I'm a mother of twins, RDA accredited Cloth Diaper Circle Leader, and an RN discussing parenting tips, green living, and products I love!
Yesterday we had a followup appointment at children’s hospital and we got good news! It looks like DS will not need surgery to correct his eye crossing! That is the good news. The bad news is that we had to see 3 doctors to get to where we are. That is why I feel so strongly about sharing our experience with other parents (through this blog and by word of mouth). I can’t stress enough how important it is to remember that WE ARE ALL HUMAN. Doctors are human too. Some doctors have more information than others. Some may have read a study that another missed. Go with your gut as a parent. If something concerns you, ask questions about it and get second (and third) opinions if necessary.
When I first took DS to the eye doctor about a year ago, I had noticed that his eye seemed to cross in when he was tired. When I took him to the local eye doctor he suggested that nothing was wrong with DS and that he “just had that kind of face” where it appeared that his eye crossed. (Its called pseudo strabismus.) This immediately felt wrong to me because I had never before thought his eye looked crossed and it was only at certain times. This led me to find another specialist an hour further south of our home. After she examined DS, (a much more thorough exam) she found crossing and prescribed him a mild prescription for glasses. After further exams, she determined that DS needed surgery to correct the muscles in his eyes. Because I was concerned about him having surgery, I wanted to make sure this was needed and got a third opinion at Children’s Hospital LA. After several exams, (one where we put Atropine drops in DS’ eyes for three days prior to his appointment) his doctor at CHLA wrote for an increase in his glasses prescription. This increase in prescription has corrected his crossing and he will not need surgery. It really does pay to be a worry wart momma sometimes!
I’m so happy that we have been able to spare DS from surgery. He has had enough hospital experience. He fell and broke his arm last summer (probably due to the crossing of his eyes and not having correct depth perception), has had SO MANY visits to eye doctors, and with this recent week of high fever and urinary tract infection, had to be catheterized twice for urine. He’s pretty much over doctor visits. (So am I!)
My point to this post is not for you to loose faith in doctors. We NEED doctors. We also need to trust ourselves because we are with our children more than they are. I should have immediately followed up that first eye doctor’s visit with a second opinion instead of waiting 6 months to “see if it goes away” like he suggested.
P.S. I mentioned to the eye Dr. at CHLA that I was very grateful and wrote a blog about our experience. She was very interested because she has had many parents get very nervous about using the Atropine drops in their child’s eyes. This is where you need to ask lots of questions. Don’t assume that because you went on the internet and looked up Atropine that you know what your doctor is talking about. There are different forms of medications and medicine in general can be very confusing because many things have similar names. (For example: The Mastoid Process is a bone at the base of the skull behind your ear and is named such because it is shaped like a breast. The Mastoid is a honeycomb of air cells in the ear. Mastitis is clogging of the milk ducts in the breast. There are many examples like this in anatomy/physiology.) So voice your concerns with your doctor and ask lots of questions. And, no, the Atropine eye drops are not the same form as the life saving Atropine used in resuscitation. Although Atropine is described as a poison, there are many definitions of what a poison is. In chemistry it means “a substance that retards a chemical reaction or destroys or inhibits the activity of a catalyst.” It’s derived from the belladonna plant and you will find belladonna in many children’s remedies for colic, teething, etc.
So if you are find yourself in a similar situation, ask your doctor about rechecking your child’s vision after Atropine drops before going in for surgery. Atropine drops are pretty “old school” so many doctors have gotten out of the habit of using them. 
