Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Nanny Diaries… The Insanity Never Ends

So as if this weekend's baby drama wasn't enough, I spent Monday night with my newest baby, Baby L.  She may be 4 months old but she has some case of colic or something.  The child cries more than any infant I've seen in my life, and that's a pretty huge amount of babies to beat!  So I spent 6 hours of my evening listening to inconsolable wailing with the exception of 3 tiny catnaps.  Oh and Dad left his keys locked in his car and blocked Mom in so I was the nice new nanny and agreed to drive her to her job in Cleveland - one hour each way.  Needless to say, we never made it to the funeral calling hours I had every intention of attending that night.

Fast forward to yesterday.  Sitting for Baby Blue while Mom and Dad attend a couples baby shower.  (How many dads really want to go to baby showers?  Couples wedding showers are weird enough, but a couples baby shower?  Not sure about my thoughts on that one...)  I was getting him into his jammies when upon changing his diaper, I noticed red, raised bumps that were all over until weaning off as they reached his stomach.  That's not diaper rash, people.  That's chicken pox.  Of course I called my mom, my on-call childcare advice consultant when Super Nanny is stumped, and I told her I was almost sure it was chicken pox but I just wanted to make sure... why would they be in one area?  Doesn't the kid have a fever and stuff too with varicella?  Well Dr. Mom told me that chicken pox like to start in warm, moist habitats (duh... and I'm the one who got an A in microbiology? Right) and then continue all over the body.  Fevers are common but not seen in 100% of cases.  I had her describe the bumps because part of me was really hoping this little guy didn't have chicken pox, but of course, her description matched both Baby and what I knew in my mind to be chicken pox.  (I am in nursing school you know...)  Great.  Then Mom called on the phone and apparently, the poor little baby was just diagnosed with something called mastocytosis - a skin disorder that causes those "chicken pox" in random spots on his body.  The good news is it doesn't hurt him, itch, or anything like that.  The bad news is he'll probably have it a few more months before it goes away.  Poor little guy.  Good thing he didn't have chicken pox though - 8 months is too little to have chicken pox!

Today?  Little M.  According to my iPhone 3G I checked my brand new iPhone 3Gs (to replace my dinosaur iPhone!) and it said RAIN!  It rained a little but was just overcast all day.  I woke up with the random idea of having a PINKALICIOUS day, and it was pretty wild and crazy.  Read about that in a blog post coming later.  The craziest part was when Little M, laying on the couch watching Cinderella, told me she was going to "puke," her word, not mine.  With a little bit of communication I found out her stomach just hurt, but she didn't really think she was going to throw up.  Good.  I gave her some water and told her to lay down with her head higher on the pillow.  She insisted I take her temperature.  98.4  I told her that was normal.  I sensed some drama when she asked me to check the other ear, "My right ear," she told me.  Okay.  98.1.  "It says your NOT sick!" I told her with a smile.  She laid back down, knowing I was onto her little attention game and she had just lost.  

Kids.....