Your chicken or mine?

The road to blog silence is paved with good intentions.

First, the happy E updates: last Thursday, E got his second tooth, the other bottom front tooth, and then last Sunday, he rolled over for the first time! Hooray!

Unfortunately, the bad news is that all this fun and excitement has been followed by two consecutive nights of sleeping for less than two hours, despite hopeful doses of Tylenol, and we're not exactly sure why. We did, finally, figure out the cause of his stomach sickness from last post. Here's how it went down:

Last week I got a call from DHEC, the SC Department of Health and Environmental Control. Apparently, I hid my surprise at this development pretty darn well because the nurse said "oh, it sounds like you were expecting my call" after I greeted her cheery introduction with what I thought was a confused "yes?" And then things went like this:

Umm, no, in fact I wasn't expecting your call, but how can I help you?

Well, when we see results like these, we have to follow up with the family and investigate what might have happened.

Results like what? I have no idea why you're calling...

Oh! Oh...well, it turns out the little E has salmonella, so we're following up since we don't want an outbreak, and we'd like to find the cause if we can.

What?! Salmonella??

Why, yes, so let me see...do you have a turtle? an exotic pet?

No and no.

Does E go to day care?

No, he stays home with me.

What kind of formula do you use?

Parent's choice.

Have you had or been to a barbecue lately? Handled any raw meat? Cooked with any eggs?

Umm, yes, yes, and yes. Listen, do I need to be worried here? Does my son need antibiotics or quarantine or to be put in a bubble and taken away from me?!

Oh, no no no, in these cases we usually don't find the source but we like to try in any event. And if he's feeling better, he has probably just fought it off on his own. However, salmonella can "shed" into the feces for up to three months, so be extra careful with diaper changes and around other children and the elderly during that time, okeedokee? Great! Lovely to talk to you!

And then I curled into a ball of self recrimination!