I dealt with a mysterious fever once before, back with the kids got Roseola. That fever only lasted a few days before the slight Roseola rash appeared. THIS mysterious fever kept rearing it’s ugly head for 7 days. This may not seem like too much of a big deal right? Well this fever was most comfortable hanging out at 102 and liked to spike to 104.4. DS was not happy for the week and, because I wanted the fever to do it’s job and kill the infection it was fighting, I tried not to treat it until it was above 103 for the first several days and then pushed my limit up to 104 for the last few days. The problem with this method, was that when the fever was above 102, DS did not want to eat – AT ALL. It sucked. I tried to force oral Tylenol a couple times and he just wound up throwing it up. I wound up talking him into taking his Ibuprofen or Tylenol (and eventually antibiotics) by letting him know all the things he could do when he felt better. I talked to him about how he could go to Preschool and cooking class if he took his medicine and felt better. Find whatever it is that you kid lives for (tricycle etc.) and remind him/her about the fun things they are missing out on when they are sick. It really makes medication taking time much more peaceful.
Anyways, my husband and I were sick with worry over this fever. It started on a Sunday afternoon when DS woke from nap early crying (which is unusual for him). He was burning up with fever but had no other symptoms other than not wanting to eat. We cooled him off with washcloths, tepid baths (tepid because if the water is too cold it makes baby shiver causing an increase in temperature), and made sure to keep him supplied with any fluids he wanted to drink (water, milk or apple juice diluted in water).
We got into the doctor on Tuesday after the fever continued through Monday. It was unclear at that point, what was going on so the doc took a throat culture to make sure it wasn’t strep throat (it wasn’t) and asked that we come back if it continued. We returned to the office on Friday and DS seemed to be perking up slightly. (His feeling better was all a big hoax FYI) We worked really hard to collect two separate urine samples that Friday to come up with inconclusive results as to if it was a urinary tract infection. We were told that if the fever persisted on Saturday we should bring him into the office where they would catheterize DS for another urine sample and start antibiotics. Their office closes at noon on Saturday, and wouldn’t you know that his fever didn’t spike up again until 11:30 (while I was out of the house?). So we didn’t make it into the doctor’s office but I was sick of all this mystery illness stuff and took DS to the ER.
After a 5 hour visit that included a blood draw, two catheterizations, a chest X-ray, and multiple rectal temperatures, they determined that DS did in fact have a urinary tract infection (UTI), and prescribed antibiotics. After one dose of antibiotics he is SO MUCH perkier! The only problem is that UTIs for boys are VERY uncommon. Now, we are off to our doctor’s office for a follow up. It looks like he may have to have some further testing done to see why he got this infection in the first place – testing that is no fun testing. We shall see…. I’ll keep you updated!
In keeping up with my job as an Incredimom, I have a review for you! I received a free shipment of cloth wipes from incredibum to review a while ago and I’m loving them! These wipes will last long past our diapering lifetime. They are so plush and thick we will definitely be using them as washcloths for years to come. The incredibum wipes are the size of your normal wash cloth which is handy when cleaning up a poopy bottom. I can wipe once, fold, wipe again, fold and wipe another time. Much nicer than the cloth wipes I had made myself that only had one to two swipes per wipe. I also love the fact that they are thick enough that I don’t worry about anything soaking through to my 
hand from the side that is messy. If I do a first cleanup swipe with toilet paper to remove any large areas of stuck on poo, I’m able to completely clean DS’ bottom of poo with one incredibum wipe. I don’t even have to spray the wipes with my sprayer. They get perfectly clean in the wash! Remember, if you ever have staining, just hang or lay your wet wipes in the sun for all natural bleaching.
Stats: incredibum wipes are 9×9 and are made of 90% bamboo and 10% polyester. I love bamboo as a diaper material! Not only is it naturaly antibacterial AND very absorbant, but it is an amazing plant which will not deplete our environment of excessive amounts of 
resources for growing. Bamboo is my favorite diapering material because it is so environmentally friendly and has been so good to my babies bottoms! You can buy incredibum wipes at sandbox lane in a 4 pack for $4.95.
This weekend I have been lucky enough to get away for a little momma recuperation. I am at the Southern California Mother of Twins Convention which meets up twice a year. At these events I am surrounded by gaggles of beautiful, inspiring moms who have had the experience of mothering more than one baby at a time. There is something satisfying and comforting about being around these women. We have all had similar experiences. I found it quite fateful that two of the moms sitting next to each other at my lunch table (coincidentally, as we are assigned to tables but not specific seats) introduced themselves and had a shared history of struggles with infertility and fertility treatments. This is what these clubs do for us. They sit you right next to the people who can guide you through your struggles and inspire you to not only make it through your children’s current STAGE OF TERROR, but they inspire you to be the best parent you can be. It’s more than a sisterhood. It’s a sisterhood of mothers.
