The itchiest baby on the block!

I have been trying to write a post for the past week about the next steps in my life, but I kept stopping -- but today is the perfect example of what I'm afraid of for this next chapter!

Finishing law school and taking the Bar are two huge accomplishments for me -- goals that I set for myself 10 years ago, and goals that I am very proud of myself for attaining. Now, I need to figure out what to do next. I realize I have been so blessed to have had the opportunity to spend so much of the boys' first two years of life at home with them. But -- I am definitely worried/scared/nervous about what the transition to working full time will be like, and how the boys and I will adjust to spending so much time away from each other. Honestly, they will probably handle it a lot better than I will, children are resilient, they will hopefully be at a fun "school," and they will have each other. Not only am I worried about the transition to being away from them five days a week, I am also worried about the work that goes into getting two children out the door and to a daycare center each day. The boys went to daycare two days a week my first semester back to school, and I did the drop-off and pick-up, and it was definitely grueling. I had dinner recently with two of my friends from my twins' club, and both women work full-time and have toddler twins -- and their stories instilled a fear in me of all of the work that is to come!

I know that I will figure it out, and that the new routine will become our new normal, and we will all be just fine. But today was a crazy day, and an example of how things are probably going to be ...

Ben woke up yesterday with a strange rash anywhere his skin touched itself -- the creases of his legs, his armpits, his neck, even the backs of his ears. I gave him some anti-histimine medication, and hoped it would help. During the day, the rash spread a bit, but looked different. He still had the red areas of hot, welted skin, but also small bumps on his chest and back. I decided to call the pediatrician, and he recommended using several topical creams that night, and to re-evaulate in the morning. When Ben and I got up today, I realized his entire face, scalp, neck, and wrists were all giant welts. I called the pediatrician as soon as his office opened, and we made an appointment for 8:30. Great. Except I had an interview today at 10:30. Hmm. I got the boys ready for their appointment, and got myself ready for my interview (partially dressed -- nice shirt, but jeans, hair and make-up done, but no time for a shower), and we headed to the appointment. Husband came with us, thankfully, to help wrangle the boys.

When we got into the pediatrician's office, Dr. Matt took one look at Ben and said, "Oh my goodness, I didn't realize it was going to be like this ..." I asked him what was wrong, and he told me Ben was having a severe allergic reaction to something and had the worst case of "full-body hives" he had seen in at least 5 years. I was kind of surprised that it was an allergic reaction, seeing we had been giving Ben B*enadryl, but it didn't do anything to relieve his symptoms. Dr. Matt told me that this reaction was way past B*nedryl. He gave Ben a dose of oral steroids in the office, wrote two prescriptions, instructed me to get another over-the-counter medication, and asked if I could get a urine sample from Ben. Apparently, in some very severe allergic reactions, red blood cells, in addition to fluid, leeches from the blood vessels. This is obviously a very serious condition that can create issues with the kidneys, so it was important to get a sample. Easy enough, right? Wrong. The child who LOVES to pee on the potty absolutely refused.

We left the office, I dropped off the prescriptions, and the boys and I headed home. I called to try to reschedule the interview, but was told that today was the only day this office was holding interviews, and if I needed to reschedule, they understood, but I would be withdrawing my name from consideration. I obviously didn't want to do that, but I also felt horrible leaving a sick child with a babysitter, especially because I was worried Ben's breathing would be impacted if the hives spread to his throat or mouth. He seemed okay, and I decided to go to the interview (after giving the babysitter 30000 instructions!).

I raced to my interview, and by the time I got there, I was sweating, my hair was a mess, and I felt completely frazzled. The interview was quick, I did a similar job the summer after my first year of law school, so they didn't need to explain a lot about the job to me. I hopped in the car, stopped at the gas station, the bank, and then the drug store to pick up the prescriptions, and was back home in less than an hour and a half after leaving.

Ben was sleeping when I got home, which was a bit of a surprise, given the constant noise in the house due to the bathroom renovations. It was also a surprise because possible side-effects of the steroid include irritability and hyper-activity. Wonderful ... I spent nearly two hours with a naked Ben, hoping he would be motivated to pee in the cup. No such luck. Sam, however, is fascinated with the concept, and I caught him sitting on the frog potty with one of their cups, attempting to "catch his peepee." Awesome. Ben finally decided to pee on the floor. Victory! I grabbed the medicine syringe and sucked up the urine, putting it in a small medicine cup. Put the boys into the car, grabbed their milk and the cup of pee, and as I was heading downstairs, I realized they weren't wearing socks. I put the milk cups and cup of pee on the dryer to grab socks -- and somehow hit the urine-filled cup, sending it flying, and the contents spilling all over me. A few choice words escaped my mouth at that point, but thankfully, there was a small amount of urine left in the cup, so I washed my hands, and off we went.

I haven't heard back from the pediatrician's office, and I am assuming that no news is good news. Ben is also doing much better, the swollen hives have gone down a lot, and are now just red, and he doesn't seem to be itchy or uncomfortable. He is, however, hyper. At one point, he was standing/dancing/jumping on the coffee table. Something he has never done before. When I locked him out of the living room, he started running around in little circles, singing, "Where is PeePaw? Where is PeePaw?" Then, he was ravenously hungry, another side effect of the steroid, and screeched until I could cook him some dinner. He ate a ton, including raw onion (random, I was chopping it, he asked for a piece, I gave it to him, and he apparently liked it). I dosed him up with steroids, and the boys are now sleeping peacefully. I hope it stays that way tonight, I am wore out and need a good night's sleep, too! It has been a long day as a "workin' mama," and I don't know how I'm going to handle doing this every day!