Amoxicillin Allergy!

So it turns out that Robert has an allergy to amoxicillin! He started breaking out in little red circles this past Sat. night. We didn't think too much of it and put him to bed. When he got up Sun. morning, he had lots more all over. I still took him to church for my friend, a pediatrician, to have a quick look. She took one look at them and said they were most likely from an allergy to amoxicillin, which Robert had been on for about 8 days of a 10 day cycle. She said it can happen that late in the cycle, and it can happen even though it didn't when he was on it for ear infections last year. She told me to call my pediatrician and to stop the meds. The pediatrician on call had me come in on Sun. so she could see the spots. She recommended that we stop the meds and just watch to see if they got worse. If they did, she said he would have to be on oral steroids or maybe even have to be admitted to Children's Hospital for fluid IVs and IV steroids! So we went home and kept an eye on him all day. He seemed fine and the spots even looked to be going away by late afternoon. However, almost instantly after dinner they began to reappear and even multiply. We didn't want to call just yet and deal with a possible trip to Children's that night, so we put him to bed and listened out for him. Sure enough, he was up a few times that night, and by morning, he was swollen all over, his eyes, his joints, everywhere! He looked almost disfigured to me. The pictures do not capture just how horrible he looked. I called the doctor and she basically said to begin heading to Children's Hospital. She was really worried over the phone. However, after calling the pediatrician on call at the Hospital, he reassured her that we should try oral steroids and benadryl first since it didn't seem to be in his mucus membranes yet (i.e. his mouth, lips, eyeballs). I had the car packed and we were ready to head in when she called. We were relieved and started him on the oral steroids as soon as she called them in. We also took him into the office for our regular pediatrician to look at him. Everyone said that as horrible as he looked, it was still "mild." After about two doses of the steroids, the swelling started to go down. By yesterday the spots started to fade, but you can still see some bruising around his eyes. It was horrible!!! I hope and pray that we'll never have to experience that again. He was miserable, too, because they got itchy and his joints were really sore. He's much better now, thank God! What a weekend! Oh, and we're still all fighting this nasty cold on top of all of that!

Kunes' Colds

What do you do when you're sick and have already seen too much TV to last a lifetime? Make cookies with Mom! The oatmeal cookie recipe in this collection was yummy. Thanks Aunt Julie!

All cozy and warm and happy in the swing (and not in Mom's arms?)!

Mommy made Robert a sick bed on the couch. She learned from the best--her Mommy! The only thing missing is a cool sheet over the cushions.

The Kunes family is not off to a great start this November. We have all shared some form of a cold for the past two weeks now. We've all got runny AND stuffy noses, sore throats (Robert even had strep throat!), raspy voices, and gallons of gunk between the four of us. YUCK! Robert and Daddy are currently on antibiotics, and hopefully the girls can tough it out without needing meds.

At least it's happening now and not on our trip to Atlanta/Charleston over Thanksgiving!

Happy Halloween and other October Stuff

Robert the train engineer! Thank you, Aunt Julie, for the costume. It is so cute!

Lillian the sleeping duck. Too cute, Aunt Julie!

We celebrated Mommy's birthday early when MaBop was visiting. She made us a yummy raspberry cake and Robert loved helping me blow out the candles.

Robert playing in the dirt in our side yard by our shed. MaBop dug up some dirt for him to play in, and he loved it! He especially loved the sink baths he got afterwards.

MaBop caught him laying down in the bushes. I love this picture because he just looks so sweet and innocent.

Lillian trying out the play "gym." She's still a little young for it and got quickly overwhelmed by all the toys and colors.

Lillian in the Bumbo seat. Again, she's still a little young and it was just too much exercise for her.

Lillian's silly smile.

Wow, October flew by fast! I can't believe Lillian is now 11 weeks old! She's not the gold medal grower that Robert was, but after all, she's a lady. She doesn't eat nearly as much as he did! She was 13 lbs. 4 oz. at her 2 month appointment, and Robert was already over 14 lbs. by then. She's a really challenging baby, but lately I've been looking back at posts about Robert around this age, and he wasn't all that easy either. The biggest challenge is that she has a hard time being by herself at all--sitting by herself, sleeping by herself, all of it. We're being really sensitive to her right now and meeting all of her needs, but we're going to have to start playing hard ball in a few weeks! I should say that I'm meeting all of her needs because right now she only has eyes for me. She is literally on me or right next to me about 22 hours a day. The other two hours are the few moments that she will sit by herself or either the times that I just have to let her cry for a few minutes to care for Robert's needs or my own. It's hard, but I know that time will pass. I've been trying to stay positive by focussing on all of the wonderful things about Lillian as she is right now: her smiles, her softness, her cuddliness, her sweet baby smell, her sweet cooing sounds, and her chubby legs. I'm trying not to rush her growing up or always to long for the future. After experiencing the scariness of her early sicknesses, I realize that we are never promised another day with our children, so we need to focus on the present and love them and enjoy them as they are right now.

Robert is as cute as ever right now. He's so verbal! He talks all the time and is even starting to make his toys, mostly his dinosaurs, talk when he plays with them. He's really into dinosaurs and trains and trucks--all boy. And God bless him, the boy could watch TV all day long if I would let him. I've never seen anyone enjoy TV like that kid! It's sad that I know this about him, but hey, with Lillian, a mom's got to do what a mom's got to do. And yes, I use the TV sometimes! He's not great at playing by himself, so that's another main reason why he ends up watching TV. I can't play with him as much as I would like. We have joined a MOMS Club play group, though, so hopefully we'll make lots of friends and be able to get out of the house more often.

