Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Bumps and Bruises

I tell you... I think these kiddos inherited their mom's sense of grace (or lack thereof).

The other day, Bobby fell at the playground and skinned his knee to hell and back.  Then Maya fell in the pantry (which is like a small closet and I have NO idea how she managed this) and scraped her leg- this after falling off a toy box and scraping the holy goodness out of her back. 

Yeah.

So, we get back from vacation, and Bobby immediately gets hit with soft stool that turns into diarrhea.  (I know- aren't you glad you read my blog?).  No other symptoms of anything, and I write it up to me adding flax into our food.  (Thanks to a friend of mine, I know that flax can wreak havoc and cause apparently some explosive issues).  I thought it might possibly be a GI bug (because Peter wasn't feeling so awesome Monday night/Tuesday either) but Bobby had no fever and his behavior was normal.  He was happy and playing- just with explosive underpants that required me to scrub down the new carpet (fun!), new floors (fun- but not nearly as much as the carpet), and him.  It wasn't pretty.  Tuesday?  A HUGE explosion at school... on the playground... that resulted in an explosion of language as well, since he actually told me about the event. It was NASTY.  (Read: they do NOT pay the teachers and aides enough.)  One of the class aides actually told me that she'd burn the bag of his clothes if not for the fact that it contained his favorite pants and shoes... I mean- GROSS.  Super Gross.  By Wednesday, as much as it pained us, we were putting him in pull ups for part of the day because he was just unable to make it to the bathroom and it was as traumatic for him as it was a mess for us.  His behavior is still normal, no fever or symptoms of illness, just the bad poop.

Come yesterday, we were still doing this, although he was getting to the bathroom about 50% of the time.  I called the pediatrician, and was told it could take up to 4 WEEKS for it to pass and that, as long as he isn't running a fever, is eating and drinking normally, and is acting fine, then not to worry.  They recommended yogurt (which he will rarely if ever eat now, ever since he got a hold of my bowl of plain...) or a probiotic (I got one yesterday... now to see if he will take it!) and said it should work itself out.  Fun times.

In good news on that front, though, he is making it to the bathroom!  He went at school today and at home after lunch- both explosions of the nasty kind- but both times, no accident.  I was sad for him because he has finally really gotten the whole going-to-the-bathroom thing and understanding how his body feels when he needs to go, etc (and it only took a year... which may seem a long time for some folks, but from parents with kids anywhere on the Spectrum or with significant language concerns, we've gotten off easy!).  This was a setback emotionally for him, and I'm so proud of him for being able to make it now, even when he's struggling.  I'm sure we'll have more accidents before this works itself out, but still.

But back to bumps and bruises.... So, the kids go to school this morning and I go to Bible study.  Right before it starts, my phone rings and "Mater Dei" shows up on my caller ID.  Immediately, my mind races to Bobby and if he's had a potty issue so bad that the school has to call.  I answer and the woman identifies herself as one of the school nurses.  Great?  Is he sick?

No, it's Maya.  (To which I'm really thinking OH NO!)  Apparently, in gym, she fell- and smacked her head on the floor. Of course she did... Because she is as coordinated as I am! (I nearly tripped and fell in Bible study today- no joke....)  They brought her to the nurse because she had a knot immediately form (and it still looks like a giant red thumbprint!) but her eyes were reactive, she was talking and acting normally, and wasn't crying, so they said they'd keep an eye on her, and just wanted to let us know so that we could keep an eye on her in case she acted funny later on today.  Well, then her teacher tells me she also was playing and faceplanted again (this time in class!) for a second red bump.  JEEZ!!!  Two ice packs in one day... But, as Miss M said, not a single tear... she's super girl alright!  (This is Maya's new thing... telling me she's super girl....) 

We've avoided the ER (other than the choking scare at 3mo) and I'm feeling pretty happy to have to broken bones/broken teeth/stitches/etc, but come on!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds like rather more excitement than you might want!

We had our first Er visit a month or so ago, when Gwen went down half a flight of stairs and the knot that bloomed immediately on her head was sufficiently large for us to want to be on the safe side. The dr. that saw us ended up getting a second opinion to confirm that it was just this side of the size for which they'd automatically do head scans, and since she had no other symptoms or indications of something more serious, we were still able to make our flight back to Frankfurt that evening! (We were in London at the time).

Since then it seems like every other day I pick her up from daycare and she has a small bump or bruise or a story from the caretakers about bumping her head. She likes to climb, she likes to run, and she doesn't do anything slowly. Eventually one of them shrugged her shoulders and simply said "It's her character".

Good thing that character comes with a hard little head!

jen said...

My kids were always more clumsy when they were going through a growth spurt. Suddenly their arms and legs are slightly longer than they had been and it takes a little while for their brains to catch up with coordinating everything again. I remember one week my daughter walked into the corner of the counter 3 times- making a giant bruise on her forehead. She'd always been able to walk underneath it before!!!