I'm back! I feel like a bit of a rotten mom, dragging DD all over the place when she is feeling so ill. When she got up at 1 am, she was going to wait on the sofa for it to get light so she could open her gifts. She ended up peeking at a few, underwear, socks and pajamabottoms, decided Santa really messed up this year and went back to bed. Then we went to the Aussie friends house (not feeling so bad about brining sick DD there because my DD got it from their DD). They still cling to their British roots even though they were 4th or 5th generation Australians before moving here. I tried many "sweets" for the first time and decided the Brits don't make good deserts.... Figgy Pudding, Mincemeat pies.... yuck. The custards made from my hen eggs were wonderful. We saw the Lights at Stanwood tonight. Friends bought us tickets, but dummy me, I left the tickets at their house so I paid again at the gate.
You are right, CL, DD does have auto-immune issues, but she is my little miracle baby, so I am just very thankful that she is here at all. She tried to be born at 14 weeks. I had plans to go on a hike that day with my friends and DS in a backpack, but DS was cranky when I got to the trailhead and I did not want to listen to that all the way up Rattlesnake Ledge, so I went back home, and really started to feel awwful. I drove myself to the Dr. early the next morning as I cramped up and was bleeding heavily. (He told me I may have bleed to death had I gone on that hike! Sometimes a cranky toddler can be a blessing.) Turned out I was fully effaced and partially dilated, had placenta previa, and was in labor! Dr. tied things shut and put me on total bedrest, upsidedown, for the duration, and DD still managed to push her foot outside for 3 weeks, and when she pulled her foot back in, he tied tighter. I was on IV antibiotics and anti-contraction meds till she was born, so many antibiotics they also had to put me on antifungals as they wiped out all my flora. Anyways, DD has "chicken skin" horrible eczema and psoriasis, and she is allergic to all of the antibiotics they pumped into me during my pregnancy, plus many lotions (all sunscreens I've tried), some honeys, scented soaps and cleaning products..... But she is here and alive, and despite all odds, she made it to 35 weeks (I was told she would likely be born 23-25 weeks, and that was before the foot outside the cervix thing). Born on the 4th of July! Other than maybe a touch of ADD, she does not have any of the problems they thought she would be born with, so I feel quite thankful for that. I always hate taking her to any Dr. that does not know her story, because no matter what I bring her in for (flu, infected injury, something in her eye), they all get on my case about her skin, try her on a bunch of new perscriptions, make me feel guilty for how itchy she must feel (she never scratches ... it is all she's ever known). Half the time the meds give her another rash, thin her skin so much it splits and bleeds or sends her wheezing to the ER with another allergic reaction. I tried the elimination diet to try and find what she's allergic to, built a house with no carpeting, eliminated dairy, they added it back in.... I've stopped looking for cures for now, but I'm sure in a couple of years she will become very self-conscious about her sand-paper skin, and then we will start all over again.
Calendula Oil is the only thing I've found that gives her any relief.
One of my hens laid a GIANT egg today! Boy, that must have hurt coming out! It is about twice the size of any others we had, and won't fit in an egg carton. Poor bird.
I'm sorry you are spending the holidays by yourself. If you were closer, I'd come visit.