Halloween was really fun for Robert, and he has asked if we could go again everyday since Halloween. He doesn't really care about the candy; he just likes going door to door to ring the bell and to look into other people's houses. He's his mother's child--nosey! He kept wanted to go into complete strangers' houses to look around or play with their toys that he could see from the door. Cute, cute, cute!

We're planning a trip to Atlanta and then to Charleston over Thanksgiving. Rob's being ordained a priest on Dec. 6 in Charleston, so we'll start in Atlanta for Thanksgiving with my family, and then go to Charleston for the ordination and to spend time with Rob's family. We're not looking forward to the driving, but we can't wait to introduce Lillian to everyone.

Hope to see many of you soon! And check out the new picture album link over to the left.

Lillian at almost Seven Weeks

Mommy's "big boy" fireman helper. "Obert bacuum ike big boy?"

This is a big, obnoxious pacifier holder for the Soothie Pacifier that I couldn't resist. Maybe she'll grow into it?

Our wonderful midwives at Seven Cities Midwifery Care. I love you, ladies!

A smile for the camera! Of course, she's not wearing one of her many cute dresses, but you can't have it all, right?

Trying on a new hat from Jennifer. Love it! It's a size 6 months, but it'll fit perfectly sooner than later, I think!

Poor second-child Lillian. Robert had a dozen or so posts about him by this time, and Lillian's had only two, one announcing her birth and one describing the turmoil of it! Oh well, she's lucky to have an awesome big brother to grow up and play with, which Robert did not have and would have loved, I'm sure! So here's a little bit about our sweet baby girl Lillian at seven weeks old tomorrow:

First of all, she's a big baby. She was up to 12 lbs. at her last doctor's appointment, which was almost two weeks ago. She's doesn't seem to eat a ton, like Robert seemed to at her age, but she sure is growing. She's a snacker--only about 5 min. nursing on one side, and then after an hour and a half to two hours, maybe another 5 or so on the other side. I was so worried about it at first, thinking that she wasn't eating enough, but I was quickly reassured each time they weighed her in the hospital--she was gaining even while she was sick!

She's a needy little lady, too. She doesn't like to be put down, and she will almost never sleep laying by herself. This could be partly due to her traumatic beginning, but it could also just be her personality. OR, it could just be a stage that will change in time. Most likely it's just a stage because I remember Robert being this way at first, too. She's in the wrap as I type this, sound asleep. Robert spent a lot of time in the wrap, too!

She's just now starting to smile every now and again, but not a ton. Let's see...what else...her big brother mostly just startles her with his loud noises and "gentle" touching. She doesn't seem too impressed with him, yet, but I know she will be. It won't be long before he's her biggest entertainment! He sure loves her, though. He's overcome with love and interest in her about two or three times a day. It happened in the middle of church this past Sunday. He kept saying really loudly, "Mommy, look at her little earsies, Mommy." That's all of her he could see because she was in the wrap. And then he said extra loud (I was embarrassed but proud), "Mommy, I love her, Mommy!" And then he asked even louder, "Obert gonna see her drink Mommy milk?" Then I was really embarrassed and finally talked to him about using his "church whisper" voice. He also tries to rock her in her swing, which is nice but extremely dangerous because he thinks she likes to go "eal high." He tries to help her when she's crying by putting her pacifier back in her mouth, but he only makes her cry harder by shoving it into her mouth as hard and fast as he can.

That's about all I have time to write about, but hopefully there will be another post before she's six months old!

Wild Ride

Like I said, it's been a wild ride since Lillian's birth on Aug. 18. Here's the short version:
Lillian was born at home after what turned out to be a very short labor of only 6 hours! This was a planned homebirth as our goal was to achieve a gentle, unmedicated, natural birth in the comfort of our own home with as few medical procedures as possible. And by the grace of God, we did achieve that--at least for the actual birth. It was a truly beautiful birth until my placenta just refused to come out and my blood pressure dropped. The midwives made the wise decision to go ahead and transport to the hospital, which we did, and the problem was resolved quickly, though not painlessly, that's for sure!
Though Lillian's initial exams all showed she was perfectly healthy, we did choose to have her admitted to the hospital with me so that she could stay with me and we could have the help of the nurses during my short stay. Unfortunately, Lillian soon began to appear "dusky," which indicated respiratory problems. The doctors admitted her to the NICU and treated her with oxygen and antibiotics. She had to stay in the hospital for a whole week, but thank God they let me stay with her the whole time. It was so hard for us to see her like this:

But she got better quickly and we were able to take her home.

After a week of being at home, Lillian ran a high fever and we had to take her back to the hospital. She was treated with antivirals for an apparent virus and had to stay for a whole week again. Thank God I again got to stay with her!

Having a sick baby was so hard on our family, but by the grace of God (her middle name ended up being quite meaningful), we all made it through and are finally home and happy and healthy! We are forever grateful for our new friends at VA Beach General Hospital. They were amazing to us in every way. However, we hope to never stay longer than a quick visit there again!

We can't thank everyone enough who prayed for us during this ordeal, too!

Don't forget to check out the new photo album and the new video over there to the left!!!

Welcome Baby Lillian

Lillian Grace Kunes was born at home on August 18 at 9:45 a.m. weighing 10 lbs. 4 oz. It has been a wild ride since then, so look for a very long blog sometime soon!

Thank you for your prayers!

Robert on the divingboard