28 Weeks

28 Weeks Old

 This is not what Rhett looked like the day he turned 28 weeks old.  He still had some red spots from his allergic reaction to penicillin.  I take his weekly pictures every Friday, but these were taken a few days later when he was all cleared up.  What a scary and horrible week it was!

 On Monday we went to Nanny and Pa's house to spend the day.  Rhett fell asleep in the car, so I layed him down on Nanny's bed when we got there.  Outside, Pa showed Mary Ella his garden.  Isn't it beautiful?  The corn was already coming up!  He also showed us what he had been working on in his wood shop.  He has made me 30 new frames!  Anybody want to place an order? ;) 

 They also had brand new baby kittens, and ME loved playing with those.  This was mid-morning when we were sitting outside on the porch.  This is when I first noticed what looked like a bug bite on Rhett's thigh.  It was a small, red bump.  I didn't see anything biting him, but we decided to go inside and play.

 Nanny had just washed this blanket, so we put it down on the floor so he could play.   

 After lunch time, everyone took naps.  Rhett fell asleep on me, and then I layed him down.  I had noticed a couple more spots that looked like bites before he went to sleep.  I thought they were from when we were outside.

 Nanny was dying to hold the big boy, so I let her when he woke up.  I was afraid he might be too much for her lap to handle!  If you look closely, you can see two red spots by his chin.

 After these pictures were taken all hell broke loose. I changed Rhett's diaper and noticed a few spots on his belly.  Nanny and Mama and ME took a ride on the gator, and Pa layed down for a nap.  I gave Rhett his bottle, and when I changed his diaper again, he had alot more red bumps on his tummy and around his armpit area.  This is when I got worried.  It looked like something had gotten in his shirt and bitten him over and over.  The spots looked like red whelps now.  I stripped his clothes off and rushed down to the bathroom to give him a bath, hoping to get rid of whatever I couldn't see that was biting him.  And then I stopped because I was worried to bathe him in anything different.  I had already used Mama's lotion on him the day before because I had forgotten theirs at home.  I guess I was already thinking he was having an allergic reaction, but I couldn't figure out what it was.  But I still had bug bites in my head because his Daddy whelps up like that when he gets bitten.  And just a few weeks before ME had been bitten by something outside, and we had to give her benadryl because her whole ankle swelled and turned red.  I was kicking myself for leaving the Benadryl at home.  I packed all the kid medicines and thermometer and nose drops just like I always do when we travel, but I looked at the Benadryl and thought, "Surely we won't need that."  Seriously, I looked at it, but decided not to bring it because it didn't fit neatly in the ziplock with the other tylenol and cough medicine.  So, I didn't know what to do.  I knew we had to leave and do something.  We were 20 minutes from even a Walgreens, and I didn't know if he could even have Benadryl.  I didn't wake Pa up, because I didn't want to scare him.  I didn't want to take off and scare everyone else, but I didn't know where they had gone on the gator.  They could be anywhere over 40 acres, or they could have driven over to Cole's house.  I decided that if I didn't see them on my way out, that I would just have to come back for Mama and ME later, but I had to get Rhett out of there.  I didn't see them anywhere, but Cole's house is on the way so I stopped there and found them.  Immediately Mama said that it was an allergic reaction.  I sent them back to Nanny and Pa's and took Rhett inside so Jenn could look at him...she just finished nursing school.  She said it looked like an allergic reaction too.  I called Walgreens, and the pharmacist said I would have to call my pediatrician about giving him Benadryl.  I put Rhett back in the car and called Children's Medical Group on our way back to Nanny and Pa's to get Mama and Mary Ella.  I missed their call as I was putting ME in her carseat.  Crap!  I was starting to get frazzled!  I knew if it wasn't bug bites and it was an allergic reaction that he could stop breathing.  It was between 4:30 and 5:00, so I called back and then the after hours nurse called me back.  I will say, that from the beginning amoxicillin was in the conversation, but it went something like this.  "He's taking amoxicillin for an ear infection, but he was on it about a month ago with no problems.  And he's on day 7 of this round."  Who would have thought it could be that?  So, in my mind I was moving on to the next thing...what could he be allergic too?  I sooo wish that nurse right then and there would have told me not to give him any more amoxicillin because he could be having an allergic reaction to that.  But she didn't.  She said he could have a 1/4 teaspoon of Benadryl.  So, driving to Walgreens all I can think about is how this is why I choose the convenience of living in town.  Walgreens is right there, and Dr. Smith is in our backyard.  If we were home we would have been in his office already.  I felt better after I got the Benadryl in him, and Mama told me to buy some topical cream for the rash.  Cole and Jenn came over for supper, and ME and Rhett were their happy and entertaining selves.  I kept going over in my mind what Rhett could have been exposed to...it could be anything because basically everything was new to him.  Here are a few things going through my mind:

• the cat and dog in my mom's house
• the kittens
• Mama's lotion
• Nanny's bed
• 2 couches in Nanny and Pa's house
• the blanket in the floor
• anything outside on the porch
• Brayden had strep throat and we didn't know it when we were around him on Thursday
• he had gotten another round of vaccinations on Tuesday

I was wracking my brain!  I gave him his bottle and put him to bed like usual.  And before the bottle I gave him another dose of amoxicillin.  I stayed up and visited with Jenn and Cole and waited to give him another dose of Benadryl before I went to bed.  We didn't bring the pack and play, so he was sleeping with me anyway.  I could tell by the light of my cell phone that he didn't look any better.  And that was Monday...