Sickness Sucks

Today is the first day in 2.5 weeks that Eddie and I have been more or less healthy. We both still have minor coughs and the occasional runny noses, but we are pretty much back to normal. Neither of us were ever SUPER sick, but the colds we got lasted for too long. Daycare even shut down one day each of the last two weeks because everyone had this illness and just couldn't kick it. Bleh. (Strangely, Dave never got sick--a miracle since he always seems to catch whatever infection Eddie or I have.)

After two weeks of fevers, a deep cough that disappeared and then returned, extreme lethargy, a red teary eye, and three doctors visits to check for ear infections, we took Eddie to the hospital to get him pumped full of IV fluid. It had been a few days since he'd met the minimum "three wet diapers a day" criteria for proper hydration and I was getting (maybe a little too) worried. If you know Eddie at all, then you know that it is NOT normal for him to crawl into your lap and instantly fall asleep. Normal playtime was exhausting for him and he wasn't sleeping well at night. Try as we might, we could not force him to drink more than a few sips of water a day. We bought all sorts of yummy drinks for him, stuff he almost never gets but always wants: juice boxes, chocolate milk, frozen yogurt and ice cream, go-gurt, popsicles, gatorade, etc. He was just too sick to be interested in any of it. But after that IV rehydrated him he recovered very quickly. Amazing how much benefit there is to drinking lots of fluid!

Normally I wouldn't want an invasive thing like an IV done on Eddie...but the doctors seemed to think it was best and it was heartbreaking to see my sweet baby so out of sorts. He handled it very well...by completely passing out!

The hospital also did a blood workup to make sure everything was fine. Other than having low potassium levels from not eating for a few days, Eddie was okay. His white blood cell count was 10,000--I have no idea what that number means but the doctor said it was fine but didn't indicate if the illness was viral or bacterial. We're both on 10 day doses of amoxicillan for our infections (me = sinus, Eddie = ear and throat).

Thank GOD for Thomas the Tank Engine videos. Er, video, singular. Eddie loves trains right now...but only the non-animated, model train videos of Thomas and Friends. Dave went to the library and rented a computer animated Thomas movie that Eddie didn't like (I think there's not enough action for him and he can't follow plot lines yet). So we were stuck watching the same dang Thomas DVD over and over and over and over and over again. I bought five new non-animated Thomas DVDs last night at Target (on sale!) so we won't go crazy anymore if we get stuck inside for that long again.

Dave stayed home with us Monday, Tuesday, and early yesterday morning to help us out. I love that Dave is able to be home with us like that when we need him to...I just wish he could be home more while we HEALTHY instead of using his vacation days on illness.

We slept on the guest bed with a cranky/feverish/clingy Eddie one night this past weekend. Neither of us could handle his loud snoring so after he was asleep, we went back to our own bed. For the next few night, Eddie did better sleeping in the "big" bed that is in his room next to his crib. It is a queen sized bed of my brother's that we put in there last summer when Edward moved his stuff into our house. It has been great because we could just move Eddie and his pack-n-play into the dining room to let adult guests sleep on the big bed. We read our story books on that bed every night before tucking Eddie into bed in his crib so he's used to it. But now it seems that Eddie might be outgrowing the crib, emotionally. Lucky for me, he can't open twisty door knobs yet so his room can be his containment instead of his crib rails. It is hilarious to see such a small kiddo sleeping on such a big bed.

Since Edward and Jennifer have moved back to California (woooo!), we'll be giving them the bed back soon. So we're on the market for a replacement "big bed" for Eddie's room. I think we've settled on a twin with a trundle...but I might be interested in twin bunk beds with a trundle. Eddie'll eventually have siblings with whom to share a room and I love having extra sleeping spaces in the house. As long as you don't snore too loudly, anyone is welcome to come have a sleepover in Eddie's room with him!