Nosefrida: A Parent's Best-friend (review)

I have heard rave reviews about the NoseFrida for a long time now. I was very excited to be given the opportunity to review one, but due to the craziness of the last couple of months am just now getting the review written. On the bright side, that means I got to test it out even more!

I actually received the NoseFrida for review shortly after Bobble got over his barrage of sicknesses, so I didn't have a good opportunity to use it immediately. Still, I was so excited to try it out next chance I got! I hate those bulb snot-suckers... I feel like it either goes too far into the nose, or scrapes the side too much. I found the best use for those, after cleaned, is to just give them to the munchkin to use as a teether. He seems to like that. Bobble, like most babies (I say most because I have a friend that apparently LOVED having snot suckers used on her as a child!), cries and throws a fit every time the bulb sucker was used... I was interested to see how the NoseFrida compared!

Now I know that it may seem weird to be using a snot-sucker like the NoseFrida at first glance. I mean, it's literally SUCKING the snot out of the baby! If you're worried about catching an illness from using it, don't be! There have been clinical studies that have proven that the hygiene filter prevents mucus and bacterial transfer from child to user.... so that means no worries for you! It's also a Swedish product that was both doctor invented and doctor recommended.

Here's the breakdown of the NoseFrida:

You have the tube that goes against the baby's nose, the filter, the cap that holds the filter and connects to the tube, the tube, then the part you suck on (red).

I couldn't get an action shot of using the NoseFrida for a few obvious reasons (like taking a picture and using the item at the same time), but I did get Bobble to hold up the NoseFrida for me (before trying to use it on himself).

As you can see, the poor little guy is a bit sick here... but that's the best time to try out the NoseFrida!

So, how did it work for us? FANTASTIC! It was much better than I even thought it could be! Granted, Bobble begs to differ. Just like with a bulb-sucker, it's still pulling air out of his nasal passages, which is simply awkward and uncomfortable to the baby. They don't seem to like that weird feeling! However, the NoseFrida is more efficient at removing snot because it creates a seal around the nostril instead of just sucking at one gooey strand at a time and hoping you grab it (like what happens with bulb suckers!).

Taken from their FAQs on the NoseFrida page:

Why is NoseFrida better than other aspirators?

NoseFrida is non-invasive – instead of going inside the nose like the bulb, it forms a seal with the outside of the baby’s nostril (creating a vacuum). Parent-powered (mouth) suction is much stronger and more effective than the static suction of the bulb or battery-powered aspirators. NoseFrida is also easy to clean.

It's also safer for your child than the traditional bulb sucker. Bulb suckers can damage the inside of your child's nasal passage (scraping, accidentally suctioning the side, etc.), but the NoseFrida creates a seal at the nostril and your suction pulls all the snot down out of the passage. No need to continuously squeeze a bulb over and over, just a few sucks (maybe rotating the tube a little bit), and you'll be amazed at what all you get!

Now Bobble fought and fought when I tried using this on him... namely because I was trying to hold him still. I'm pretty certain that he thinks if he's being held still, it can't be anything good. He wasn't scared of the actual item (or even the process), but he made it quite clear he didn't like the air coming out of his nose without it being his doing! (Just like with the other aspirators.) The one side I got gobs of gunk out (I am sparing you pictures, though. You're welcome!), and the other side was so stuffed that I couldn't even get ANY airflow! Poor Bobble! I tried a few different times throughout the night on the super-stuffed side, and each time it seemed to loosen it a bit more. When I finally saw it running a bit, I snagged my hubby (to hold down Bobble) and we helped get my little one breathing a bit easier again!

The NoseFrida, while more expensive than the bulb suckers, is very reasonably priced. For the fantastic job it does, I think $15 is totally worth it! (The price may vary by region/store.) What's better than that? For every NoseFrida you purchase, NoseFrida will donate one to a clinic, doctor, or donation center to help get them into the hands of families in need.

All in all, I would highly recommend the NoseFrida to anyone still using a bulb aspirator, to new parents, or to give as baby shower gifts! I can't say enough great stuff about it! It's easy to use, easy to clean, and it WORKS!

