later) so I figure I'llknock out the three most common questions with one visual: a stork picture with "November" along the bottom, in blue and a "#2" at the top somewhere. I we settle on a name before he's born (it's unlikely knowing us), then I'll add that too. That gets rid of when are you due, do you know what it is, and is this your first??? Then there's the dumb questions that I get, like is the father excited and are you feeling sick? Well, maybe the second question isn't so dumb since many women feel sick all the way through their pregnancies. I don't. The first question- why do people ask this? What answer are they expecting? I should say something like Oh he doesn't know, but my husband is very excited! Of course, that might get me trouble.

We spent the last couple of days/nights in the hospital with Josh. A simple chest cold turned into an asthma-like disaster. Here's the email I sent to most friends and some family:

As some of you know, Joshua has the onset of asthma, although the doctors don't officially diagnose it as such at this age. A minor cold on Friday put mucus in his lungs causing him to wheeze and be short of breath. Rusty gave him breathing treatments at home but by Sunday morning he was still working real hard to breathe and wasn't doing well at all. We took him to the ER hoping he'd get a few good breathing treatments and be sent home by dinner. But his lungs didn't respond to anything. So they kept him (and us) overnight in the hospital for further treatments and observation. Today he is doing better but still isn't good enough to go home. We'll be in the hospital again tonight and hopefully going home tomorrow.

During his stay, Josh was hooked up to an I.V., an oxygen tube under his nose and a blood oxygen sensor on his big toe. The blood oxygen sensor told us how well his lungs were taking in air and what his heart rate was like. He was admitted in the ER with a blood oxygen level of about 88, though we saw it dip in the ER to a low as 82. He needed to be around 95 or higher to be considered in the clear. With all this equipment, he was severely restricted in movement and always getting tangled up. Rusty and I took turns sleeping next to him in the hospital bed those two nights. Every 2-3 hours a nurse would come in and we'd give him a breathing treatment of albuterol, even at night. Every 4-6 hours he got a steroid (luckily it was given through the IV instead of a shot). By Monday afternoon, Josh was able to get off of the oxygen and that night get rid of the IV.

We were finally able to come home late this morning around 11am. The doctor was on the fence with his health during his last visit to the room but since we're already well accustom to giving him breathing treatments and medicines, he felt we could give good home care. We have a cocktail of medicines to administer this week: Xopenex with a nebulizer every 3-4 hours until his wheezing stops, Advair and Flovent inhalers through an air chamber, prednisolon syrup twice daily for four days, and dehistine syrup twice daily. I'm to listen to his chest with our stethoscope periodically and make sure he takes it easy for a few days. I'll take Josh to see his pulmonologist on Monday for a check up. Needless to say, he's not going to day school this week and I'm not working much.

The hardest part for Josh was not being able to walk around and play like he wanted to. The hardest part for me was watching my baby feel so miserable and not being able to make him feel better. We're all tired today and going to bed early. Rusty and I both caught Josh's cold (though it's minor for me) so we'll be chillin' at home tomorrow. To help the little feel better, I blew up a bunch of balloons this afternoon with the helium tank left over from his birthday party and tied long strings to the end so he could grab them when they floated up to the ceiling.

I hope Josh outgrows this and pray that we don't go to the hospital like this for every other cold his gets. What some kids get as low-key sniffles seems to be potentially life-threatening for Josh. Well, maybe that's a bit dramatic to say, but he definitely has more complications than most. I am so grateful for the medical help we got. If this had happened a hundred years ago we might very well have lost Josh by now. Medicine isn't a miracle but it is so great.

Thanks for Dorothy, Melissa, Adam & Nolan for the hospital visit on Monday night. They brought us books and toys for Josh to play with in bed. Also, thanks to those of you who sent us your well wishes.

We're having another boy! yay! The ultrasound technician estimates the due date to be November 2nd, but the calendar and midwife both think it's November 7th, and I'm putting my bet to be either early (fingers crossed for October 31st) or later such as the 14th. I suppose we'll find out soon enough.

I am working on another web design project, though it's a short and relatively easy one. It will keep me occupied for a couple more weeks and pays a thousand bucks. Then I need to find something else to do. Either pick up another consulting project or find part-time employment or committ myself to homely projects, like making curtains, fixing up the play set and early Christmas shopping.

Yes, early Christmas shopping. I don't want to deal with Christmas this year if I have a newborn. I plan to do shopping early and get cards signed and addressed as soon as they go on sale in the stores (late September, early October?). I expect to be sleep deprived, busy and slow moving in December. If I get things prepped early, the idea is to just drop everything in the mail at the right time and be done.

Which brings me back to money. Money to pay for all this in advance. We aren't broke but we didn't exactly budget for Christmas shopping plus baby stuff plus a higher mortgage to all be at roughly the same time of the year. It will be tight for a little bit, but that's how it goes. At least these expense will be spread over the course of several months instead of one big credit card statement in January, like most years. Rusty might be getting a promotion/pay bump later this year but we can't count that until it happens.

We installed the first part of the Elfa shelves in the garage this evening. As a way to keep Josh distracted from playing in the garage while we worked, we got out the water hose for him to play with. I just couldn't resist snapping a few shots of our bare bottomed babe playing in the water!

