A Traumatic Weekend

Thursday I was eagerly looking forward to a long weekend at home with my little boy, a long-overdue haircut and some downtime. A weekend at home I got, although it has been stressful, scary, tiring, and at times, heart-wrenching. I was feeling a little proud of myself that my child was not one of those "sick" babies, and we had avoided coughs, colds and ear infections for all of 5 months even though he shares a daycare with eight other babies, and visits the church nursery each Sunday. Friday morning Wyatt woke up bright and early at seven, and he felt a little warm. I didn't think much of it and got him up to feed him. He immediately fell right back to sleep which is very unusual for him, since he is always very playful in the mornings. I laid him back in his crib and got ready for my dentist appt. Mark's mom was coming over to watch him. I then heard him crying and picked him up to notice he was much warmer than when he had woken up earlier. I took his temp which registerd at 101.5, a little high, but I figured a call into the pediatrician would help me to know if he needed to be seen. He really wasn't too fussy, so I decided to head to the dentist's office, and left him with my mother-in-law, promising to call as soon as I heard from the doctor. The nurse at Dr. Jolly's office called back 10 minutes later, and said that it was probably just a "fever virus" and that there wasn't much they could do for him. They told me to give him Tylenol every 4 hours, and he would be fine. I let my mother-in-law know, and she offered to take him to Clanton and let me have the afternoon to run errands and get my hair cut. By 2 p.m. she had called to say that his fever was at 103.4. I began to feel very panicky, since in my line of work, I know that when an infants temp runs over 103, you are supposed to seek immediate medical attention . Of course, the doctor's office was closed for lunch, so I had to leave a message for the on-call nurse and pace the floor until they called me back. They finally called me back 25 minutes later, and the nurse who is now talking to me like I am a 4-year old, is telling me that I didn't give him enough Tylenol. Oh Really?? Is that all?? At that point, I call Liz and she rushes him back to the house where we give him a cool bath. I then drive to three different CVS's looking for an infant decongestant ( I later find out that the nurse was wrong, there is no such thing- only pediatric triaminic, which you aren't really supposed to use until your child is four) Wyatt screamed most of the night, in obvious pain still running a very high fever. Some numbing ear drops were called in for him and Mark had to drive to the pharmacy at 11:00 at night to help Wyatt with the pain until we could get into the doctor's office. Saturday morning, we took him to the doctor where they ran several tests to check for RSV. Turns out, it is an ear infection. He has been on and off screaming for two days (I am not talking fussy and crying, folks- I am talking all out wailing at the top of his lungs), has thrown up his amoxicillion and bottles all over me twice, and has been extremely clingy. Thank God he is asleep right now. I was at my wits end this afternoon and had to leave the house for an hour after crying with Wyatt because I was at an absolute loss as to what to do. I guess I have joined the club of moms who have had sick children, and I wishI wasn't a member. This is so, so not fun. I am exhausted mentally, physically and emotionally.