I'm back!

Well, it's been a long month...to say the least.  Grady has been teething for weeks now with little progress.  I can see it just under the skin, but it just won't come through.  This makes for a very cranky little baby.  And Ainsley has just had all sorts of problems!  Let me explain...

Somewhere around the end of August I noticed that Ainsley had a rash in her left armpit.  The kid is very sensitive to anything we put on her and allergic to something as common as grass, so she has rashes all the time.  A couple of weeks later, it started spreading down her left side, but still not much to worry about.  In all, she had about 15 little, red bumps.  So, on Monday (10/6) I had taken her to the doctor for another issue and said, "While I'm here, can you look at these bumps that just won't go away?"  The doctor took one look at them and said it was "Molluscum Contagiosum" - a viral rash that is extremely contagious.  They looked like over-sized zits and the white area in the middle was full of thousands of viruses.  (Is that the plural form?)  In most kids, it takes about 6 months to 2 years to go away,  but may be faster if you treat it with this cream called Aldara.  So, we got the cream.  

We only applied it with a toothpick to the individual bumps because it burned a bit, but after just 2 treatments, she had gone from the measly 15 bumps (now 6 weeks old) to a whopping 200 or so!  We did one more treatment on Sunday night and when she woke up Monday (10/13) morning, she had about 300.  They were spreading like wildfire!  Now, I have to tell you, they are NOT pretty.  It was SO, SO sad.  They itched, they burned, they looked scary.  So, we went back to the doctor.  This time we saw our pediatrician.  She took one look at just Ainsley's knees and said it was the worse case of Molluscum she had ever seen in all her practice and that there was nothing else she could do for us.  So, she made a referral call and got us in with a dermatologist the next morning.  

We saw Dr. Summerlin - a fantastic dermatologist if you need one.  Ainsley loves him.  (We still see him weekly)  He immediately diagnosed Ainsley with Atopic Dermatitis.  It's a skin condition that causes an immune deficiency (which is why the molluscum took over), causes her body to not create it's own moisture, and also causes all of her heat to escape from her head because her pores are too small to sweat everywhere else.  It explained so much...the super high fevers all of her life, the random rashes every week, the wet hair all of the time, slow hair growth, etc.  Before you think your child might have it, you should know that the parents have to have a combination of a penicillin allergy, asthma, and hayfever allergies in order to produce a child with AD.  Because of her immune deficiency, her body was just not able to fight off the molluscum.  It continued to get worse for the next few days.  We began treatments to burn the spots off with acid and a toothpick.  It was very painful and required Clint to come home in the mornings just to help me hold Ainsley down.  Needless to say, we didn't leave the house for several days.

So, it's been a long process, but we're finally seeing results.  ALL, I repeat ALL of the molluscum is dead.  She's no longer contagious and only has some dark red spots that might scar, but they're under her arms and on her knees so a scar is not the end of the world.  We're still treating her skin for the AD outbreak, but this is something we'll have to do for the rest of her life.  We go to the dermatologist weekly and he's going to start training Ainsley on how to take care of her own skin.  Since she can't really moisturize herself or sweat like she should, she'll have to learn how to artificially apply these things.  I can't tell you how humbled I am about her recovery.  It truly was a miracle.  It should have taken up to 4 years to heal on a child with AD, but her's are already dead and healing in less than a month!  (I'm trying to upload some pictures of what it looked like, but blogger is being especially stubborn tonight!)  

So, my sweet baby girl is back in school and in the public again.  We know what to look for and how to treat it if it happens again.  Our only fear is that she got it from someone who she's in regular contact with and could get it again.  In most kids it just looks like 2 or 3 chigger bits and goes away on its own.  In Ainsley, however, it can take over her body.  So, prayers of protection over her little body are much appreciated!

What else is new?  I have maxed myself out, once again.  I started way too many projects.  I was making burp cloths and wipes pouches like crazy this month!  I also made both the kids Halloween costumes, a costume for a friend of mine, a dozen bows for 2 other friends, and gave several haircuts.  I have a real problem with saying no.  I just want to be able to help everyone that does so much for me, but it always seems to come all at once.

Grady had his first 1/2 birthday this weekend.  My baby is growing up!  He's almost sitting up and he LOVES to sing.  Some nights, he wakes up in his crib and sings himself back to sleep!  With the exception of the bad teething nights, he's still sleeping about 11-12 hours before waking up, then eating and sleeping another couple of hours.  He's a really excellent little boy!  We're going to dedicate him next month at church too.  Look at the blog below this and leave me a comment telling me which of those 3 photos you like best, if you have time.  The photo we send in will be in the bulletin.  We also started giving him baby food about a month ago.  He does pretty well with it, but just always prefers to nurse over anything else.  Not going to happen, Grady!  You have to learn to eat something else before kindergarten!

That's about all the time I have right now.  I'll end with a funny Ainsley moment:

Me:  "Ainsley, do you know what happens in 2 days?"

Ainsley:  "I grow up!"

Me:  "Well, yes, but it's Halloween too."

Ainsley:  "Oh, and I'm gonna say 'trick or treat' and get candy for me!"

Me:  "That's right, if you're a good girl."

Ainsley:  "What are you going to be?"

Me:  "How about this?"  I showed her my t-shirt with a pumpkin on it...

Ainsley:  "No, I think you want to be a witch."

Me:  "A witch?"

Ainsley:  "Like a witch at Wal-Mart.  You'll be so scary - ooooooo, but I won't be scared because you're my mom."

Me:  "Thanks, I love you Ainsley."

Ainsley:  "And I love witches!"

Yeah....all of this after she saw a witch costume at Wal-Mart.