I noticed only about 20 minutes before his appointment that he had a little runny nose. I thought "I sure hope he didn't catch that cold from Mimi and Papa." He had a rough night's sleep the night before, but I attributed it to teething.
You could tell the shots really hurt him. He started crying really hard upon impact. Poor guy. He calmed down pretty quickly though and he was a sweetheart the rest of the day.
Peter's cute little leg with the painful little shots (those little shots that caused sooooo much trouble).
However, poor Pete got a double whammy. He DID get the cold from Mimi and Papa and then he also got a fever from his shots. He slept poorly on Wednesday night and Thursday night. The fever didn't appear for a couple of days. But on Friday night, he was having a REALLY hard time sleeping. Finally at about 11 p.m., I went in to help him (again) and he was literally burning up. I took his temperature and it was 105.4 degrees. Scary. I called the doctor's office and left a message for the doctor on call. Jeremiah went up to get his dad so they could give him a blessing, but apparently, his dad was completely passed out, so he brought his mom down instead. We had to give Peter a cold bath. That was hard. It made me so sad to see him so uncomfortable and so unhappy in that cold water. Plus, a fever that high is just plain scary. I almost started crying, but one of the things I've noticed as a mom is that you tend not to cry as much as you would have without a child present. There's some kind of inner strength or mother's intuition that kicks in and tells you that it won't do anybody any good if you start crying. I knew that if I started crying while Peter was unhappy in the tub, it would only worry him more.
Jeremiah gave him a father's blessing and I could tell that it helped to calm Peter quite a bit.
The cool bath helped to break his fever. It slowly started to go down after that. However, he was then VERY awake and decided he wanted to play until about 1 a.m. At that point, he finally went back to bed. Only to get another fever (104.2 degrees this time) at 6 a.m. He proceeded to get fevers on and off until Saturday night. Oh, and did I mention that during this time Jeremiah was also suffering from a kidney stone (I believe his 9th or 10th one in the past 4 years)? Lovely!
Peter is finally starting to get over his cold and it took a couple of days, but Jeremiah finally passed the last of his kidney stones (I think he actually had a couple this time because it usually only lasts a day and this time, it lasted three days).
It has been an exhausting week and a half. I hate those first signs of sickness in your baby. Because you just know you're in for a tough week. The worst thing about when a child is sick is that the thing they need the most is sleep and that is the thing that is the hardest for them to get because they are so uncomfortable when they're sick. Also, when your sick baby doesn't get sleep, YOU don't get sleep either. You obviously can't just let them cry themselves back to sleep when they're not feeling well. So, I have been super sleep deprived over the past week and a half.
Then, of course, it's a double whammy when you have a sick baby and a sick husband. It was a miracle I didn't get sick. A couple times, I thought I had a sore throat and I was worried that I had caught what Peter had. But I was either able to stave it off with fluids, or it was a false alarm.
Plus, when Peter is sick, he wants to spend the majority of the time cuddled up with me on my lap (which I love). But as a result, I didn't get out of my pajamas much over the past few days.
I also hate it how even when your baby is better, it takes a few days for them to "relearn" how to sleep. For instance, last night, I KNOW Peter was feeling fine. But he still woke up inconsolable at 3:45 a.m. I proceeded to go in and out trying to find ways to comfort him at least five times between 3:45 a.m. and 5 a.m. I finally had to let him cry himself back to sleep at that point because I'd already emptied my bag of comfort tricks on him and none of them had worked. Not to mention the fact that I was just plain exhausted from sleep deprivation.
So, thank goodness Peter is feeling better. Though it sure stinks that Jeremiah caught the cold from Peter that I had somehow avoided. I hope I can avoid catching it from Jeremiah!
But do any of you guys out there have tips for improving sleep when your child is sick?
what a cute fat leg
ReplyDeletePoor Sarah. Poor Peter. Poor Jeremiah. See mommy tired. See baby cry. See daddy moan.
ReplyDeleteNo fun.
You are right about the "mom" strength. I remember that time that Emily cut her head open when she fell from the tree. Dad called me from my presidency meeting and all of you were out gathered around Emily as she lie on the grass. We took her to emergency and I kept her talking the whole time that we waited, she got stitches, etc. Then that night I couldn't sleep because I was so upset but kept it in until then.
Remind me to tell you the story some time of when I left you at college that first day.
You're a good mom. And Laurie is right. That is a cute leg....even with the bandaids.
What a thigh on Mr. Peter! Love, love chubby babies!
ReplyDeleteTo answer your question, the ice castles are at Zermatt Resort in Midway, just down the street from my parents' house. The cold doesn't phase Hailey at all; she stayed outside playing in the snow for three hours, and was sad when she had to come in!
And I'm sure potty training will go better for you than it is for me. I must be cursed! The thing is, she has the full physical capability of doing it; she's done it in the past, and goes from time to time when she's in the mood. Her pediatrician says she's not emotionally ready yet. We got a book from the library entitled "The Princess and the Potty" and it fits her to a "t"! It tells a story about how it doesn't please the princess to use her potty. Very cute story, and very accurate for us. It's all an adventure right?
As far as helping your baby to sleep well when he's sick, that is very hard to do. I just think about how I feel when I'm sick, and I don't sleep well. I think just Tylenol, Vick's Baby Rub, and a humidifier. And of course lots of love, which I know you give Peter!