Sunday, February 24

I've Got My Kid Back

Whew - what a week! James was sick from Monday until Saturday morning. On Saturday morning he threw up twice after his morning bottle, and I just couldn't stand watching him suffer any longer. We were all up from about 4:30am (after a big throw-up in his crib), so I figured we might as well beat the rush and head to the hospital before 9:00am. What did it matter, we were all awake anyway?! So, we took James in to the hospital. We could have just gone to the walk-in clinic, but I decided that if he was already dehydrated they would send us to a hospital anyway. There was no one there, so we got to see the Doctor almost right away. He checked James out, and thankfully he was not dehydrated. We had no way to gauge how much he had been drinking, because it seemed like anything he drank would just come back up - including water. The Doctor figured he probably had Rotavirus, which can last 7-10 days. Usually, a common stomach flu would only last 3-5 days. He definately has lost some weight - you can see it just by looking at him. But he was not thin to begin with, so he doesn't look bad.

Anyway, by Saturday afternoon he still had no fever, and seemed to be able to hold down his food and drink. The Doctor had told us to let him eat whatever and whenever he wanted - the worst that would happen is that he would just bring it up. We let him eat, and he finally kept it down. It was such a huge relief for me! By evening he was almost back to his old self, but still unusually tired. He went to bed 1/2 hour early. At 4:30am this morning he was awake and SCREAMING! We thought he had vomited, so we went rushing into his room. He just kept pointing at the door, so we let him lead us to his desired location. The fridge. He was hungry! Ryan gave him a bottle of milk, and he went back to sleep until 6:30am. He drank another 6oz. when he woke up, and then ate breakfast. He also ate his lunch, and seemed to be back to his old, happy self again. What a breath of fresh air! He didn't want to nap all morning, and only went down to nap at 1:00pm! That was a first! We decided that we needed to get out of the house after his nap, so we took my parents with us and went to the mall. James had a great time, and behaved wonderfully at the restaurant for supper.

It's amazing what one week with a sick kids, nighttime wake-ups, a million loads of laundry and a lot of vomitting can do to a person! I am totally beat. I am so thankful that he seems well again, and I hope we can start to get healthier as the weather starts to improve.

Something cute that James did today reminded me that he watches us ALL the time. His sippy cups aren't drip proof, and sometimes something will drip out when he's not careful. If there is just a small drip, and nothing around to clean it up with, Ryan or I will often just wipe it up with our foot. Today James saw his cup drip onto the floor, after which he immediately wiped it up with his foot! Hahaha!

This week's potential projects: Cut out the morning nap (seeing as he did it on his own today), take away the morning bottle (could be tough, he literally screams if we don't have one when we enter his room), and attempt the beginning stages of potty training when the potty seats arrive (no rush on this one, but he appears to be interested).

6 comments :

Drea said...

awe.. stomach flus are so hard.. im glad he is feeling better. we've had our share of those this season... never fun...especially when they dont understand whats going on.

Nin said...

yay James! such a relief when they're feeling better. It's amazing how draining it is to care for a super sick babe. We shouls be paid time and a half on those days ;) I thought that was cute that he led you to the fridge. What nice parents you are too.....at 4:30 AM I would've been like, "point all you want kid, I'm goin' back to bed!"
That's really cute what he did with his foot. Daniel is mimicking lots now too. He blows his nose (which is really just making a noise with his mouth) with wipes and kleenex. So cute.
I wish our sons could play.

Erica H said...

yay! hopefully he's now officially on the road to recovery! Sounds that way. Have you ever thought of giving his morning milk in a sippy cup? Maybe you do that already. We took Annika's bottle away around 11 months, but would just give her milk in a sippy cup.

patti said...

heather, so glad james is back to his old self.

hannah and jax have both been sick this past week. hannah is now better, but jax is still not. so when you say you have nothing left after the week, i feel your pain!

glad your week will be a better one

kelly ens said...

SO glad to hear he's feeling better - what a relief, eh?
Just wanted to suggest trying only one project this week of the ones you listed. If you try too much, he'll just get way overwhelmed and will either protest to them all and give up, or could backtrack on progress in other areas (can't think of that word right now?).
Anyway, he's still so young that trying three major changes could really be hard on him (and you!!). just a thought :)

Anonymous said...

Erica - A sippy cup just won't do. He literally freaks out if we don't come into his room in the morning with a bottle. It's very frustrating - as I thought his bedtime one would be the hardest, but it was the easiest!

Kelly - I won't actually do all these things this week. If the opportunity presents itself, I might try to make one or two of them happen.