This weekend painted a fabulous picture of what trust in our Heavenly Father should look like. Baby Gray trusted us, kept asking for what he needed, and totally depended on us to take care of him through this crazy weekend–just as we should depend on God to carry us through good times and bad. This is kind of a long post, but it was kind of a long weekend. I’m so grateful we have created a home and an environment that assures Baby Gray we are for him; we want to protect him and care for him.
Saturday morning, Baby Gray woke up with a terrible diaper rash. He doesn’t usually get diaper rash, but this was bad. It was bleeding in a couple of places. When I changed his diaper, he was crying–a terrible, pain-filled cry, so I decided to take him to the pediatrician.
Of course, since it was Saturday, our regular doctor wasn’t there. Our nurse was there, so that was good. The doctor checked it out; she recommended a clear liquid diet for the rest of Saturday and all of Sunday. She didn’t want anything on its way out to agitate the rash any further.
We made a Target run for some clear liquid necessities before heading home. I loaded up with several flavors of Jello, Gatorade, chicken broth, Propel, Vitamin Water, and Pedialyte. He was laughing and playing in the cart (basket, buggy) at Target as we cruised through the aisles. That was probably the worst part. Aside from diaper changes, he didn’t feel bad, but I couldn’t feed him.
Target didn’t have the ointment the pediatrician recommended, so Mr. Gray went to CVS on his way home to get it. Luckily, the doctor’s office had a sample, so I had already gooped him up prior to our Target visit. The ointment was previously prescription-only, but now you can get it straight from the pharmacy counter. It’s called Calmoseptine, and our house won’t be without it again. It started clearing the rash up right away.
We got home at what would normally have been Baby Gray’s lunch time. He ate two servings of Jello and drank a little before giving up on what I was offering. He went to play in good spirits and was fine for the rest of the afternoon. When he started signing for a snack, I offered him Jello again, but he didn’t want any. He refused pretty much everything I offered, except for ice.
At dinner, he ate a few bites of Jello and drank a little, but he loved the Pedialyte slushie I made! I blended the clear, unflavored Pedialyte, a little Propel, and water. He ate it right up! He wasn’t big on anything with flavor. All he usually drinks is milk or water, so it was challenging since he couldn’t have milk (and can’t for another day or two).
We opted not to try him at church Sunday; I didn’t want him to see others eating (Mr. Gray and I haven’t eaten in front of him, either) and get upset. When he woke up starving and upset Sunday morning, I was glad we had already made that choice. He ate some frozen chicken broth and Gatorade cubes and drank until he was in a better mood.
Mr. Gray suggested the park as a distraction, and it worked like a charm! Although, I’m not sure who brought that big boy to play; surely my baby boy isn’t that big already!
He loved driving the fire truck. He watched all the birds and squirrels very intently; he even chased one squirrel. When birds would land near him, he would say, “Bur,” like whichever animal it is that does that in the movie Bambi. Too cute!
He checked out the big kid swings on the swing set (look at that hair, by the way) with Dad for a while. He had a prime viewing spot for birds and squirrels from his swing.
Finally, it was time for the train to start! He loved the train last time (ahem, someone forgot to blog about the day The Grays went to the park to feed the ducks and ride the train for the first time), so we hoped it would be a great distraction this time. He got a little fussy while we waited for the, “All aboard!” call, but we got a bottle of water to play with drink in the meantime.
Once we got going, it was smooth sailing! He looked at all the people and animals. He loves to say, “duck,” in the bathtub, so we got some more practice with that as we chugged around the park.
After our ride, we headed back to the truck for a tailgate picnic of Jello, broth, and water. He actually ate the Jello that time, which was good. He snoozed a little in the truck, but went down for a three and a half hour nap when we got home! My poor baby was plum out of energy!
When he woke up, he was more than ready for a snack. We tried Jello. Nope. Various drinks. Nope. He was refusing pretty much everything. He finally asked to get down and motioned to go outside. He played for a few minutes before signing for food. We offered drinks and kept trying to play, but he was falling asleep in his swing and running out of steam.
We caved. Toast and rice cakes for everyone (I felt the “Toaster” filter was appropriate)! He’s supposed to be on a BRAT (bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast) diet for a day or two, depending on how his hiney is looking. So far, I’m thinking we’ll be easing back into a regular diet by tomorrow’s breakfast.
He had never been so glad to see a banana as he was this morning. He ate two bananas, two pieces of toast, and two Baby Mum-Mums–and he was still hungry! Wow, that sounds like a page straight out of The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
