A rash is a rash...

Earl developed an ear infection about a week and a half ago, and we, the parents, were given the lovely job of dispensing his medicine to him. It took all of 2 days before he was screaming and crying (you know this crying - the one that echoes off the walls, make the glasses shake, with tears rolling and nose running, face red and scrunched up) when he saw me holding any of the various dispensing tools. And we tried them all! The measured medicine spoon, a regular measuring spoon, the bulb syringe from his tylenol, the vacuum syringe from his ibuprofen, a regular measuring cup from Benadryl...

For a while we were able to get him to swallow his medicine by pouring some in, a little at a time, and then scooping the rest back in on my finger and letting him suck/lick/bite it off (did I mention the 2 little teeth? Yeah).

By Friday, he was a wreck. He was feeling better ear-wise, but had picked up some form of what I had, and the poor little thing now had a runny nose and slightly congested cough.

Here's the past 54 hours of Earl's life:

on Friday I made meatballs. When I finished, I sat down to nurse the baby. I looked at him while he was nursing and noticed a slight rash on his face. "Brilliant!," I thought, "I just touched him with egg protein on my hands from the meatballs, and now he's having another reaction." The rash was on his chest and abdomen to when I took a quick glance, and I was at a loss because I didn't remember touching him there at all. We had also just switched him back to cloth diapers, so I tried to figure out if there was something on the diaper that could be bothering his whole body.

When the rash hadn't faded by bedtime, we force-fed him some Benadryl (cue the screaming), and got him to bed. Shabbat morning, the rash was still there. It would get darker and lighter, but it was on his whole body, and didn't seem to be bothering him. I was convincing myself that there was still egg protein somewhere on me that was getting on to him.

When the rash was still in full force last night, I asked Avraham if we should call the doctor. I looked up some visual guides to rashes online and determined that the rash could have been an allergic reaction to the antibiotics, a virus that came along with his cold and cough, a weird form of roseola with no leading fever, measles, or any other virus/allergic reaction (although the rash does not look like hives, which is how his previous contact allergy expressed itself). Avraham didn't seem very concerned (the baby was mostly happy), so I held off and called my sister in Israel instead. Yes, really. She shared some of her thoughts with me, and asked that I call in the morning.

This morning, when the rash was still in full force, I finally called the doctor, who was equally calm. She said that if the rash should turn purple, blood-red, or he should have trouble breathing, we should go to the ER. Otherwise, if the rash is still there tomorrow, we should go to his doctor.

It's even on the soles of his feet (this is the pinkish post-bath variety)

So, after all that, I have absolutely nothing to report. And you know what? This is completely typical of life with a baby. Lots of confusion and some stress and in the end, nothing definitive. You just have to roll with it and trust your gut. And, when needed, the gut of another experienced mom you trust.