On a completely different note, we continue to try and figure out what is causing Jasper's eczema. I've added some photos so you can see what a normal breakout looks like. This happens daily if we don't control his environment. We know a few things that we haven't known before. 1.) The eczema comes and goes, and is often worse after being at day care 2) He reacts to heat and has to stay cool to stay happy. 3) He also seems to respond badly to detergents, including free and clear detergents. So based on these three things, I've determined he has contact eczema. Or at least, most of it seems to be contact based. So we are keeping the house cold - which Thomas loves - otherwise Jasper wakes up screaming more often. I also switched to washing his sheets, etc in baking soda and it has made a huge difference. The only problem is, that whatever I do doesn't really matter, he goes to day care and comes back looking worse and it takes days to clear up major reactions.
This is his reaction to his sheets being washed in Tide Free and Clear. Approximately 2 hours after he went to bed he woke up crying; he cried for an hour.
He came home one day from day care with this spotted reaction plus scratches. This is after his bath, he is lathered in Vaseline.
This is what he looks like a day or two after a bad reaction. You can tell its improved, but still very obvious. His skin remains so dry and has a difficult time ever recovering because he keeps having reactions.
So, based on these things, we've decided the best thing to do for him is to keep him at home. There is no other way to even begin to control his environment. Since he seems to be reacting to detergent, I've done some research on eczema and detergent. It is quite extensive. Detergents are in so many things we use - dishwasher detergent, handwash, shampoos, household cleaners, etc. And to make matters worse, detergents attach to dust and dirt particles - which is why it cleans so good - so because we use so many detergent cleaners in our homes, it probably is attached to a lot of dust particles around the house. Which means he is probably breathing it in. Also, I read where one lady said her son seemed to be allergic to every type of food (breaking out with eczema), and in fact it was the residue left on the dishes ... after she stopped using detergent to wash dishes he didn't have any problems with the food. As a result of all this, I'm in the process of trying to figure out how to switch everything over to soap based products. Even a lot of organic products use an detergent base - so it is very tricky. And the residue from detergents cling to fabric - which means that things need to be washed multiple times! uggh. So this is how I'm going to spend the next week or two.
So our plan is to take both Petra and Jasper out of day care and hire a babysitter from 8-12 every weekday. And then Thomas will take over for lunch and nap time, and hopefully, I will be home no later than 5pm, maybe earlier. So please pray that we will find the right person, and soon.
And I know you are all wondering about the last court date. Everything is set for his adoption, however sometimes these things just take time and paperwork. It will probably be July. We've already testified to the judge, so did the department and guardian ad litem so everything is in motion. We don't expect any hiccups.
