Gametes In Love

I think I’ve discovered the secret to amazing hair: have your toddler drool on it all night long.

I’m actually not kidding.

G right now has a bit of a head cold. (Cross my fingers) he’s not sick, sick, but he has a stuffy nose. Since he refuses to BLOW his nose, it means that he wakes up at night stuffed up and doesn’t know what to do about it. He went to bed the other night super whiny and wanted me to go to bed with him (which I did). It was a rough night. He woke up often, stuffed up and coughed. We finally tackled him and used the Nosefreida on him (which by the way, on a kicking toddler is no fun), and then he was able to sleep. Sleep on my head.

I woke up with his face in my hair, mouth agape, “styling” my locks through the early hours of the morning.

Of course, since it was 6, we needed to be out of the house at 7, and I had myself to get ready, and infant to nurse/change/dress, and bags to get in the car, there was no room for a shower. Yes, hold your disgust please. This is called being a parent, Okay?

BUT, my hair looked awesome!!!! If this is what bed-head looks like post a night of toddler drool, I’d almost sign up for that daily. It had lift, the ends were curled up at the bottom, and it fell “just right” in a way I could only replicate if I spent a good long time with gel, blow-drier and a curling brush. Things I’m not doing in the morning these days, to be sure.

I really should’ve taken a picture.

Giving eye-drops to an infant is the equivalent of pinning the tail on the donkey… if you were drunk and the donkey was just stung by a bee. Or at least I imagine it is.

At this point I have administered eye drops to S2’s forehead, cheek, eye-lid and nose-ridge.

There had better be more than the exact dose of eye-drops in this little container ‘cuz my successful administration ratio (to not) isn’t looking too good. Otherwise it would suck to know that I’m paying $2.08 per drop. Arg!

3 out of the 4 bipeds in our home have been claimed by a cold. The only one not (seemingly) yet affected has been S, and I’ll be harassing him to get himself an Airbourne IV drip at this point. The progression of said cold seems to go something like this:
Day 1: scratchy throat
Day 2: full on raw throat, congestion/sinus pressure and low grade fever. The latter two work in unison to scramble your brain.
Day 3: better throat, congestion and congestion’s resilient friend: cough Day 4: better throat still, still congestion, worse cough. Although I’m only at the start of day 4, so ask me later

I don’t know which of the kids I feel sorrier for: S2 because he’s so little or G who tells you when it hurts. All 3 of us seem to be at various days of the cold.

Looks like today will be a proclaimed pajama, bed and Dinosaur Train day.

This has not been my week!

– 1 generally cranky toddler (4 tantrums by 10am and a very short nap made for a loooong Sunday)

– 1 flat tire. Miss 1/2 a work day resolving it

– 1 stripped lug-nut/bolt discovered because of flat tire. Miss another 1/2 a work day resolving that

– 1 kid diagnosed with HFMD. Again. Miss likely 2 days of work

– oh, and one dad who got shipped out of state on Sunday for a work trade show

The tire situation, while not terrible seemed to go down-hill fast, but it made me absent from work at a pretty sensitive time. The lug nut I tried to fix on my own, but once I realized it was the bolt that was also stripped I faced the music and went to the repair shop.

Then yesterday on my way to daycare, Ms. S called to let me know that G, and a few other kids in his room, had white bumps on their tongue. So off to the pediatrician we went, and he was diagnosed with Hand, Foot & Mouth. My favorite!!! Since G just had it in April, there’s a good chance it’s a mild case. Also, the doc couldn’t tell if G was at the start of it, or at the tail end of it. Pretty much we’re home today on spot watch. If the spots don’t get any worse, then he’s free to go back to daycare tomorrow. Otherwise, it looks like a fun-filled week-end, cooped up at home, with a worsening toddler. I am NOT looking forward to this! Last time G was a pitiful mess. Fussy, in pain. I felt SO terrible for him, especially since there was nothing I could do to help. There are no meds and the yuckies just have to run their course. However, I foresee lots of Jamba Juice visits over the next few days. He likes the oatmeal, and smoothies are soft. They will hopefully not irritate the mouth sores, and the cold smoothie could also numb them a bit.

The part that’s made this harder is the fact that S has been out of town too. It makes me really, REALLY admire parents who care for their children often unsupported.

