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Friday, September 08, 2006

The Scoop on Poop

:: WARNING, TMI APPROACHING, I WILL BE TALKING GRAPHICALLY ABOUT POOP::


So, little miss Sarah-Sarah has been having poop issues for a few months now. She had a bout of rotavirus back in May and after that cleared up, she started pulling out her hair and eating it. Not fun. She's basically had sub-diarhhea since the end of May, not a solid BM in nearly 3 months. I'm talking her poop is like mud and it gets EVERYWHERE. She usually goes during a nap or after she's put to bed in the evening and either Jeff or I will go upstairs and smell some awful, go in there to check, and it's like Jackson Pollack with crap in her room. Smeared everywhere, all over her, the crib/bed, her sheets/blankets....everywhere. The first time she did this, it was even IN HER MOUTH.......EWWWWWWWW. I about gagged, and not much phases me (but I was still pregnant at the time, so there you go). So, we've been dealing with this problem for quite some time. I've spoken to her pedi about it but apparently he forgot to write it down & it left his memory. Well, my mom is here this week, and it happened again on Tuesday, as I was preparing to go pick up Emma from her first day of school...If my mom hadn't been there to give Sarah a bath, I seriously don't know what I would have done. We recently put Sarah in a toddler bed...so that means she can get out of bed and walk around....you see where I'm getting with this? The poop was not relegated to her crib, like normal, it was on her toddler bed, on the sheets/blankets..and the floor. OMG, the floor. 5 BIG spots of poop on my BEIGE CARPET, in our RENTAL HOUSE. I could see it now...yeah I know we're leaving and you have our security/cleaning deposit, will it cover dying the rest of the carpets to match mud poop brown? I hear it's the new fall color. /sigh
So, I basically had to hand Sarah off to my mom, and shut the door to the "poop room" until I got back from picking up Emma.
After I got back, I started what I affectionately call the "clean-up & recovery". It was like a war zone in there, complete with the stench of death. It was awful. I spent 10 minutes just bringing out toys that had poop on them (her poor Rock 'N Play piano was viciously violated and almost had to be tossed..), I stripped her toddler bed, sanitized the (thankfully) plastic covered mattress, tried to pick up the globs of poop on the carpet and saturated the spots with OxyClean...knowing full well that wasn't going to cut it. I used a full tub of Lysol wipes on her bed & toys and then spent the next hour trying to get as much of the spots off the carpet as I could. I finally, after 2 1/2 hours of cleaning, decided I needed to call a professional. So, in comes Mark's Carpet Cleaning...
I couldn't get an appointment for 2 days, in the meantime Sarah's room was off limits to anyone under 5 ft. tall. Sarah was demoted back to her crib and the poor kid couldn't even play with her toys in there. The only reason anyone went in there was to change diapers or clothes or put Sarah to bed. I decided that there were a few other rooms in the house that desperately needed their carpets cleaned, so we did the dining room, Sarah's room, the stairs & the living room/hallway downstairs. All together $154, not bad. So, they come and I ended up having to leave in the middle to take Sarah to the doctor's re: her poop. When I come back, an hour later, it's like walking into a different house. I thought I was going to cry, the carpet's looked so good. They looked brand new. And I was mad that I didn't get the whole house done. I decided right then & there that we were no longer going to eat food anywhere other than the dining room table, which was no longer allowed on the carpet. It's in the kitchen, where it will stay until we move. The kitchen has washable floors. This carpet cleaning place has my business for life.
Ok, back to the doctor's appointment: they basically told me to suck it up. They did some blood tests & took another stool sample, but nothing came back. So, this was normal for Sarah; not exactly what I wanted to hear. Anyhow, I guess I'll have to be very diligent when I put Sarah down for a nap or to bed to make sure she doesn't play Picaso with her poop anymore....ewwwwwww.

Sunday, September 03, 2006

Wake me when they're at college

Seriously, I should have listened to the people who warned me that having children was exhausting. Maybe I would have been better prepared. The drama/excitement/poopy diapers/puking/crying/picking up NEVER STOPS. I don't know if I have the stamina to do this for the next 18 years.
Not that I don't love my children, but they have more energy than a pack of sugared up howler monkeys and are just as loud at times. But they have a reason to be excited: Grammy's here. My mom flew in on Friday and is staying for over a week. Emma is in heaven. She loves Grammy. Grammy, unfortunately, due to chemo, has even less energy than me, so it's been interesting, to say the least. But, Emma's been a good sport and is helping Grammy out. Sarah has decided that she's going to start puberty early & is extremely moody lately. And Katie, well, Katie's 3 months old, and her only needs are a clean butt, a full belly & constant interaction. She LOVES it when you sit there & look her in the eyes and talk to her. She seems to thrive on it. She's giving us the biggest smiles and has the funniest expressions on her face.
Emma starts 1st grade on Tuesday, and that will help with the non-stop chaos around the house. But, then we also have soccer starting soon, which will add a whole new dimension. I think I need a nap...