This weekend we will enjoy meals together, fundraising “opportunity drawings” (legal raffles), libations, meetings and workshops. Our club gets quite a few mommas to go and we wind up having a grown up sleepover. (Chillax husbands, we only have one pillow fight…)
I was surprised to learn that, despite the rise of multiples joining our world, there has been a decline in club membership. I get it. It took me an entire year of struggle and tears to join my local club. I just couldn’t gather the energy to leave the house after putting the kids to bed, to attend a meeting. Looking back at that year, I WISH I had pushed myself that extra little bit and joined my club earlier. My fellow club members have become sisters, counselors, and sounding boards. Not to mention, they have included me on many a play date and the much needed mom’s night outs.
If you are a mother of multiples, I BEG you, reach out and find your local club. If there isn’t a local club, contact your national club (National Organization of Mothers of Twins Club) and ask them how to start a local chapter. Our club has moms with children ranging in age from their 30′s to newborns. I am so lucky and grateful to be a part of such a wonderful organization. I hope you find comfort in an organization like I have. Even if you don’t have twins, triplets, etc. check out your local mom’s club, it helps drive the “crazies” away!
Image from www.kissmyface.com
The research that I’ve done on the safety of deodorants and antiperspirants has yielded some varied results. Isn’t this the case for all topics? Is there anything that is guaranteed safe? Drinking water? Uh, nope. Anyways, I know that many people will tell you that using deodorant or antiperspirant is completely safe and you have nothing to worry about. I disagree, along with many others. These are products that many of us use daily. Daily, long term exposure to chemicals, pose a much greater risk to your health than single or infrequent exposures to those same chemicals. (I’m not suggesting that single exposures to some chemicals are not just as bad for your health – only that exposure to chemicals found in many deodorants and antiperspirants long term is worse for you than short term, infrequent exposure to those same chemicals.) This means that, stopping the use of these products is better for you than continuing to use them.
A well detailed (4 part) article discussing the chemicals of concern in deodorants and antiperspirants is on ControlYourImpact.com. Please check it out and read about why we should be concerned about the aluminum, and parabens in many deodorants and antiperspirants and their possible link to diseases like breast cancer and Alzheimers disease.
I have been on the search for a good deodorant for some time. I decided a while ago that I wouldn’t use an antiperspirant. If there was any chance at all that I could avoid the Alzheimers that my grandmother suffered from, I would take it! I also noticed that antiperspirant would sometimes damage clothes. Sometimes it would bleach clothes in the area it contacted them regularly. I noticed this in particular, on my husbands shirts. These shirts were also very difficult to get scent free in the armpit area. Some shirts would stain with that mild scent of antiperspirant scent mixed with a bit of body odor. Isn’t this what we are trying to avoid with antiperspirants? That strange scent that occurs when our body odors mix with the un-natural perfume chemicals really bothers me. I’m sure many of you have thrown away deodorants after finding their scent isn’t a good “match” for your own body scents.
After finding Kiss My Face Liquid Rock, a deodorant free of parabens, aluminum, phthalates, and artificial perfumes, and using it for a few months, I finally convinced my husband to get rid of his widely advertised antiperspirant and give my roll on a try. I had never used a roll on before, but found that giving it a few minutes to dry wasn’t a big deal. I apply it right after showering so it has time to dry while I get ready. It never irritated my freshly shaven pits and I noticed a dramatic difference in the first week of use. Surprisingly, my husband has stuck with this deodorant (even after years of only using antiperspirants), which has made me feel like I have made another leap in keeping my family safer and healthier. A $5.99 investment (same price as my husbands previous brand) that could mean better health but definitely means less laundry work for me!
