The Sprayberries

Playing the role of bratty sibling will be...

[jd] 2 October 2007

This weekend marked a rite of parental passage for us: total and complete loss of sleep due to a sick baby. Cayden was cranky starting Friday night, but his unhappiness ramped up and was joined by a fever on Saturday night. I talked to a physician on call, but his statement that we should take him to urgent care if the fever didn't drop in an hour was preceded by, "I can't diagnose your baby over the phone". That made his advice sound very anti-litigious to us. Since Cayden seemed sick and cranky but not inconsolable or suffering, Tyson was very reluctant to expose him to the germs associated with urgent care and emergency clinics. I can agree with that, so Saturday was spent with him sleeping between us (for whopping 1 1/2 hour stretches), constant brief nursings and maniacal diaper checking to make sure he wasn't dehydrated. He was less cranky Sunday morning, and we took him for a walk with Roland since the weather was actually bearable. He screamed his way own for a nap at noon, and we thought, "This is it. He will sleep for 2-3 hours and wake up feeling better". Well, he only slept an hour but he did wake up with no fever and acting like a normal cheerful baby. Sadly this only lasted a couple hours. When his fever and crankiness spiked up again we went to the doctor, where poor Nubsies was diagnosed with a bilateral ear infection. Thus begins his first round of antibiotics at 5 months old. We aren't crazy about it, but it is better than leaving his ears untreated. Tyson stayed home with him yesterday, and I took over in the evening so Ty could attend our planned Patriots vs. Bengals party at Cincinatti-native friend's house without me (Pats won! I didn't watch the game, I am not so far gone as to watch football on my own). After two and a half hours of a baby who was only happy if he was physically attached to me, I finally got him to go to sleep. I had him nestled on the couch next to my chair, and Alia came over to check us out. She was being a cute, sniffy, investigative kitty, so I didn't stop her from checking Cayden out. She gently touched his cheek, then put her mouth right next to his ear and let out a piercing meow JUST to wake him up, and it WORKED. She looked completely satisfied when she calmly jumped off the counch after Cayden started crying. It has never been so hard for me to not stuff my cat in the oven for safe keeping.