Last night I revised (a.k.a. reduced) the number of kids I want to have. Just kidding! But it was a tough night. The toughest since becoming a parent. And it's just a little too soon and I'm just a little too sleep-deprived to start laughing at the situation just yet but here's the blow-by-blow with my best attempt at clever commentary. And while reading this I just want to remind you that I have the best husband in the whole world.
At 3:00 yesterday afternoon William woke up from his nap a little extra angry and extremely hot. I knew he had a fever because I had just been doing a bunch of house cleaning so I, myself, was hot and when I kissed his forehead it was burning up. I took his temp twice just to be sure. It was 101. I figured he was getting more teeth so I gave him some Tylenol and called it a day.
At dinner time William continued to be in an extra cranky mood but it was coupled by something that is very unusual for him. He wouldn't eat his dinner. I tried all his favorites but he only wanted to complain and rub his eyes.
So we moved on to bath time and bedtime. Bath time was uneventful. After his bath we took his temp again. This time: 103. I wrote it off as, "he just got out of the bath" and gave him another dose of Tylenol. Bedtime, like dinner, was extremely unusual. Our typical routine after bath is that I nurse him for a couple of minutes and then put him to bed awake but sleepy. William is very easy to put to bed. If he's tired, he won't complain one iota. But last night it was like he had narcolepsy. I tried to nurse him but he fell sound asleep in my arms in one minute flat. William hasn't fallen asleep in my arms since he was five-months-old. I figured it was because of the teeth and Brian and I were in for an evening all to ourselves. [Insert evil laugh here.]
Eleven thirty was when we first heard the wails coming from his bedroom. And from then on I don't really remember all the specific details of the night. I just know that William did not sleep from 11:30 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. save for a 20-minute gift from heaven at 3:00 a.m. And it wasn't like he was just awake. He was awake and crying. Hard. They kind of sobs where his whole body convulsed. The kind of sobs that made me sob because nothing I did would help make it better.
Normally in these circumstances Brian and I would tag team. You go downstairs with him for an hour while I sleep and vice versa. Today is Friday so it would be easy for Brian to take a sick day or come in a little later. Well, any Friday except this Friday. Today is end of the sales quarter for him and he's got a big deal coming in. Out of the question to stay home. But Brian, being the best husband in the world as I mentioned above and sensing my overwhelming frustration, tag teamed anyway. Even more so than me.
Our one saving grace was Baby Einstein. Supposedly they just came out with this study that said these videos are a determent to babies who watch them. After so much exposure babies can have delayed speech and so on and so forth. William has seen his video maybe two other times before last night. See, these videos have this option on the menu. Repeat Play. And because William hardly ever watches the video it's all new to him. So we strapped him into his too-small-for-him bouncy seat and let the show begin. This bought us about 2-3 hours of sleep. I highly recommend this video to any new parents under the categories, "Last Resort" and "Desperate Attempts."
Now about this time many of you may be asking, "Why didn't you try [fill-in-the-blank]?" Trust me, we tried E V E R Y T H I N G. A bottle. Some food. Tylenol. The boob (different from the boob tube). Letting him cry in his crib. The too-small-for-him swing. Tylenol. The rocking chair. Liquor on his gums. Tylenol. Nothing would cease the aforementioned described state of crying.
Finally after my 2-3 hours of sleep I turned off Einstein and got up with him at 5:30. I made him some cereal but he still was not hungry. So, very simply, I swaddled him up, took him upstairs, turned on his Baby Einstein CD (they've thought of everything, this Baby Einstein) and rocked him. I opened the shades a bit so he could look outside in hopes that he would calm down and overcome his overtiredness so that he could sleep. And after about a half hour he did. I laid him in his crib and he slept until 9:30. At that time, thankfully, he ate something and then calmly went back to sleep which is what he is still doing.
It was a trying time as a parent but we got through it. And that's all I have to keep remembering. Because that's all you can do, is get through it. There's going to more kids and there's going to be more nights like this. Maybe worse. (Possible? Not sure.) But all we can do is pray and get through it.
With that, Mama Nash is going to take a Labor Day hiatus from her blog. We'll see you all on Tuesday.
UPDATE: If you are just reading this post for the first time or if you're coming back there has been an update to this story. William's fever did not go away this afternoon and with it being a holiday weekend I thought it would be a good idea to take him into the clinic to get checked out. Diagnosis: Severe ear infection. No wonder! He has his first dose of antibiotics in him and some Motrin (better than Tylenol so says Doc). He should be shiny and new by noon tomorrow. The downside: Looks like William has not only inherited all of his father's physical features but also his ear canal. Great.