Disclosure: The product mentioned above was provided to me by NoseFrida for review. This did not influence my opinion of the product in any way. My opinions are my own and may differ from those of your own.

Can't Stay Healthy

*** Fair warning, this entry mentions bodily functions! ***

This must be one rotten year for bugs, because we can't stay healthy for anything! It's been one thing after another for MONTHS now.... with the occasional healthy week or two thrown in. Right now sees Bobble with the runs (although it's not every hour anymore, it's a couple of times a day... but still massive and looking like EBF poo!), and me with what I suspect to be rotovirus.

I thought it was just pregnancy-related, yesterday. I felt blah at work, but felt GREAT after a visit to the bathroom to expel any and all food I had eaten. Seriously, I felt 100%. That meant morning sickness, right? Well, lunch came and went, and I ate and saw that 30 minutes later, if that.

My boss suggested I go home, and I insisted I was fine. He said I wasn't being too productive if I couldn't stay at my desk long enough to work, and so I finally gave in and went home.

I've never been so thankful for something in my life.

I got home and it just went progressively down hill. I started vomiting up water. Then, when I gave up on drinks at all, bile. Uh, gross? So I started thinking this was a bug.... but that was made obvious when I ended up with it coming out both ends.

I was up every 30 minutes to an hour last night to make bathroom trips. Today has been much better, though I still ache all over. I have had two or three nibbles of toast, a couple bites of organic, plain applesauce, and held down a bottle and a 1/3 of water. That's massive improvement. My midwife suggested the "BRAT" diet... bananas, rice, apples, and toast. She said those were the easiest to digest. I figured the organic applesauce would work just fine, especially since it was already mushy! Glad I still had some Earth's Best applesauce on hand from my last review!

I am just more concerned about Squiggle than anything.... how would this illness treat my baby inside of me? Perhaps I was mostly concerned after I started having painful cramps in my stomach (actual stomach, not abdomen)... I just started worrying that something would happen to Squiggle.

Squiggle's been through a lot... a lot more than Bobble ever had. Bobble saw one cold while I carried him, and that was it. Squiggle, however, was conceived while I had a cold, has seen the flu, hand-foot-mouth, a cold, and now this. Apparently, HFM is somewhat of a concern if contracted during pregnancy.... like chickenpox would be, only nowhere near as severe. That makes me a little bit paranoid. I hope everything is okay. I hope I get well enough to drink plenty of fluids and be able to move without pain (all my joints hurt)..... and I definitely hope that Bobble avoids this. Perhaps he had a more mild version of this and that's why he didn't vomit a bunch. I'll take it.... at least mom knows how to make it to a toilet or a bucket, right?

What did you do when you were sick while pregnant, while caring for a toddler, or both? Any tips?

Newness

First, let me start off by hoping everyone enjoyed their holiday (whichever one you might celebrate!), and I hope everyone had a safe and uneventful trip if you traveled!

Our holiday worked out much differently than anticipated. Bobble had a very sad  looking rash on his bottom on Monday night (Monday the 17th), and by Tuesday afternoon it was quite apparent he had gotten Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease. The poor boy was COVERED. We contacted family and opted to hold off with any visiting.

He was much better by the weekend, but still had spots (so still contagious). Either way, I was glad we didn't travel.... I ended up with the Flu on Friday! My goodness, did my body hurt to be awake! Mostly my hips and spine ached, but all of my muscles/joints ached... those were just the worse! By Saturday I was doing much better, but had a spot on my hand. Sunday I woke up to see it was quite obvious that my immune system being down opened the door for me to also get HFM.

Today my HFM is nearly gone. The spots aren't really easily visible anymore (I was so thankful I got it so mildly!).... but I woke up with a COLD!

*sigh*

It's just one thing after another for this house.... especially me! Being pregnant really kicks your immune system down a notch, and if you get one thing, watch out! When my already weakened immune system (from pregnancy) was hit with that flu, then it was all over. I got what Bobble had, then I got that blasted cold..... and I'm hoping the cold is really the end of it!

