5.17.2011

Stool sample

For the past three weeks, Maybelle has had on-again, off-again diarrhea.  Here is the good news:

  • Despite occasional cramping, she's feeling just great.  Happy, enthusiastic, energetic, doing dance parties and requesting experiences like, "Go walk.  Go bike.  Go wagon."  Last night Biffle had a hard time getting her to choose which of these three she wanted.
  • Having a great deal of pooping going on means that she's had lots of opportunities to practice sitting on the potty.  We have a "Sit on the Potty" song that she now knows and can sing/sign along with.  Perhaps the first steps of potty training will be a beneficial side effect of this experience.
Here's the complainy news:
  • She's in preschool, which isn't cheap, and we've paid for the month of May.  However, despite the fact that it no longer appears that she's contagious, she's not allowed to go to preschool if she's got runny poo.  So we're paying for preschool, and then we're paying for very generous wonderful people (we love you all!) to come to our house at the last minute to take care of her when she poops at school and is sent home.  I recognize that this is just part of being a working parent, but it's a bit of a budgetary shock.
  • Not to mention a scheduling challenge:  two Sundays ago, I spent around 11 hours trying to find a sitter for Monday.  What we need is a person who lives in Charleston, who would love to hang out with Maybelle at the very last minute if need be--who would, in fact, consider it kind of a plus if Maybelle isn't able to go to school from time to time (hello, Nonny?).
  • Two words:  stool sample.  Biffle and I had to collect a stool sample for our pediatrician.  So this morning, while I was getting poo smeared all over my watchband and trying to wipe it off various parts of Maybelle's body, Biffle had to take the diaper and siphon its contents into several vials, which I delivered to our pediatrician.  He's testing her for everything--from parasites to giardia.  His idea is that she has none of these things.  He thinks that since she's healthy, not feverish, no low energy, that she's fine--she'll get over this.  And I think he's hoping he can make a case to get her back into school by proving all the tests she's passed.  We'll see if that works.

10 comments:

Ian McCullough said...

Daycare and time off due to sick rules (fever, runny poops, etc..) were the biggest budgetary surprise of parenting. Wait until you relax when she goes to school and then you have to pay for summer daycare, and perhaps aftercare. Daycare just costs a fortune.

emboogie said...

Poor Maybelle - wish I was still around. Id love to watch her anytime if I was in Charleston - Im rarely ever without a kid or two or five. As a nursing student I deal with runny poo daily - it is no fun - poo on my watchband happens at LEAST once a week. However, mine is usually from some very sick elderly stranger - gross. Have quite a few hilariously disgusting stool sample stories myself by now and Ive had to throw out a good many watches over the past couple of months. Anyways, I hope Maybelle gets over it soon : (
Ive been following the blog and love seeing how big and full of personality Maybelle is these days. Hope all is well.
- Emily

claire said...

There is a very funny scene in one of the later David Lodge novels about the main character going on public transport with his stool sample to drop off at the doctor -- who informed him that a mere swab of the stool was needed -- not the entire output.

jp said...

Have you or your pediatrician considered lactose intolerance? My son has this. It sort of happened gradually. Now we give him lactaid with dairy. If we forget, he has runny poo.

Alison Piepmeier said...

So much good feedback!

Ian: yes, summer care is just as expensive as preschool. Fortunately, we should be able to pay, as it's not MORE expensive.

Emily: I, too, wish you were here! Although I get that your own poo-related studies might mean you weren't 100% available to us for Maybelle time.

Claire: In this case, we really did have to bring in a fairly significant amount. Three vials!

jp: We did remove the lactose, but that hasn't made a difference. Now we're sort of trying to reduce gluten and see what happens.

Catherine Bush said...

My fingers are crossed that the pediatrician is correct! The watchband comment was maybe the grossest thing I've read in a while :).

krlr said...

Is this the right blog to make a comment about being grateful for the menfolk doing the vile, oops, I mean vial work?

I'm glad she's feeling OK, apart from the day care bill (which, I agree, we only started paying for 6 mos ago and oy!).

Amanda said...

When Hugh was younger than Maybelle, he had a long spell of it. The pediatrician just called it toddler tummy or something. It seemed like it lasted three weeks or more, then it went away. Good luck!

Tawanda Bee said...

Want me to post on facebook and twitter for Nashville kids coming to Charleston in the Fall?

Alison Piepmeier said...

Ooo, do tell me who's coming to Charleston from Nashville!

And yes, hurray for the men doing the vile/vial work! Amanda, Sperry told us the same thing--let's hope he's right.