Poor Baby

Yesterday afternoon Charlie's daycare called at 1:49 PM.  He had just woken up from nap with a 103 degree fever and had the shivers.  As I hadn't yet squeezed in my shower, but had run 5 miles over lunch, I knew a shower was not optional.  I immediately IM'd Jason to see if he could get Charlie a 2:30 appointment at the pediatrician and ran up to the shower. 

Twenty minutes later, I was de-stinked, in the car eating a granola bar for lunch, and en route to daycare then on to Sweetgrass Pediatrics to make our 2:30 appointment.  It is such an amazing blessing to live so close to daycare and the pediatrician and to have flexibility at work -- not to mention a husband who doesn't mind acting as an administrative assistant from time to time.

For the first time ever, I didn't peek through the picture window before walking into Charlie's classroom, and I was completely unprepared for the sight that met me when I opened the door.  Miss Brenda was sitting on the floor, and Charlie was lying limp in her arms.  Obviously, in the back of my head I knew that he was fine -- she wouldn't be sitting there calmly if he wasn't, but my immediate reaction was sheer panic.  When I walked over, she just quietly shook her head, clearly as unhappy about Charlie's condition as I was.  This just was not my Charlie.  But Miss Amanda did assure me that every once in a while he would open his eyes and smile at them.  That definitely made me feel better.

Charlie peered up at me blankly when I picked him up and just snuggled into my shoulder.  I was so grateful that we had an immediate doctor appointment.  During the short walk to the car, my fears started to get a bit out of control.  What if his ear infection had gotten terribly worse?  What if it was the start of some horrible disease?  What if he was never going to feel better?  But he cheered me up a bit when he asked about Otis and smiled at a truck driving by.

At the doctor's office, they checked Charlie's ears, which were healed and tested him for the flu, and he fell asleep waiting for the results, which were negative.  Basically, he has a virus and that's all they can tell me.  I need to keep him hydrated and watch his fever.  If it isn't significantly lower by Friday I should return.  That's it.

Charlie did show interest in the school buses on the ride home and asked again about "Dogo"...so there were sparks there of himself, but that's about it.  At home he actually sat down with me and watched part of Toy Story -- completely amazed that Woody could be in the chair with us and on the TV at the same time -- until he fell asleep in my arms.  The selfish part of me definitely enjoyed the cuddle time with my baby, but the heat emanating from his body took away much of the pleasure, along with his obvious discomfort when he woke up. 

For the past 16 hours Charlie has survived on popsicles, frozen blueberries, grapes and cheese, along with random stretches of sleep.  It's killing Jason to be at work, rather than hear to watch him like a hawk, and at this point I'm just trying to help us both recover from a long, hot night and chase the crazy meningitis, terminal illness thoughts from my head.

I am so thankful that Charlie hasn't been sick much -- I'm not sure I'm strong enough to handle it!

Zonked again...

Daddy is much more comfortable than my crib

Poor baby