On the bright side, Bobble thoroughly enjoyed his holiday this year! He actually participated in the unwrapping of presents this time, and loved every minute of it. In fact, he wanted to unwrap all the presents.... including his daddy's.

Other than that, I must say that everything was really just another day. I guess that's what happens when you don't go see family or anything. We ordered Chinese for dinner and enjoyed watching a movie and eating some delicious food that we didn't have to clean up after (because we didn't cook!).

I'm able to write this midday since we are getting pounded with snow and I had to leave work early. That, and it's nap time for Bobble. Lucky you!

How was your holiday? Did you do anything fun? Different? Unexpected?

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween to all my readers! I hope you are having a fun (and safe!) time with your family and/or friends! We didn't have any festivities tonight, but we went to a party last Saturday with Bobble. He went as Charlie Brown, just as I mentioned a while back. I will upload a picture when I have the opportunity, likely over the weekend.

Also, if anyone was curious, this Kick-it Immune stuff seems to work really well. It could be sheer coincidence.... but Bobble is 100% better already. That was pretty darn fast. He also surprised me by signing for "more" of it after a full dropper (it suggests 2 droppers for kids over the age of 1, but I only gave him 1 the first day to watch for a reaction). He takes a dropper, shakes his head with squinty eyes and a crinkled face, then signs for more. I love it. Again, I have no clue if it was sheer coincidence or not, but if it really is this stuff being that awesome, I'm buying some.

If anyone can, I would also appreciate it if you went and voted for Bobble on Thirsties Facebook Contest Page. He's the one with the little leaf in his hand that is captioned "autumn leaves are falling". There seems to be a glitch, however, and it has duplicated my picture. Please vote on the one with the higher number!

Surprisingly Hard

It's been surprisingly hard trying to write here these last two months.... and not for a lack of things to say! Everyone that reads is aware (by now, anyway) that Bobble was sick for pretty much seven straight weeks. We were able to finally get over the illnesses, and we had a fantastic week last week! He was doing great at Montessori, he was sleeping beautifully, he was eating really well..... it was all just awesome. I missed having a happy little boy. I also thoroughly enjoyed having good sleep again!

Every Friday our local library offers a program for little kids (under age 5) to play for a couple hours. It's free, it allows for social interaction (for me and him!), and they have lots of toys that he just doesn't get exposed to anywhere else (like those really expensive playmats and structures made out of that material). My husband suggested I take him, and I thought that it would be a brilliant idea because he simply hasn't been in two months.

Guess who was exhibiting signs of a cold the very next day? *headdesk* Now, I haven't caught anything, so I'm holding on to that sliver of hope that it really is the fact his bottom two canines are visibly coming through.... but man. Talk about FRUSTRATING.

I'm very excited that we signed up to get a sample from www.wishgardenherbs.com a bit ago, and we actually got it in the mail yesterday. I heard about that company from a coworker (who uses namely holistic 'medicines'), and then saw that they had a FREE SAMPLE offer going on. It's hard to turn down a chance to try something for free when you wanted to try it anyway, so I signed up for a free sample of Kick-it Immune (For Kids), and we got it in the mail yesterday. I gave Bobble a half dose of it (simply to see if he had any reactions), and he didn't seem to mind it, though it smells like a shot of some random adult beverage. I let him taste a droplet first, and he signed 'more', so I gave him the whole dropper.... to which he signed 'all done' after. It was probably pretty strong. It did say it could be mixed with water for taste or simply placed under the tongue. I went the direct route. Anywho, here's to hoping that this stuff works. It's meant to boost the natural immune system and response, so I'm crossing my fingers. Obviously taking him to the doctor over and over (and over and over) didn't do diddly squat.

The company also has a bunch of other products, though not everything is available for a free sample. They do have things for Ear aches, calming/soothing, upset tummies, colic, cold season, coughs.... many other things. Oh, did I mention for helping you sleep? The above are also for children or infants, though they do have adult things, too. I decided to try this out since these are made with organic and wild-harvested botanicals, and they are herbal remedies. Again, we all saw how much the medicines from the doctor did for Bobble. *cough* nothing *cough*

So, here's to hoping he gets better (and stays better!) soon.... so I can write more here! I have plans for this blog, big plans... I just need my little guy to not be sick all the time so I can do something about them!