At the end of the day though, I’ll admit I’m pretty grateful. While all these things were a hassle to deal with, they worked out, or will work out , fine in the end. The tire repair all ended up being free. I’m grateful for Costco’s tire policy and accountability in stripping my nut&bolt. I’m also grateful, that even if it wasn’t free, and I had to replace all 4 tires again, S and I are in a good place that this sort of emergency doesn’t stress us financially. While dealing with the car, I realized that even minor car issues are a big deal to some, and I felt very fortunate. I also feel grateful that as far as emergency calls from school go, G wasn’t physically injured and we were spared a trip to the ER. While HFMD is a royal pain, it will be over by next week and we’ll go on. S is also not gone often, and I’m just spoiled by his support, and in the grand scheme of things, everything I could handle. Even though I’ll whine about it 🙂

I have the best husband! I truly do, and am thankful for him every day. This last week he really stepped up and pulled double-parent/spouse duty, because, frankly, I couldn’t.

Remember my last morning-sickness post? Yeah, well, things progressively got worse over the week. As of Wed I was officially hugging the porcelain bowl, and by yesterday I had added chills & other bathroom-confining activities to my schedule. It sucked! My RE’s office put me on Zofran and called me every morning since. When the chills and GI problems started they sent me to my PCP for further evaluation, because my symptoms no longer pointed to morning sickness, but perhaps actual illness. Good news? I’m feeling much better today. Although none of my labs have produced any diagnosis over why I’ve felt the way I do, today was a drastic improvement.

I’ve felt so poorly over the past few days though, that I couldn’t get up in the morning. S has really had to do all activities around the house and with G. And he’s done it with kindness and without complaint. He stayed home today, because my PCP warned that depending on my lab results I might need to be admitted to the hospital for re-hydration. We didn’t do the “in sickness and in health”-bit in our vows. None the less, the man is there for me and I cherish that more than you’ll know.

Love you, babe!

Apparently our house is so much fun to visit that the Tooth Faerie brought some friends to party: the Crud! Friend #1 is also known as Hand, Foot & Mouth Disease. Yey! How did we ever get so lucky?

Yesterday G was just in a crummy mood. His eyes were bulgy, he was in a sour mood all day, and very, very clingy. He drooled like he hasn’t since he was an infant, and spiked a low grade fever to boot. He gnawed on Sofie like there was no tomorrow. I finally saw one of his canines peak through, so I thought: “Teething. Fabulous!” and dosed him up with some Tylenol.

Then today came. At 5:40am G woke up crying. Not “I’m rolling over and kind of awake” crying, but real “Get in here” crying. He ate early last night, so I knew he was hungry, and with a normal 6:20am wake up, he wasn’t too far off. He sucked down his milk, quieted down and went back to sleep. My morning routine went out the window, but life was still fine.

Then 10:00am came. Mrs. J called the house to let us know that not one, nor two, but ALL of the kids in G’s class (except for one infant) had Hand, Foot & Mouth Disease and every parent needed to come collect a child: preferably their own. Apparently there was a kid that came down with it last week, and even though the child wasn’t in G’s room, it’s spread through like wildfire.

Since then life hasn’t been too much fun. The blisters are def. a lot more noticeable now. Where this morning there was nothing, by this evening G was sporting a rash on his knees, bum, and roof of his mouth. There are traces on his feet and hands too. IT SUCKS!!!! He’s crying because he’s in pain. He’s hungry, but can’t eat because his mouth hurts. There’s only so much Tylenol and Motrin we can dish out, and hugs go so far. It’s gonna be a rough night. Tomorrow’s supposed to be worse, since he appears to be on the first of the three bad days (the Internets refer to).

S meanwhile has had a stomach ache since Friday. He saw a doc today and had his blood taken. It might be appendicitis, but we need some tests to confirm. Tooth Faerie’s friend #2. S is in pain and it hurts to walk… even hold G. He’s just being really brave though this, and I appreciate it. It’s days like today that remind me just how incredibly fortunate I am to have a partner in this parenting ride. Sleepless nights and sick kiddos is where my hat comes off for all the single parents out there.

OK, whine over… for now.

Are you the kind of parent that likes to try out things before subjecting your kid to them? S isn’t, but I am. I don’t mean testing the absorbency of his diapers by trying one on, but for example, I’ll taste his food before offering it to him (and lemme tell you some if it is G-r-o-s-s, w/ a capital G: no wonder he turns his nose to 1/2 of it!). Anyway…

G brought a lovely souvenir home from day-care this week: a runny nose. I’m not sure if it’s a bug going around, or the fact that he’s teething (again), but he’s been mighty sniffly these past two days. So enter in the nose sucker: G’s nemesis. He hates the thing with a passion. It takes two of us to suck out his nose. One to actually maneuver The Device, and the other to hold down his arms. Meanwhile G screams, kicks and flaps around like a fish out of water.

So today, waking up with a stuffy nose of my own (G likes to shove his fingers in my mouth while he nurses, so maybe it is a bug), I decided to try out the bulb syringe. I expected to feel like my brains were being sucked out of my head, based on G’s reaction, and it really wasn’t bad. At all. So I don’t get it. Why does he make such a big deal out of it?

