A Touch of Pneumonia

For those who know me personally, it may seem strange for me to be posting pictures of Ben playing and having fun, knowing he is home sick this week. 

I wrote all of this week's blog entries on Sunday evening. That is my new method of keeping up with the blog. I'm writing several entries at once, when I have the chance to sit down and concentrate, then they will be scheduled to post each evening during the week. I'm hoping this will help me stay with posting at least every other day or so, as things start to pick up around the farm this spring.

Ben woke up the next day with a fever and has had one since. We took him to the doctor Monday, Wednesday and again today, and he has the very earliest stages of pneumonia. His fever spiked to 105 degrees on Wednesday, and he was prescribed strong antibiotics to fight a throat infection and the pneumonia both. Josh and I have shared taking off from work all week, and he is doing better each day. He is having long crying jags that we aren't used to, and he has been getting up throughout the night - furthering our leanings toward having an only child. I already forgot the constant mind static I feel when I haven't had a good night's sleep. Today's picture is his actual state - mostly sleeping when not angry or eating. I'm sure he will feel better in another few days.

Mom of Another Cranio Baby

Through the network of La Leche League leaders, I was able to connect with another mom whose son had craniosynostosis surgery. He had the same sutures closed as Ben and she shared her experience with me. To respect her privacy I won't include many details, but she had a positive nursing experience and stressed the importance of having a good pump in case he needs to be bottle fed for the first day or two after surgery. She also warned of the first 24-48 hours being very difficult to go through due to the swelling of his face and head.

The more concerning part of our conversation came from her discussion of his headaches and aggressive behavior following surgery (within the following two years). Josh and my mom both believe this anecdotal situation is not related to the surgery itself, but to the individual situation. Either way it is scary to think of any long-term consequences of the surgery, especially related to development or behavior.

This family chose craniosacral therapy to resolve these issues for their child. I know this is a controversial thing to say, but in general I am skeptical of holistic therapies. I may change my mind when I experience or encounter first hand, it making a huge difference in someone's life. But I have my reservations about spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on lightly researched treatments. At the same time I can see how desperate families would be willing to try a myriad of treatments to have a solution for a hurting child. And I am happy for anyone if alternative therapies worked in their situation.

No matter our differences, I am so appreciative of LLL to connect me with another mother with similar experiences and I gained a great deal of information and reassurance about how the surgery will go. I also have additional questions now, to bring to the surgeon on Monday's appointment.

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Ben wearing pjs from Grandma Sherry and Grandpa Steve

Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

I just finished reading In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan. It's a fascinating book about our culture’s food choices. The first half of the book is a little dry, but builds the foundation for why our eating choices need to change. He focuses on nutrients, food myths, evils of the food and drug industries, and how food has become increasingly less "food-like" over time. In the second half of the book, he explains how we actually need to eat. His message is Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

Eat food.
Pollan explains that "food" is whole foods such as fruits, vegetables, meats and other items that usually contain five or fewer ingredients. You must know what all of the ingredients are and nothing should be difficult to pronounce. He then proceeds to read the ingredients of Wonderbread and explains how far away from "bread" it actually is. Most store bought bread has so many unknown ingredients and high fructose corn syrup, that it's much more like fluffy sugar and much less like bread.

Not too much.
The author emphasizes that most products that advertise health claims should probably be avoided. Most reduced fat or fat free products are highly processed contain a great deal of synthetic products to make up for the fat loss. Pollan also reflects on the titles added to food such as free range, grass fed, and organic. Buying items from farmer's markets or locally is superior to any of these titles. Free range can mean that chickens were allowed to stand on a dirt plot for an hour or more a day. Grass fed can be applied to any cattle because they were almost all fed grass as calves. Instead, we should look for titles like "pasture raised" or "grass finished" to insure our food is the most nutritious.

Mostly plants.
Pollan is not strictly favoring or opposed to vegetarianism (read his previous book, The Omnivore's Dilemma.) However, he does favor a diet of one meat product per day and the rest fruits and vegetables. Even further than that, the plants should be mostly leaves and less seeds (flour, corn, grains and most of what we eat.) Eating in-season will also provide a more balanced diet and introduce us to foods we would not normally choose.

Some of his most profound statements from this book:

Avoid food that makes health claims.

Shake the hand of the hand that feeds you.
(In buying as much food as you can from farmers.)

Eat only food your great-grandmother would recognize as food.

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Ben is on night three of sleeping well. He sleeps from midnight to 10am waking at four and eight. That is definitely manageable for me and makes my life so much easier than the previous weeks.

Our Gumdrop pacifiers came in today too! the only kind Ben likes



Josh ordered them and didn't realize there were color choices, so we have fifteen pink ones, five orange and five blue. We're fine with that. It's still easier than driving back to the hospital for more.