Disclosure: I receive a sample from the company through a promotion they were doing, and have not had any contact with the company in regards to a review on their product. Any opinions or statements above are my own and are not influenced by the company in any way, shape, or form.

I guess I had it coming

Anyone that's followed this blog for a while knows that I wrote about pinkeye, and how I had unintentionally been judging those parents way back when. I just thought it was so gross how they didn't wash their hands, and didn't think anything of it. Obviously, from the entry linked above, you can see I realized that might be inaccurate, and it was unfair of me to assume they don't wash their hands.

Then there's today. I have pinkeye. My son has pinkeye. My husband has pinkeye. The only household members without pinkeye? My 3 cats. So I knew that pinkeye was highly contagious, and I knew that you could get it from not washing your hands after bathroom usage/diaper changes. When I got a letter from Bobble's school (Montessori -- he goes to childcare there) stating that they had a child with a confirmed case of pinkeye, I wasn't too concerned. That child was actually in preschool, Bobble is in the Toddler Program.

Unfortunately, Bobble has been sick since September started, much less October. Teething, Stomach Bug, Cold, Staph (rash), Ear Infection, Pinkeye, Thrush, Yeast..... it's been one battle after another. Two weeks ago was the Upper Respiratory Infection and Pinkeye diagnosis. Drats. I thought I got away without the pinkeye issue. Three days ago I woke up with a less-than-happy eye, but I didn't think it was pinkeye for a few reasons:

• Bobble has no visible signs of Pinkeye anymore
• I had no crusties or drainage of any type
• My eye was only bloodshot near the tear duct, nowhere else

Well, the following morning, I woke up with crusties and my entire eye unhappy. Shoot. On the bright side, I have the ability to just use my breastmilk to take care of it, though I wasn't certain how much or how often to use it. I called my doctor's office and they told me 2-3 drops 4-5x a day. Yes, they actually gave me a dosage for my own breastmilk. At least that means they know it will work, right?

I went to work anyway, as I had a deadline that only I could work on, and they needed it. When I was done working, they "strongly encouraged" me to go home. I was promised I wouldn't be in trouble for missing work (since I had missed a lot with Bobble lately... namely just leaving early for appointments), and then gave me the okay to take off today as well to get "less contagious". I argued a wee bit with them, saying I didn't see how it was that big of a deal. I was using germ-x at my PERSONAL computer if I touched my face (before touching my desk/mouse/keyboard again), the couple of times I used a public computer I lysoled the mouse/keyboard, and I didn't use my hands to open doors at all. I told them that it wasn't like I was going to rub my eye on people. A co-worker chimed in that you can get it without touching the person.... and that she knew this from working at a daycare way-back-when.

This intrigued me, so I Googled it. First things first, I didn't realize there was a bacterial form and a viral form of pinkeye. Here's what I learned:

Viral pinkeye

Viral pinkeye is often caused by an adenovirus, which is a common respiratory virus that can also cause a sore throat or upper respiratory infection. The herpes virus can also cause viral pinkeye.
From: http://www.webmd.com/eye-health/tc/pinkeye-topic-overview

Bacterial pinkeye

An infection may develop when bacteria enter the eye or the area around the eye. Some common infections that cause pinkeye include:

• Staph infection.
• Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib).
• Cat-scratch disease.
• Gonorrhea.
  From: http://www.webmd.com/eye-health/tc/pinkeye-topic-overview

 Soooo, as you can see, it wasn't just from "bathroom" related things! I honestly had no idea. So we all have had some sort of virus that has caused throat pain and coughing for the last 1-3 weeks (depending on which one of us it is), and my little Bobble also was being treated for a (staph) rash. I guess we were just doomed for this one.

I also thought we were in the clear when I caught pinkeye. Bobble had no symptoms anymore, as I said. He has, however, been poking me in the eye (learning body parts, and eyes/nose are his current favorites), and I'm assuming that's how I got it.

