Ruby Hope McKee Starling

Well...

It seems that some of Ruby's problems over the past couple weeks might have been due to a cold virus.  The exact thing we are trying so hard to avoid.  Luckily it was a mild one.  On Thursday I noticed she had a small pimply looking rash on her chest, by Friday morning it had spread to cover her whole abdomen and chest.  We went to the pediatrician, yesterday afternoon.  The going theory is that she has heat rash or it's left over from the virus.  Either way we can't do much other than watch it and keep her clean and dry.  We don't take her out much at all.  It has been really hot here, unusually hot even for Texas.  We are diligent about washing our hands, and making everyone who touches her do so.  Chris and I think she caught something on the plane.  The day we flew home was the last time she took a full bottle.  Since then her bottle feeding took a huge turn for the worse, and her breathing was slightly labored.  We also tried to stop the diuretic during this time, too.  I'm guessing we're dealing with another situation that had many causes.  Her lungs are back to sounding "perfect" and I'm going to try my hardest to keep them that way.  We were lucky this time in that it was short lived thing and she was able to fight it off.  We can't stress enough how important it is that she doesn't get a respiratory virus. 

Please when you meet Ruby, don't touch her unless you have washed your hands.   We want our friends and family to meet her, we all need to be very careful.  Last week involved many sleepless nights of listening to her breathing and counting breaths. Ruby already has to work harder than a healthy baby  to breathe so determining when she's working harder than her normal can be tough. Plus the receptionist at the pediatrician's office knows my voice and that's not something I feel proud of.  We understand that kids get sick, but Ruby isn't a normal baby.

We've got few weeks left before we go into hibernation for cold and flu season.  The past couple weeks are a good reminder to Chris and I that Ruby needs to be a bit antisocial this "winter".  Not that we really have a winter in Texas.  We have been told large open areas that aren't too crowded will be fine.  Meaning we'll be able to take her for walks or cook outs.  Luckily we have a mild winter here and we'll be able to get outside and do things. Maybe for Halloween I'll dress-up as a an octopus and instead of ink I'll squirt hand sanitizer. 

On the plus side her bottle feeding seems to be picking back up.  We are almost back to where we were a couple weeks ago.  Which again makes me think she did have a bit of a cold coupled with the diuretic wean.

Any tips from other CDH parents on how you deal with colds and the winter season, please let us know.  Ruby will be getting the RSV shots starting in October.

Here is our 11lb 2oz bundle of joy.  She's averaging an oz a day, which is perfect!  The more she grows the stronger her lungs get.