Today is Father's Day! We got gifts for our dads and I got a gift for Rusty on behalf of Josh. I found a men's maroon house robe and monogrammed "Daddy" in gold stitching. Well, I didn't do it, L.L. Bean did! It's a large, so I'm worried it might not fit well. Rusty's usually a medium on most clothes. But his first treat of the day is to sleep in and wake up with fresh coffee and a clean kitchen/living room. Which I'll be working on shortly.

My son's waist is a mystery. He's 2 years old and I can't seem to find shorts small enough to fit him. 2T and 24 month is too wide- they fall off within a few steps of walking. 18 month size is too big too! I got four pairs of 18 month shorts from Target yesterday and they too are falling past his butt. Am I to resort to suspenders??

Baby #2 is kicking and thumping more now, though I tend to feel most movement at night or when laying down. I've gained about 11 pounds so far, though the baby weighs only about 7 ounces. My appetite has increased and I'm making healthy choices where I can, like a side salad with a sandwich. Fruit as a snack instead of cookies. Whole grains over white. Juice and milk over soda. Although I still have the occasional can of soda (with ice) when the urge gets me. Time seems to be flying by this time around. I realized the other day that I am almost half way done! I only have about 4 months left! :-/

I'm reading Rant by Chuck Palahniuk. It's another effed up story that's surely fun to read. It was sent to us by Raymond as a housewarming gift (thanks!) and I'm just now getting to it. I have 3 magazines I haven't read yet too. I think I'll save those for later though when I'm either disparately out of reading material or when the new baby comes and I find myself reading while breastfeeding.

With Josh, we propped up a music stand by the rocking chair so I was able to read at night during breast feedings. It was something to do while I waited for Josh to finish and it kept me from falling asleep. Although we don't have a rocking chair anymore.

Father's Day is this weekend. I had a great idea for my dad's gift/card but I'm running into technical difficulties. If I can get it to work then I'm done- yay!- on time. If not, I'll have to resort to Plan B. Not sure what Plan B is yet but it probably involves shopping for something. I got Rusty something on behalf of Josh. I'm worried it might be too big (in fact, I'm almost certain of it), but oh well.

I'm tired and it's not even 10pm. peace out.

Went to a dentist appointment this afternoon. The lady who cleaned my teeth said I had a little bleeding on one side, but otherwise everything looked great. I'm thinking, if you'd not poke me with a sharp metal object, there would be no bleeding at all!

No sooner did I tell a friend I wasn't feeling movement yet that I begin to feel some bumping in the belly. It seems most noticeable when I'm laying down, like in the dentist office. It's faint and infrequent at this point, but reassuring that the lil' dude or dudette is alive and well.

Just over two years ago Emily assisted us during Josh's birth. Now that she is in the navy we felt we needed to find someone else to help out on that big day. We made a list of people we knew and trusted then evaluated our choices. Some friends are naturally hard to get a hold of on any given day, others live a bit too far away, and other friends didn't have that totally cozy feel. I mean, let's face it, giving birth in front of others is an intimate affair. We settled on Melissa Anderly to help us. We asked her this afternoon if she would be interested and she about jumped out of her seat! Rusty and I breathed a sigh of relief when she enthusiastically accepted. This meant we didn't have to settle for a less than ideal assistant. It helps that she has had a natural birth herself and went through the Bradley Method child birth classes too. (This was her 5 months after Josh was born and just weeks before her son Nolan was born.)

Josh got a haircut today. He looks older somehow- and way cute!

Vincent had his birthday party this afternoon. Josh had a blast! They had a bounce house in the backyard, lots of backyard toys, kids, cake- it was all good. He got a lot of sun and now he's tired enough that I think we can get him to bed perhaps 30 minutes early. I hope we can because I'm pooped and need an early night myself.

I have a cold today; Josh has a cold and a black eye. Together we're miserable company. :-(

Success! We had our housewarming party last night with great success. We estimate about 20+ people came over the course of five hours. Everyone had a good time (except Josh, but more on that in a bit) and enjoyed the excuse to see other people and get out. Despite being rained on earlier that day, the grounds weren't too bad and mosquitoes hadn't come out to full force, or not to my knowledge. I struck a deal with Rusty to hold the white wines until December so that I could enjoy them.

Joshua had his 2nd birthday party in the afternoon before the housewarming. He LOVED that his friends came over to play! He was dancing and running around and playing with everyone and everything. He enjoyed his homemade birthday cake I made, drank lots of juice & milk, played with his buddies in the backyard, and had fun opening his gifts. So far he really likes his medical kit and play tunnel, although he's played with everything at some point by now. He was really haven't an all around great time until...

...he got bumped by a girl on the swings which threw him to the ground and knocked his head against the pole of the playset. He got a huge bump/bruise to the right of his right eye. He hurt for a while and I thought he was going to go to sleep since it was already late, but he stayed up until almost the bitter end. Odd thing about the incident is that afterwards for the rest of the night, he was real clingy and wanted to know where mommy & daddy were all the time. If either of us was out of sight or earshot for even a moment he was distressed. I'm thinking he got scared after the accident and wanted the assurance that we were there to protect him and comfort him. Today he seems fine though still a bit more clingy than usual.

It's shaping up to be a gorgeous day so I'll probably take Josh to the community pool to play for a bit after his nap. He got a few pool toys and a new towel from a neighbor friend for his birthday that we need to make use of.

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