Yesterday I administered breastmilk drops to my eye. My husband insisted upon buying the eyedrop medicine. By the end of the day yesterday, my eye looked 2x better than it had (still bad though). It also was instant relief when milk was dropped into my eye. Today, my eye looks barely bloodshot at all. Nobody would think it was anything more than maybe an eyelash snuck into my eye. That's it. I love it! Still using milk, but it's always on hand, so not a big deal. My husband, however, put in eye drops last night. Instantly started going "owwwwwww, this STINGS!!!!!". He still insists that he must use those drops as he doesn't think the milk will help. I guess he likes the pain. I'm just thankful that I'm still breastfeeding!

Medicinal Scare

Some of my readers are aware that Bobble has been sick for pretty much the last month now. Here's a brief run-down of what the poor boy has been through:

It started with teething, drainage from that, and coughing from the drainage. That weekend he got a stomach bug. Then he was getting better, but the next weekend he got a cold. That got better, but his rash on his bottom (which he had since the week before) was worse. Doctors treated it like staph and gave topical and oral medicines. 

His cough and temperature worsened. We went to urgent care a few days later. He had an upper respiratory infection as well. Another antibiotic added on. Oh, and the doctor confirmed that not only is Bobble cutting his 4 canines, but his 4 two-year molars as well. Joy!

Tuesday he went back to the doctor. He wasn't eating for the past month, pretty much. He had let us give him yogurt still, but since he started the antibiotics the week before, he wouldn't eat and refused liquids from anyone but mom. Difference is, my liquids are 'on tap' for him. We go back in and find out that his ear infection is cleared up, so we need to stop giving him that medicine. His bottom now looks like it's yeast infection (from the antibiotics he was on), and he has thrush from those antibiotics. Okay, stop all antibiotics and switch to this new medicine .... DIFLUCAN.

That was Tuesday. That night we got the Rx. It was thick. It was supposed to be oral suspension, but it was THICKER than glue. Not kidding. I looked in the bottle (not even 1/4 full) and wondered how the hell that was supposed to last 14 days. (well, 7.... we had two bottles made up). The dosage was 6.5ml the first day, 3 ml each day after that for 14 days. My husband complained about it and it took about 3 minutes for him to even DRAW UP THE MEDICINE. I said that it didn't look right. It just didn't. We administered the medicine anyway, but while trying to administer it, and Bobble fought and fought. I was able to see a closer view of how the consistency was (since I didn't draw it, only peeked at it in the dropper) and he was BAWLING. Gagging. Throwing his head side to side as that disgusting looking paste was in his mouth. He would sob and then silence for a minute because the stuff was so thick that it blocked air passage. 

I told hubby to call the pharmacy, this is definitely not right. He did. They said to bring the medicine in and they would gladly look at it. I took both bottles in. Not one, but TWO pharmacists looked at the medicine. Not Cashiers. Not Pharmacy Technicians. PHARMACISTS. CHEMISTS. Whatever the heck you call them... the people that make about $90k a year because people's lives depend on them. Those people. Yeah, them.

They looked at the medicine I brought in, then tried to shake it. It wouldn't shake because it was so thick.

They grabbed a new (unmixed) package of the medicine and evaluated.

They discussed.

After all this, they came back to me and said this is definitely correct.

Fine.

I went home and that was that. The next day my poor little pumpkin, again, fought and fought the medicine. I still swore this was not right. He got the last little bit of his dose and vomited everything up. He had FINALLY eaten. Up came the beverages. Up came the yogurt. Up came the segment of donut he decided he had to eat. Up came all the medicine. It bubbled out his mouth and nose, and it was so thick that the bubbles took eons to pop. After cleaning it all up, I called the doctors office. If this was correctly mixed, then we need a different medicine. Him losing what he ate is NOT progress for us.

It was after 5... heck, it was after 7pm, so we got the nurse-on-call. That's fine by me, she'd do what I needed. I explained. She called the doctor on call. Called back and told us to NOT administer any more to make up for what he just lost, and that the dr's office that prescribed the medicine will call me the next day (thursday).

