Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Abby is on her way to being potty trained! At last! For the past six months we have been procrastinating, using everything and anything as an excuse to wait. But on Monday, after discovering her covered in her own feces, I decided enough is enough! That night she peed in the potty once. Tuesday, we went through four to five pairs of panties with two successes. Then on Wednesday, she would go without me even asking her or wetting her pants at all. And this morning she even peed in the potty while I was still in bed. She still had her pull-up on! The end is near! No more diapers! Ever! My only concern is that she has yet to have a bowel movement........at all. Not since the body painting incident on Monday. I'm not sure if she is just nervous over the potty training or if she is really constipated. She was taking coactifed cough syrup over the weekend and early this week. I think one of the side-effects is constipation. Just in case, I have been walking the orange juice to her all day.

Samuel and Abby were both really sick this past week. Lots of sleepless nights, coughing, emergency room visits, etc... I never once gave them any over the counter cough syrup, as it never really seems to work. The doctor even told me he doesn't know why they just don't stop selling them. I did, however, give them Motrin when they had a fever......which now worries me.

Tuesday night I caught a story on the news. A 3 year old girl had a fever so the Mother called her doctor who told her to give the child Children's Advil. 8 hours later the fever was still high so she called her doctor and again he told her to administer the Advil a second time. Her fever broke, so they thought there worries were over. Unfortunately, they had just begun. A week and a half later they had to admit their daughter into the hospital. After a couple of days the doctor's finally diagnosed her as having Stevens-Johnson Syndrome. It is a rare condition that causes burning and sloughing of the skin, blindness, among other things. In less than two weeks, their little 3 year old girl was dead. At one point, the Father said he had to witness all the skin on top of his little girl's hand come right off. They showed pictures of her in the hospital which were unspeakable. The worst part is that her condition was caused by an over the counter medication - Advil.

The story really worried me, so today I googled and discovered many other cases which were not only caused by taking children's Advil, but Children's Motrin as well. Both of which are Ibuprofen. I haven't found out if this condition arose after their first time taking the medication or not. I'm just sick over it. They say it is a rare occurrence, but to read story after story, family after family, that have had children die or severely burned, is frightening to say the least. It's just one of those things that you are so scared could happen to you or to someone you love. I know I can never use Children's Motrin or Advil again. It just makes me want to never give them any over the counter medication ever again. I just hope the kids don't get a fever for quite some time. Right now I don't think my nerves could take it.