What's Wrong?

Toddler health is a hard thing to deal with. Audrey is of the age where she can tell me something is wrong- but not really old enough to give me a lot of details and she can be lead by questions so she will admit to having a symptom simply because you ask instead of because she actually has them. 

A few months ago she developed a rash around her mouth that won't go away- doctors diagnosed her with eczema caused by the cold weather (after the allergy panel came back negative). The issue is that around that time she also started having trouble sleeping- a problem which has been progressively getting worse until finally she was getting up 5 times a night (a nightmare for all of us). One night I slept in her room to see what was up (and to give Don a chance to sleep through the night since he had a double ear infection/ sinus infection), when Audrey woke up she would sit up quickly gasping. It's hard to tell if she wasn't getting air, if she had a bad dream or if something else was going on. We took her to a specialist who told us it wasn't apnea but could be related to allergies or acid reflux. It's hard to actually tell because she can't tell us the details of the problem or why she gasps awake. The good news is that since starting allergy meds the rash around her mouth has gotten A LOT better. She also slept from 12-7 this morning without waking up at all. I guess the allergy panel didn't test for whatever she is allergic to. 

It's hard when you are having issue sand you can't figure out what they are- you want to make it better but it's hard to know how to do that (especially when come across specialists who essentially disregard you because your child isn't a surgical candidate). These are the things they don't warn you about in the parenting books.