Don't be Alarmed

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Remember a few days ago I was telling you about the nasty rash Sarah had. We brought her to the clinic on Sunday but her skin progressively got worse.



These are the pictures from Monday...again, seriously, it's probably the worse skin condition you've ever seen on a baby...very nasty...And honestly, these aren't the worse pictures. The photos I took on Wednesday are so bad I didn't think it appropriate to post online.





On tuesday we had a midwife appointment and Shirley advised me to make a doctors appointment because she really wasn't sure what it could be. She said in all her years of practice she hadn't seen anything quite as extreme.



So, I brought Sarah to the doctor on Wednesday. I was so nervous at this point because her ears were both infected, her eyes were swollen half shut, the yellow crustiness had spread over her entire forehead, half way down and on the sides of her nose, and around the back of her neck to the point that when she laid down for a nap the infection was oozing out and staining her sheets. Poor little girl! The doc was quite alarmed by the infection but immediately provided us with the diagnosis - CRADLE CAP! (Jamie previously researched online and he told me he thought it might be this). I'm sure most of you have heard of cradle cap (2 of our nieces had it) - it's very common and normally stays confined to the scalp area. In rare cases it can also spread to other parts of the body, particularly the face. From what I understand, because of her previous acne her skin was already compromised and the fungus just kinda took over. Totally gross I know! The doctor checked her ears, nose, and eyes to make sure nothing had spread inside - if so, he said we may have had to take a trip to see a pediatrician at Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto. Phew! Nothing....so he gave us some cream and told me to actually pick off those yucky yellow scabs. Normally scabs are formed when the skin is broken to allow the skin to heal. This is not the case here - he explained to me that the crust had formed on TOP of the skin protecting the fungus underneath and we needed to expose the skin to treat it. And he also recommended we keep olive oil on her skin - he said I should be keeping olive oil on her skin everywhere anyways, a very good natural "lotion" for babies.



And with that, the doctor noted that Sarah still seemed to be quite happy. This was, he said, because "she can't see herself. If she was a teenager she'd be freaking out." ha ha...And seemingly very healthy too....weighing in at a whopping 10 lbs. 14 oz.!!



Today, she's looking much better during her afternoon snooze...Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.