The Rash
Yesterday was quite hectic. Joshua developed a rather alarming rash all of a sudden. It started out as a series of angry red splotches across his torso and thighs. Yaya
Gina pointed this out as she was giving him a bath. Later that day, he developed red spots on his forearms and his ears turned ted. In the evening, the torso rashes subsided a bit but the spots in his forearms increased and he showed more spots near his mouth and his ears.
Naturally, we were alarmed and called his pediatrician. It is most likely that the rash is an allergy to either (1) the baby starter food that he ate in the morning or (2) dust mites and dirt from his stroller which had been accumulating dust in the living room for a month.
We had the fabric parts of the stroller washed, aired and put under the sun so it is very clean now.
Joshua's been taking Verlix anti-histamine drops and the rash is under control. There's a spot of fever but it is low grade.
He did not get to sleep much last night (and as a consequence, WE didn't get to sleep much either). He would wake up every hour or so and bawl so loudly that I would not be surprised if our noisy neighbors got a taste of their own crap in grand style. Well, as they say - give and take, eh?
I guess it was the effect of the rash plus a few bad dreams and general uneasiness that got to him. I should remember not to play with him after 9pm in the evening. The thing is, even if he has a rash (or a week ago, when he had a cough), nothing seems to dampen his enthusiasm and he's just too irresistible when he's looking at you with a playful and bouyant expression in his face. The result of course is he gets excited and all fired up laughing and giggling that I think he has a hard time settling down for bedtime. I guess we'll have to fix that.
Just hearing the baby uneasy and crying his lungs out is pretty gut-wrenching for a parent. I guess all parents feel this way, in one way or the other. Thus, the sentiment I hear from moms who say that they wished that they caught their kids' sickness instead of their kids, as they would gladly bear any burden or sacrifice any discomfort in their kids' place. I now understand what they meant when they said that.
The reality is, as parents we are just going to have to let go and play a supporting role to the kid when things like these happen. It is now the child's struggle and painful as it seems, surviving the experience will hopefully engender a sense of hardiness and strength in the child. Nietzche was quoted to have said "What does not kill you makes you stronger". These words apply aptly to this situation. If we took away all the necessary and unavoidable discomfort the child has to go through (assuming in the first place we could do that at all), we would not be helping the child. We'd only be breeding a weakling, a brat and a whiner.
Of course it does not get any easier when you are watching your baby crying out in genuine discomfort. Babies can't talk the way we do so you just have to decipher the cryptic message behind all that bawling. Believe me, it gets pretty nerve-wracking.
I then wonder how it must feel for a mother to see her son being killed in front of her very eyes in a most gruesome manner. Just seeing my kid with a case of the rash is enough to shake you up but imagine the trauma experienced by Mother Mary who witnessed her son's drawn-out execution on an afternoon about two millenia ago. It makes me appreciate her reserves of spiritual toughness and emotional resilience. The words "tough as nails" used to describe her come to my mind as I ponder this. The fact that she emerged from that experience with her faith and sanity intact and in sterling shape is a testament to her strength of character.
It would be good if all parents were endowed with such strength when times are hard.
Gina pointed this out as she was giving him a bath. Later that day, he developed red spots on his forearms and his ears turned ted. In the evening, the torso rashes subsided a bit but the spots in his forearms increased and he showed more spots near his mouth and his ears.
Naturally, we were alarmed and called his pediatrician. It is most likely that the rash is an allergy to either (1) the baby starter food that he ate in the morning or (2) dust mites and dirt from his stroller which had been accumulating dust in the living room for a month.
We had the fabric parts of the stroller washed, aired and put under the sun so it is very clean now.
Joshua's been taking Verlix anti-histamine drops and the rash is under control. There's a spot of fever but it is low grade.
He did not get to sleep much last night (and as a consequence, WE didn't get to sleep much either). He would wake up every hour or so and bawl so loudly that I would not be surprised if our noisy neighbors got a taste of their own crap in grand style. Well, as they say - give and take, eh?
I guess it was the effect of the rash plus a few bad dreams and general uneasiness that got to him. I should remember not to play with him after 9pm in the evening. The thing is, even if he has a rash (or a week ago, when he had a cough), nothing seems to dampen his enthusiasm and he's just too irresistible when he's looking at you with a playful and bouyant expression in his face. The result of course is he gets excited and all fired up laughing and giggling that I think he has a hard time settling down for bedtime. I guess we'll have to fix that.
Just hearing the baby uneasy and crying his lungs out is pretty gut-wrenching for a parent. I guess all parents feel this way, in one way or the other. Thus, the sentiment I hear from moms who say that they wished that they caught their kids' sickness instead of their kids, as they would gladly bear any burden or sacrifice any discomfort in their kids' place. I now understand what they meant when they said that.
The reality is, as parents we are just going to have to let go and play a supporting role to the kid when things like these happen. It is now the child's struggle and painful as it seems, surviving the experience will hopefully engender a sense of hardiness and strength in the child. Nietzche was quoted to have said "What does not kill you makes you stronger". These words apply aptly to this situation. If we took away all the necessary and unavoidable discomfort the child has to go through (assuming in the first place we could do that at all), we would not be helping the child. We'd only be breeding a weakling, a brat and a whiner.
Of course it does not get any easier when you are watching your baby crying out in genuine discomfort. Babies can't talk the way we do so you just have to decipher the cryptic message behind all that bawling. Believe me, it gets pretty nerve-wracking.
I then wonder how it must feel for a mother to see her son being killed in front of her very eyes in a most gruesome manner. Just seeing my kid with a case of the rash is enough to shake you up but imagine the trauma experienced by Mother Mary who witnessed her son's drawn-out execution on an afternoon about two millenia ago. It makes me appreciate her reserves of spiritual toughness and emotional resilience. The words "tough as nails" used to describe her come to my mind as I ponder this. The fact that she emerged from that experience with her faith and sanity intact and in sterling shape is a testament to her strength of character.
It would be good if all parents were endowed with such strength when times are hard.
posted by judgefob at 11:00 AM
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