Thursday is the day I got hit hard by the bug going around my house. All my joints ached. My glands/lymphnodes were swollen. It hurt a wee bit to swallow. My boss strongly encouraged me to go home from work and I finally did. I got a call from the nurse in the pediatrician's office. She said that there is no substitute for this medicine, and that he has to have it. She said to mix it with applesauce. I told her it couldn't be mixed with anything, it was too thick. She said they prescribe this to children much younger than mine and they have no issues. I said there was no way he could take this, described it as being thicker than paste, any thicker and it would be DOUGH... she kept saying I needed to try to administer it. I kept complaining until she put me on hold and went to speak to the doctor again.

I wait and wait.... then she comes back on the phone. She said the doctor does NOT think that sounds right and he wants me to go back to the pharmacy and have them remix the medicine. I call the pharmacy and a pharmacist that actually looked at the meds 2 days before was the one that answered. He offered to remix the medicine for me without me even getting that far. 

I took the bottles and went. 

BOTH pharmacists that were there the other day (and evaluated his meds) were there. They got out a new bottle of the meds (powder), administered the 24ml it calls for to be mixed in, and started shaking the bottle. They shook, and shook, and shook. After a few minutes one talks to the other. They seem to do some bottle-looking (new and old, maybe? I couldn't see from where I was), and more conversing. After a few minutes, they grab another bottle and add water like they did a few minutes earlier. 

Shake shake shake.

I wander down an aisle, up another, and back. Killing time and all. Finally, the pharmacist comes up to the counter. I head over and he is leaning over it to be very close to me to talk. My experience with that is usually a secret..... or simply anything they don't want others hearing.

He shows me the bottle of newly mixed medicine. It's full to the top, and very much a liquid. The previous bottle was not even 1/4 full, and very much a sludge.

He apologizes profusely for the mixup, and says he will look into who mixed it the first time. Even more so, he is sorry that they didn't investigate it further when I brought the medicine in the first time. He said it seemed odd to them it was such a thick medicine, but when they looked at the unmixed bottle, it was nearly full to the top with powder, so they assumed it was just a dense medicine. He went on to say they never really saw it mixed before, yada yada yada. He said that he doesn't know how it happened, but maybe they only mixed it with 14ml of water. Actually, considering how much was in that bottle, it was likely only mixed with 10ml. Yes, that 4 ml makes a difference... that's an entire dose for him after day 1.

Alright... Back up.

YOUR JOB is to make sure the medicine is made properly. Yes, I understand a pharmacy technician is probably who mixed it up, but YOU SHOULD HAVE REALIZED that what I brought back in to you was NOT 24ml of fluid at all... and if YOU thought that it seemed odd, MAYBE IT WAS!

First off, I'm thankful that it was not a super dangerous medicine. My son received (and held down) 6.5ml of a SUPER CONCENTRATED dose of that stuff.... over 2x what he should have had. 

MY SON COULD HAVE DIED if it were more dangerous, and even now he could have suffered damage from that strong of a dose. 

I was surprisingly polite, thanked him for the new medicine, and left. I called my doctor's office to let them know what happened, and didn't get a call back until I was napping.... but my phone should have woken me up (it was next to me). What I didn't know was hubby moved it so I wouldn't get woken up from my nap, so I noticed I missed a call after the office closed. Had I gotten the call, I would have heard they didn't want me to administer his medicine last night, but wait until tonight to do so. They didn't leave a detailed message, just who they were and to call them... so I had no clue. I gave him the meds last night. He started to fight, but eventually took a bit. After he realized it was not paste, he happily took the rest. No fight.

I spoke with them today and learned of the whole medicine hold-off thing. They said to just skip tonight's dose and then resume the low doses tomorrow (just to make sure it's all spaced out enough to make up for that one big dose). The nurse I spoke with happened to be the same nurse I chatted with the day before. She was in disbelief at the pharmacists. 

 

I am too. That's ALL their job is. Seriously. They couldn't get that right. Even with it brought to their attention, the dismissed it. What if that HAD been a more dangerous drug? Even though it was administered to my child, I went STRAIGHT THERE after that with the meds, and they could have said "oh, this is wrong.... do this for your child" or "take your child to ER" or "give him this to help break down the medicine" or something. The way this played out, had it been more dangerous, they would have had a second chance to prevent disaster, and still would have failed.

