Thank God for Ms. Miriam

Yesterday she told me that Sara is ready for 6 ounces. This morning she told me it would be a good idea to take Sara to the doctor just to check on the dry skin that seems to be getting worse and worse. She's with my child for more hours of the day than I am, she has a lot more experience at motherhood than I do, and I know she really loves Sara (not quite as much as I do), so I took her word on both counts. I took Sara to the doctor this afternoon to have her dry skin investigated, and he knew immediately upon seeing it that Sara has eczema. Prior to today's visit, the only knowledge I had of eczema was what little I learned from Julian, the little boy in "Big Daddy", when he tells the lady at the grocery store (the one whose genetically gifted bust region Adam Sandler comments on relentlessly) about his itchy arms and she helps relieve his itch with bags of frozen vegetables. Anyway, today I know a little more, including the fact that we should be able to take care of it relatively easily with some over-the-counter soaps and creams. If those don't work in a week or so, we may have to try soy formula, but we'll cross that bridge if we come to it. The doc said Sara's eczema may be a result of her current formula, it may be her body's response to allergy season, or it may just be her. She'll likely be able to control it pretty well and deal only with minor flare-ups from time to time. I'm so glad that our first non-well-baby-check-up-visit was only over dry skin and not a spiked fever or some other serious ailment requiring emergency intervention. It's just eczema ... we can handle that.

On another note, I'd like to ask you to keep my mom's friend, Sue (who has been a close family friend for many years and who helped throw my MN surprise shower last summer) in your prayers. She just became a grandma to a sweet baby girl, Bella. Little Bella was born with a cleft lip and is also fighting pneumonia. I can't imagine how scared Bella's parents and grandma must be; certainly this isn't the way they pictured the start of their life with their baby. Please pray for Bella's recovery ... now as she fights an illness and down the road as she faces surgery for the cleft. Pray for her mom, dad, grandma, and doctors, too! If someone reading this (Mom, Debbi, anyone else?) wants to offer Sue and Tara a cleft success story when the time is right, direct her to this blog and they'll be able to see how happy, healthy, and well-adjusted little Macey is after her surgery back in December!

Like I said above, all we've been dealt is a case of some skin in need of serious moisture; we can totally handle that.