For the record

Have I told you about my 2 kids? I have 2 kids now. They were born 2 years apart. They are 2 much 2 handle sometimes.

Daughter was born at 34 weeks and 1 day. (Star Wars Day baby. Also Audrey Hepburn and Kimora Lee Simmons's birthdays.)
I had an emergency c-section because I had preeclampsia. I still take that PE personally.
She weighed 1.125 kg at birth.
(She had intrauterine growth retardation [IUGR] because of the PE.)
She didn't need any help breathing.
She spent 5 weeks in the NICU gaining weight so that she could be discharged.
Sometimes I think she doesn't eat much because the feeding tube made her lazy :/

Son was born at 40 weeks and 5 days. (Same birthday as Mahathir Mohammed. And Nikola Tesla!)
I had an emergency c-section because my induction of labor failed to progress.
(I was induced at 10 AM on Sunday and went into the OT at around 1 AM on Monday. I spent the whole Sunday pretty much on my back. Boring, 10/10 do not recommend. I didn't even get to try the laughing gas because the epidural worked so well.)
(Dr Tew the surgeon burned off my first keloid scar and made a neat incision over it. Now the scar looks more like a red line!)
He weighed 3.245 kg at birth.
He didn't need any help breathing either, but he also didn't yell the OT down like his big sister did.
We spent 5 days in the postnatal ward because they wanted to monitor his bilirubin levels in case of jaundice.
He eats great.

They both got dexamethasone at 30 or so weeks though, to make sure their lungs matured. Daughter got it because her IUGR had been diagnosed and the doctors took no chances; Son because he was about 1 week behind on one of his scans and the doctor didn't want to take any chances (he continued growing well after that though). Sometimes I wonder if that's the reason they're both so fucking loud.

Pregnancy unexpected: Perioral dermatitis

Perioral dermatitis is a thing that can happen in pregnancy. It's an itchy red rash around your mouth area and it makes you look like a damn slob. Not everyone gets it, and treatment varies from antibiotics to dermatological medications. In my case, it appeared to have been triggered by spending some time in bright sunshine.

Anyway, I had Betnovate cream, which had been prescribed for dermatitis elsewhere (I actually do take care of myself, ok, but this was one of those mysterious things that can happen to you pre-pregnancy), and I figured it would help. Here's the thing:

DO NOT PUT BETNOVATE ON YOUR PERIORAL DERMATITIS. (It even says so on the contraindications!)

My itchy, red, unsightly rash became an itchy, red, unsightly weepy rash.

I have a master's in medical science and I did that.

Some frenzied Googling later, it looked like calendula and vitamin E would help (nothing could make the rash worse than it already was). Mothercare sells a calendula balm (in stick form); yes, it's meant for babies, and Watson's or Guardian sell a generic vitamin E cream.

And hurrah, they worked. The balm stopped the burning itchiness and dissipated the redness, and the cream prevented scarring. However, I still had to endure about 2 weeks of (bright pink) skin regrowth and flaking. Thankfully, that has all faded, and I now use the balm and cream on my other dermatitis, as the Betnovate doesn't seem to work anymore (and you're not supposed to use it for very long anyway), and this combo does.

PS: I am not a doctor. Your mileage may vary.