And he was super warm at the parade in his monkey costume thanks to Auntie Georgia.
He was going to be spaghetti and meatballs on Sunday similar to this picture. But Luke was going to sit in a giant cooking pot.
But he had a fever on Sunday morning and we saw it go from 100.2 on Sunday morning to 102.1 on Monday morning. I’d heard it was common for infants to get a fever and I wasn’t terribly worried in the beginning. I had left the details of his costume until last minute and I still had to go to the store on Sunday to finish making his Sunday costume. But once we knew he had a fever, Pete and I agreed there would be no trick or treating for him – so why go to the store and work on a costume he wouldn’t be using? I knew I could spend my time better by staying in and worrying. We were only going to go up and down our block and one block south anyway and I felt a little guilty about asking for candy for a baby who clearly would not be eating any candy. Once it was determined that he’d be staying in…and we saw his fever go up, he began to act more and more miserable. He had never had a fever before and it was amazing how obvious it was to feel his skin and know he had a fever. Poory guy was burning up! There had been many times that I wondered if he had a fever and tested it with the thermometer. Now that I KNOW what a fever feels like, I can’t believe I had tested it so many times before.
As the night wore on, the fever got worse - as did his pain and his mood went in the crapper. He would not lie down in his crib. He would not eat. He would not sleep. He would barely take a bottle. What he could do very well is scream. And cry. And whine. And hit. The closest we could get to comforting him is holding him upright so his head was against your shoulder and swaying. You had to keep moving or he would cry. If you tried to sit down, he would cry. I figured out a cool move where I would continue swaying/rocking as I squatted to sit down and once I sat I had to keep moving in order to trick him. So then I was sitting and rocking and he would sometimes close his eyes a bit and be silent – for about 10 minutes until he jerked and woke himself up and started screaming. I figured out how to kinda sorta sleep in 10 minute stretches while sitting on the couch and rocking. Pete and I took turns holding him but then Luke got to the point that he only wanted Mama and didn’t calm down very much with Pete. I think I got about an hour and a half sleep combined on Sunday night and Pete maybe got 2 hours. Then he got in about an hour and a half nap on Monday morning. I worked from home and we kept giving him baby Tylenol every 4 or 5 hours which helped his mood a little bit. I was able to get into the doctor that day at 1:00 and she confirmed our guess that he had an ear infection and prescribed antibiotics. As soon as we opened the bottle I had flashbacks of that bubblegum smelling pink stuff I remember taking as a kid. He actually got some sleep last night. He slept from 7:30 until we woke him up at 12:30 a.m. Poor kid. I felt terrible waking up the little guy and shoving this medicine in his mouth hoping if we did it quickly he might fall back asleep. No such luck. He was one pissed off baby. It made me think about alien abductions as we tiptoed into his room, took him out of bed, shoved something icky in him and thought we could tiptoe back out. He screamed. And screamed. And screamed some more. I held him and rocked him and he finally fell back asleep again. But now I was so distraught that I couldn’t sleep. I was up until about 2:00 a.m. and back up again at 5:00 a.m. I called to check in with Grace and he is doing well today. He’s taking his bottle and eating and he was taking a nap when I called. Antibiotics area wonderful wonderful thing.
So poor Luke is on the mend. Now mom and dad just need to get back on track. I can’t imagine how:
a) single parents handle a sick child
b) how any parent handles more than one child being sick at the same time
c) being a sick parent and having to take care of a sick child
d) how to handle a child who is sick more than 2 nights in a row.
I’m sure we’ll get the hang of things and the next time he has a fever or an ear infection (because I think it’s appropriate to say “when” and not “if”) we’ll be a little better prepared on what to expect.
I think Pete described it pretty accurately when he said that “Luke cried more in 24 hours than he did since he was born.”
Get better, Luke and Halloween will be better next year!
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