Moral of the story? TRUST YOUR INSTINCTS. I knew something was not right with that. Also, don't trust the pharmacists at (MY) Discount Drug Mart. Sure, they have a drive-through. Sure, they are open until 10pm. Sure, they are not even a mile from my house. All that convenience wouldn't have brought my son back if something had happened to him.

I am 100% not impressed.

I Knew I Needed Them!

** This entry talks about poop. You've been warned. **

I have over 50 diapers for my little Bobble-head, and my husband has long since put me on a diaper-buying freeze. Most of my diapers are pockets, though I do have a couple AIOs, 1 fitted (never used, it's a NB size), some flats and some prefolds. I mostly have pockets and I LOVE them! Hubby always said we have too many, and always wondered why I wanted more. I guess he doesn't understand that they are exciting. They are fun. They are just full of awesomeness! Okay, they aren't usually "full" of awesomeness, they are usually full of something else.... but I digress.

Today is the day I am thankful I have the abundance of diapers that I do. See, I always figured we'd end up with two children in diapers. Right about now, I planned on having my second child (which is not even close to happening yet), so I thought this was a great amount to get me by washing every other day for two children. I didn't anticipate having my children "far apart" (read: more than 2 years apart), so I actually needed this many diapers when I was buying them. Okay, so I technically stopped around 35 or so. I started winning a few, I would get free diapers with coupon codes from the lovely ladies working at Kelly's Closet.... and when I'd forget about the coupon codes, Diapershops.com's facebook page would always seem to know and it would be the top thing in my feed shouting "BUY MORE DIAPERS!". Well, it couldn't shout.... but you get the point. I would look at it and think that spending $39 and getting a free diaper was brilliant! There are ways around diaper-buying freezes, of course. My favorite? Stocking up on laundry detergent!

(The above was my stash this past January. Most of my diapers were in there, but I have more now, and I can also see immediately certain ones were missing, so I must of have diapers in the pail/wash.)

So here we are, a holiday weekend, and we're planning on heading away to see family. It's not that horribly long of a trip, but it is still 4 hours, and it is still where I cannot do diaper laundry. Last night was miserable. Bobble woke up every 30-45 minutes sobbing. He's been cutting his upper canines for the last week, and I thought that was why he'd been so upset lately. Granted, that is likely the initial culprit, but something's just not right. He doesn't sob like that from teething. I'm not a medicine person, but I even gave him a partial dosage of children's tylenol because I felt like he was in such pain.... but from what?

Each time he woke up, he would flop around, toss around, latch on and then break latch because he didn't actually want milk.... he was miserable. Sometimes he'd let out a loud fart, then fall back asleep. I knew this wasn't going to bode well for our travels. How many of you EBF your child? If you have, you will understand what I am going to say next. The mess in the diaper was something I haven't seen since he was a very young infant. It was yellow, it had hardly any texture to it (save two tiny little clumps), and it STUNK. That's what got me. Last time I saw poop like this, it did not smell. Ah, the joys of breastfed babies [*I do know what formula-fed poo smells like as my siblings were 9 and 12 years younger than me and had formula. That stuff smells horrid!*] .... it smells like.... well, not this. This was awful.

I changed him and he was a bit happier. Okay.... happier, but still obviously miserable. I let him nurse, and called the doctor's office to try and get an appointment. He had been eating miserably for the last 2-3 days, he had been SUPER fussy [as in hitting away anything he normally loves like his favorite stuffed animals, my cat, my husband.... anything that wasn't me], and now this. A while later he messed two more diapers within half an hour. They were not just yellow, they were LIQUID. Literally nothing but liquid to them. The doctor's office got me in for 1:45. We were going to leave at 1, but we pushed back the leaving time. I didn't want to travel 4 hours with a baby with diarrhea!

