Motherhood!

I've been back to work for just over a month now and OMG it's been an eventful month! Reuben caught chicken pox for the second time! Who knew you could get it twice?! The first time it was quite a mild case and he was around a year old. This time it was awful he was covered! It didn't do any favours for his ezcema either with all the scratching! Top tip for chicken pox is dilute lavender oil  in milk and pour it in the bath, it helps to soothe and heal the spots as it's antibacterial and anti inflammatory. The milk is supposed to help disperse the oil through the bath rather than it floating on top of the water and evaporating away. We thought Eben had got away with not catching them but lucky us 2.5 weeks later and he had them too. His were quite mild so knowing my luck he'll get them again! He did have one dodgy looking spot though that we had to get cream from the doctors for. We also decided it would be a good time to renovate, so the builders have been in and have knocked through the wall dividing our living and dining room. We have also been toilet training, which has been quite successful ( I'll write a separate post on his we've done it) and Ebens cut his first tooth ( my nipples definitely know it!). Then just to make the month even more eventful Reubie ended up in hospital after his breathing became very laboured. He had a cough for a couple of weeks more or less since the chicken pox, we thought he might have had some in his throat. It seemed to turn into a sort of habit so we thought he would stop eventually if we didn't pay it much attention. Then suddenly one night he didn't sleep well and in the morning woke up finding it difficult to breathe. His stomach and chest were going in and out really quite far and fast when he was breathing. So we took him to the out of hours service in the hospital ( of course this happened on a Saturday when no GP surgeries are open!) Our local hospital is very small and under staffed and underfunded so there we're just three nurses there and no doctors. They gave him oxygen and monitored the oxygen levels in his blood as well as his heart rate.  At the time his oxygen levels were at 90 when they should have been at least 96 ( I think this is a percentage?!) and his heart rate was high as well. They basically said that we'd have to go to the next nearest hospital and that it would be quicker for us to drive than for them to arrange an ambulance. Although they then said that if his breathing got worse that we should stop the car immediately and call an ambulance. So as you can imagine that was a scary 20 minute drive! Reubie did seem better in him self during the journey to the hospital but he was still using his stomach to help him breathe. Reubie was assessed again and they listened to his chest and said they could head a wheeze. His oxygen levels had improved a bit but they said they like to monitor him to see what was going on. We were told in was probably and infection, which is quite common for children to get, although I don't know anyone who this has happened to! They also said that a third of children who suffer with this infection that causes a wheeze and low oxygen levels go on to have asthma. Seeing as eczema and asthma often go hand in hand and it runs in our families I'm guessing Reubie probably will go on to have asthma. Basically it seems he had the same treatment as a child who has had an asthma attack would have. He was given an inhaler and he had to have 10 puffs from it 3 times in one hour to see if there was any improvement. It improved a bit so they said we could try 10 puffs every 2  hours. Then after an hour and he was also given some steroid tablets, which were crushed into a yoghurt! Yuck! There was a definite improvement but the doctors could still hear a wheeze and his breathing was still laboured. For us to be able to go home we needed for him to be able to last 4 hours between needing his inhaler. So we then realised he would have to be in over night. They also suspected that his oxygen levels would go down once he fell asleep so it would be best for him to be in hospital. My husband stayed in with him as I'd need to feed Eben through the night. As the doctors suspected his levels did drop back down to 90 % so he had to have an oxygen mask on for the night. Poor Reubie and hubby didn't get much sleep as it was very noisy. We were worried this would mean he may end up in for another night but they started the 2 hourly inhaler puffs at 8 and when a doctor finally did the rounds we were told he would be fine to go home. Reubie was given another dose of steroids and another dose to take home and have the following day as well as a wheeze plan to ease off the inhaler slowly. It's been a week and a half now and he still has a bit of a cough but luckily it hasn't happened again!