In G’s defense, S tried to tell me that we needed a proportional mechanism: I needed to stick the vacuum cleaner house up to my nose, turn it on the low setting and then try it. I don’t quite buy it but O.K.

Either way — I can’t wait for G to figure out how to blow.

The sniffles faerie brought a friend! Yeah, an ear infection. We’re sooo (not) lucky.

But G is taking it like a champ. After a day of whining and poor naps he’s in a much better mood today. He’s a sight to behold though — his nose is drippy and his eyes are goopy. Yeah, who’da thunk that snot can come out of your eyes. Not attractive! But thanx to my online moms I got the very sound advice that it could be an ear infection and his pedi should check him out. Sure enough; Dr. M confirmed the ear/sinus infection and gave us some antibiotics to take for two weeks.

We’ve also discovered that in addition to hating the nose sucker, G also dislikes having his eyes wiped. Apparently this child is not big into personal hygiene.

Good news, though, is that he’s not contagious so he’s going back to daycare tomorrow. I got a note from the doc saying so though, because I didn’t want other parents to worry when they saw that puffy, snotty-eyed child o’mine.

I’m staying home with him today, and I’ll admit, although I’m not thrilled it’s because he’s sick, I’m enjoying a work-day off to cuddle with my snuggle bug. I miss maternity leave 🙁 For those that would encourage either S or I to be a stay-at-home parent, though, please share with us your winning lottery ticket first.

P.S. Note to future me: goopy eyes + runny nose + stinky G breath = sinus/ear infection + antibiotics

P.P.S. What did moms do before the internet?

G has a stuffy nose. It’s not the first time in his life (a stuffy nose was one of the first souveniers he brought home from daycare),  but today’s was the first night there’s been any impact from it.

My normally ‘sleeps like a log’ kid was up every hour or so last night because he couldn’t breathe.

I learned that my natural instinct is apparently to comfort, not solve problems. It wasn’t until my third sleep-zombie walk to G’s crying bedside that I realized that just rocking my kid back to sleep wasn’t cutting it.

I sprayed saline drops in his nose and busted out the bulb syringe:  both considered to be torture devices in G’s mind. He got pissed off for being brought out from his already weaning slumber, only to be tormented, and proceeded to express his ‘appreciation’ by screaming. But I got the job done and then cuddled my little guy. In the end I ended up putting him in his swing. I realize it’s not the most ergonomically proper way to sleep, but it’s the biggest incline I can have him sleep in, so that his nose drains out.

He slept soundly (or I guess as soundly as can be with a stuffy head) after that.

Today the vaporizer comes out of the box. I was another wake-up away
from setting it up last night, but I got lucky enough with the swing to buy myself a few more hours of sleep.

God, I hope this doesn’t turn out to be a full blown cold. I know he’s bound to get one, and is probably overdue for one, but I’m still hoping that his first cold can wait until he can take some basic direction… Things like ‘blow’ or ‘swallow’; ‘snort’ or ‘don’t move’.

Ugh! Hate sickness. The only othet thing I can think of to do is to spent a ton of time holding him so that I can get his germs, make antibodies, and then pass them back to him through feeding. A bath in a steamy room, maybe?

What else am I missing?

If that wasn’t enough, the poop-supreme I talked about the other day produced a diaper rash not yet seen in our home. We’re still dealing with it. I think G will be spending some quality nakie time this week-end at home if it doesn’t get any better by then.

Stuffy nose & rashy bottom. Poor kiddo! At least he’s still in good spirits and generally a happy little guy.

The other day I had a follow up appointment at my OB’s office. S was at home with G, so as I waited patiently in the office I was flipping through the literature. They had this book called Baby 411. Seemed like an interesting read.

I stumbled across the “Illness” section and as I was reading about projectile, Exorcist-like vomiting I realized I’m pretty afraid of G getting sick. It had always been on the back of my mind. I mean, getting sick is inevitable, and since G is not superhuman he willl get his first cold sooner or later. Since he’s going into day care sooner might be sooner than I’d like.

I dread this! I’m worried I won’t recognize a cold and he’ll suffer because his mommy is an idiot. How do I know what hurts? What if he has a sore throat and doesn’t want to eat for pain of swallowing? What if he throws up? Crap, what if he has a high fever? How high is too high? I don’t think I’ll have enough time to finish up med school before the first Booger Man visit!

Yeah, I’m paranoid!

That book said that the average child will spend 80 days being sick between the months of October and April (prime cold/flu season). 80 days!?!? That’s 80 days that my little guy would be miserable. That just breaks my heart.

I now have an urge to douse his room with disinfectant, have everyone wear hospital gowns around the house and scrub in before they enter.

Anyone have an isolation bubble I can borrow?