At 1pm, I jumped in the shower. Bobble was napping (THANK GOODNESS!) and I was ready for a bit of a break from everything. While I was in the shower, the doctor's office called (hubby answered). Apparently there was a family emergency, and the doctor left. Any appointments for the rest of the day (which included ours) were canceled. Bobble messed two more diapers, and I decided our holiday traveling was not happening. The one time we were in the car today, Bobble messed a diaper. It was a double-stuffed diaper, as it was the one he had on when he napped, and when I went to change him it was down his leg. My husband made the comment that we should buy disposables to hold this stuff in.

*blink*

No, really. He said that. Maybe you don't cloth diaper, so you might not understand my disbelief in that comment. Maybe you only cloth diapered, so you, again, don't understand where I'm really coming from. We cloth diapered from 7 weeks because we couldn't afford our stash when Bobble came a month early. We used up the disposables from our baby shower and made our switch over. That being said, we had blow outs. He quickly seems to have forgotten the fact that we had poo-splosions with our disposables soooo easily! They streak up the back of baby, the leg blowout.... they were horrible. Disposables do not hold poo in as easily as the cloth! In fact, this is time #2 that we've ever had poop come out of a cloth diaper.... and I really don't think this one was the diaper's fault! Bobble was in the carseat, and the way he decided to situate himself pushed the diaper around a wee bit which caused a small gap. The inside of the diaper actually wasn't horrible. Messy? Yes. Filled? Nowhere near. It was obviously the way Bobble was sitting.

Actually, the first time we had a poo escape from cloth Bobble hadn't gone potty in 13 days. Yes. THIRTEEN. Plenty of wet diapers, EBF, and no discomfort, so doctor wasn't worried. When he did go, boy did he ever go! That FuzziBunz OS diaper actually held EVERY BIT OF THAT MESS in.... until hubby picked him up. He picked him up and held him up against his chest, pushing on the diaper. That, in turn, made stuff drip out onto hubby! Hmm, now that I think of it, both times we had poop escape, it was not the diaper's fault! (Though I would love if all diapers had that lovely double-gusset in the legs!)

So yeah. Hubby seems to have been trying to push buttons or something. It's amazing how quickly they forget things when they think their idea is awesome. If he remembered the poo-splosions of s'posies, he wouldn't have suggested buying any. Since it was his idea to suggest disposables for right now, of course it was convenient not to remember the hassles they really caused with this sort of poop!

I'm sorry, that was an awful lot of poop talk. It has been what my day was centered around, so it was bound to happen.

Anyway, the teething masked what else was happening. The teething fever broke Sunday or Monday night, but Bobble started not eating well Tuesday or Wednesday. He ended up with a small fever last night (very low-grade fever), and then just not happy at all. Had he not been teething, I would have been concerned right away, as this is very uncharacteristic of him. Unfortunately, now I have a weekend where I can be concerned because my appointment fell through. They do have Saturday hours (8-noon), but they don't know if the doctor will be back since there was that emergency. I'm thinking that maybe he has a bacterial issue from something he ate. His poor penis is super red right now (likely from all the poop that keeps ending up there), and I'm sure he's more than sick of dealing with pooping. I'll be honest, I am sick of dealing with poop!

Now it's 9pm and Bobble is sleeping (for now -- he just coughed). I've changed no less than EIGHT poopy diapers today, and my husband made a comment about how we should pick up disposables for times like this. I looked at him like he was nuts. This is what a washer is for.... and thank goodness I had just finished up the diaper laundry the night before! I had a full stash of clean diapers!

I actually took a few pictures of the different poops he had today, and if anyone, for some reason, desperately wants to see a picture, send me an email. I'm certain they would only be curious if their child was going through something similar and they wanted a reference. I won't, however, post those pictures on the blog. Not that I have a problem with poop pictures, but I'm certain there are better ones to look at (like the chart that shows what newborn poop looks like for different scenarios) as those are more beneficial to people as a whole. My whole reasoning for taking these pictures was for the doctor to see if I get in tomorrow.

All that being said, thanks for listening to my day. I know it wasn't fun, and I know I won't have an exciting extended weekend to write about, but it just wasn't in the cards for us. Now I'm off to start the washer again, and then get some mint-chip gelato in a tiny ice cream cone... because I totally deserve some after today!