At 3:00 yesterday afternoon William woke up from his nap a little extra angry and extremely hot. I knew he had a fever because I had just been doing a bunch of house cleaning so I, myself, was hot and when I kissed his forehead it was burning up. I took his temp twice just to be sure. It was 101. I figured he was getting more teeth so I gave him some Tylenol and called it a day.
At dinner time William continued to be in an extra cranky mood but it was coupled by something that is very unusual for him. He wouldn't eat his dinner. I tried all his favorites but he only wanted to complain and rub his eyes.
So we moved on to bath time and bedtime. Bath time was uneventful. After his bath we took his temp again. This time: 103. I wrote it off as, "he just got out of the bath" and gave him another dose of Tylenol. Bedtime, like dinner, was extremely unusual. Our typical routine after bath is that I nurse him for a couple of minutes and then put him to bed awake but sleepy. William is very easy to put to bed. If he's tired, he won't complain one iota. But last night it was like he had narcolepsy. I tried to nurse him but he fell sound asleep in my arms in one minute flat. William hasn't fallen asleep in my arms since he was five-months-old. I figured it was because of the teeth and Brian and I were in for an evening all to ourselves. [Insert evil laugh here.]
Eleven thirty was when we first heard the wails coming from his bedroom. And from then on I don't really remember all the specific details of the night. I just know that William did not sleep from 11:30 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. save for a 20-minute gift from heaven at 3:00 a.m. And it wasn't like he was just awake. He was awake and crying. Hard. They kind of sobs where his whole body convulsed. The kind of sobs that made me sob because nothing I did would help make it better.
Normally in these circumstances Brian and I would tag team. You go downstairs with him for an hour while I sleep and vice versa. Today is Friday so it would be easy for Brian to take a sick day or come in a little later. Well, any Friday except this Friday. Today is end of the sales quarter for him and he's got a big deal coming in. Out of the question to stay home. But Brian, being the best husband in the world as I mentioned above and sensing my overwhelming frustration, tag teamed anyway. Even more so than me.
Our one saving grace was Baby Einstein. Supposedly they just came out with this study that said these videos are a determent to babies who watch them. After so much exposure babies can have delayed speech and so on and so forth. William has seen his video maybe two other times before last night. See, these videos have this option on the menu. Repeat Play. And because William hardly ever watches the video it's all new to him. So we strapped him into his too-small-for-him bouncy seat and let the show begin. This bought us about 2-3 hours of sleep. I highly recommend this video to any new parents under the categories, "Last Resort" and "Desperate Attempts."
Now about this time many of you may be asking, "Why didn't you try [fill-in-the-blank]?" Trust me, we tried E V E R Y T H I N G. A bottle. Some food. Tylenol. The boob (different from the boob tube). Letting him cry in his crib. The too-small-for-him swing. Tylenol. The rocking chair. Liquor on his gums. Tylenol. Nothing would cease the aforementioned described state of crying.
Finally after my 2-3 hours of sleep I turned off Einstein and got up with him at 5:30. I made him some cereal but he still was not hungry. So, very simply, I swaddled him up, took him upstairs, turned on his Baby Einstein CD (they've thought of everything, this Baby Einstein) and rocked him. I opened the shades a bit so he could look outside in hopes that he would calm down and overcome his overtiredness so that he could sleep. And after about a half hour he did. I laid him in his crib and he slept until 9:30. At that time, thankfully, he ate something and then calmly went back to sleep which is what he is still doing.
It was a trying time as a parent but we got through it. And that's all I have to keep remembering. Because that's all you can do, is get through it. There's going to more kids and there's going to be more nights like this. Maybe worse. (Possible? Not sure.) But all we can do is pray and get through it.
With that, Mama Nash is going to take a Labor Day hiatus from her blog. We'll see you all on Tuesday.
UPDATE: If you are just reading this post for the first time or if you're coming back there has been an update to this story. William's fever did not go away this afternoon and with it being a holiday weekend I thought it would be a good idea to take him into the clinic to get checked out. Diagnosis: Severe ear infection. No wonder! He has his first dose of antibiotics in him and some Motrin (better than Tylenol so says Doc). He should be shiny and new by noon tomorrow. The downside: Looks like William has not only inherited all of his father's physical features but also his ear canal. Great.
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