First Sickness

Beau has been a very healthy child. He has not been sick or needed any form of medication until now and he is 6 months old. Last Wednesday night he had a rough time sleeping. He cried off and on all night but we just thought he was not wanting to sleep and we did not go check on him. He is a baby who sleeps all night and will sometimes let out a cry but will go back to sleep and sleeps 12 hours every night. I watched him on our video monitor off and on that night and he would just roll around and cry but fall back asleep. Around 5:30am he was wide awake and so I went to get him out of his bed to change his diaper. He was soaking wet. I checked his temperature and he had 100.7 fever. He felt like he was on fire and his big cheeks were all red. He was fussy and this momma could tell her little man was sick.

I sent an email to my boss, letting her know I would be taking the day off to be with Beau. I got him changed, gave him a bottle and snuggled with him in the recliner most of the morning. Jon went to work and of course checked on us about every hour. He loves his boy and was so worried that he was sick! Beau was very irritable all morning which is not like him at all. He had a horrible runny nose and a bad cough. I gave him some Tylenol which brought his fever down and then he took about a 3 hour nap. I got some things done around the house and did some work from home on my computer so it was a somewhat productive day.

Beau got up from his nap about three hours later and was soaking wet with a fever again. This time the fever was up to 101.8. I called our pediatrician and she said to bring him in to their office around 3pm so they can check him out. RSV is going around which is a horrible virus and they wanted to make sure he did not have that. At the doctor he was fussy and just wanted to be held. They did the RSV test and ruled out RSV, thank goodness. Then they looked in his ears and was diagnosed with his first Ear Infection….boo!

 

We were sent home with the “pink” medicine, also known as Amoxicillan. We had to give it to him twice a day for 10 days and Tylenol every four hours as needed. After leaving the doctor we had to get the medicine filled so I had to take him to Walmart with me which I was not excited about. I needed a few other things at the grocery so Walmart was our best option for knocking out all those things. Beau just sat in the baby seat on the cart and looked around. He was unusually calm but very cooperative. We got the medicine filled in 15 minutes and got my groceries and we were on our way home. That night (Thursday) was the hardest, most tiring night I have ever had. I mean, this was worse than any new born night we had. He was in so much pain with his ears and just cried.

Before he went to bed I got his room “ready.” I put water in his humidifier and got that sucker going. We got an awesome little Vicks Vapor plug-in at the store which will fill the room with the smell of vicks which worked like a charm.

 

He wanted to go to bed around 7pm which is his normal bed time and he could not get comfortable in his crib so we ended up putting him in his hammock. The “hammock” as we call it is his Rock-n-Play bassinet that reclines. This allowed him to lay on his back and not on his ears. The relined position allowed his ears to drain, his nose not to run as much and his cough was much less frequent. I made sure I stayed on top of the Tylenol every four hours to keep the fever down. I ended up sleeping, or napping in our guest room which is right next to his room so I could hear him when he needed me and so Jon could sleep because he had to go to work the next day. By 5am the next morning, this momma was exhausted and decided to get up and make some coffee. Baby boy was still asleep and so I enjoyed my quiet time on the couch. Jon headed off to work and I stayed home because it was my “off” day. I take off every other Friday from work.

Beau woke up feeling much better and was much happier. He was still coughing and had a runny nose but the fever was gone and it stayed gone. The worst was over! Friday, Beau and I stayed around the house. He did not nap at all. I am not sure why because normally he naps for a good 3-4 hours but he was wide awake. That night I was so worn out from all my lack of sleep that I was very thankful that he went to bed around 6:30pm. I crashed on the couch once he was in bed! Jon and I spent that night watching football and relaxing. Bedtime for me was around 8pm and I was perfectly fine with that!

 

Having a sick child really makes your world stop. All I could do is focus on his needs and wanted to make sure he was as comfortable as he could be. It broke my heart to see him hurting. When he was a newborn and would wake up in the middle of the night I would sometimes not be very happy to go in his room to feed him. Mainly b/c I was very sleep deprived and knew that all he wanted was to be fed. When Beau was sick and up all night I had my adrenaline going and did not care if he needed me every hour that night. I was ready with my Tylenol and “suction bulb” in hand! Let me tell you, when a baby cannot blow his nose and has snot dripping down his face, that suction bulb we got in the hospital comes in so handy. He hated it but after it was all over, he could breathe and was happy.

 Saturday, Jon’s parents offered to keep Beau for us so we could get some sleep. They came to get him Saturday morning and returned him on Sunday afternoon. I cannot tell you how grateful we are to have family around to help us. Jon and I got to sleep and get some Christmas shopping done. By Sunday afternoon, Beau was back home and feeling much better. Life is back to normal!