Sick Baby

Andrew has a whopper of a cold. When I picked him up from daycare on Tuesday afternoon, he was cranky and felt warm. He was breathing fast and shallow (probably due to the fever). Tuesday night was one of the worst nights of sleep he's ever had -- up every couple of hours crying, etc. The only thing that would comfort him was nursing (again, thank GOD for breastfeeding), and basically the only way he could fall asleep and stay asleep was on my shoulder.

I kept him home yesterday, since his temp was hovering around 102 (it got close to 103 at one point). I finally called the pediatrician after he'd been whining constantly for many hours -- the Tylenol didn't seem to be cutting it, and I wondered if maybe he had an ear infection or something. Turns out his ears and lungs are clear, thank goodness, but that he just has a bad cold.

Last night he went to bed at his usual time of 7:30 after a bath and a nursing session, but he was up at 9:30 and 11:00 p.m. I figured we were in for another horrible night's sleep, and I gave him his dose of Tylenol at the 11:00 waking...and he slept until 4:40! I changed him, took his temp (100.5 at the time), and fed him, and called daycare and work, since I knew we'd be out for another day. He seemed to be feeling much better, and even enjoyed some time in his exersaucer and on his play mat. Then, around 6:30 a.m. he got fussy again. I figured he was still tired since, in total, he really only got about 8 hours of sleep last night, which for a baby is not a lot, so I put him down in his crib. But he was having none of that; it wasn't until I swaddled him (including his arms, which we hardly ever do anymore) and put him in the bed next to me that he calmed down enough to sleep, as I lay next to him stroking his hair and shhhh-ing him. My poor sick little babykins.

He slept until about 9:15 a.m., at which point I fed him, changed him, and took his temp: 101.9. Yikes! Here's hoping the fever breaks soon. I now know there are few things more pleasing to a mother than the feel of her baby's forehead, cool and fever-free, against her cheek...