Poor little Tate has been off all week. He's definitely teething as he's constantly asking me to put my fingers in his mouth. When I do massage his gums, he's immediately happier! And I don't feel any of those teeth making a break for the surface anytime soon, so I'm wondering how the next few months will go.
When I picked him up from daycare yesterday evening, one of the teachers told me he had been a little whiny in the afternoon, and earlier that day his main teacher had told me he had refused most of his lunch and had been clingier all week long. We made it home, and he picked at his dinner. When I went to take him out of his highchair he felt like he was on fire. Poor little guy had a fever of 101.2. Into a cool bath he went after being dosed with some ibuprofen. He was fast asleep in a matter of minutes after his bath...no books, a sure sign he felt awful. He did sleep pretty well though he awoke at 327am and seemed to think it was time to get the day started. He was quickly disavowed of that notion and slept until 530am at which time he was whining at me. I walked over to the crib with the intention of putting him in bed with me. As I got to him he pronounced 'POOP!' I was shocked and asked him if he had pooped. He looked at me like I was a moron and said 'Yes! Poop!' This is HUGE for Baby Tate. He laid right down and had me change him...no fussing at all. Not one movement. (it was a good sized poop...I would have wanted it off too!). Might this be a sign of things to come in the diaper area? I even got another 70 minute of sleep out of him.
Yet, when we woke a little before 7am he was burning up again...101.6 this time. So swim lessons were scratched. He got to have a pajama day!! My mom was generous enough and came over to watch him so I could go get my hair relaxed...anyone who's black and has relaxed hair knows how hard those appointments are to come by in a busy salon. Rescheduling just doesn't happen for the next day or week. So I left my little guy in the awesome hands of his grandmommy.
I'm thinking as I tool along to the post office to mail a quick package that this won't be so bad. Though it's steaming hot outside, I'm on call and I'm worried about Tate, I anticipate being home pretty quickly. Well, best laid plans.
Please praytell what is wrong with the United States Postal Service? Seriously. I have never seen people less happy to be working. And goodness knows I'm not happy that I have to work, but that's not my patients' fault. So put on a smile and get with the program. Your job affords you to eat, drink and sleep. And that's the nice clean way of saying my feelings on the subject. Suffice it to say I left the first post office package still in hand and drove out of my way to another. Finally mailed my package and raced to my hair appointment. Hairs relaxed, but my stylist forgot to put a towel or plastic cover on me, so my shirt was soaked after the wash! I mean soaked. Now this is great when you're outside in the 107 degree heat, but in there with their A/C set on 52 degrees...not so much. She had time to dry my hair, so I gratefully had her do that not remembering that it was going to cost A FORTUNE!!! Sigh. As I sit there, my mom calls to tell me Tate only napped an hour, ate little to no lunch and now was awake crying and really hot. It took me 8 minutes to help her navigate through the house to find the appropriate medicine dropper for some more Ibuprofen.
As I'm talking to her I get another call. This is from my assistant on call with me. Yup! Some kid had broken a tooth and was leaving on Sunday for a week for some camp yada yada yada. His mom wanted something done today, so he wouldn't be in pain. Sigh. Ugh. I have no assistant on call with me at this office, so treatment is 10 times more difficult when needed. In emergent situations the kids are either in such shock they can't help but cooperate, scared silly and behave like banshees or their parents are so damn nervous they can't shut up and let me do my job such as it is in a compromised situation with no help.
Thankfully, this kid had the nervous mom and annoying little friend :) with him. And the mom was actually quite cool and extremely appreciative of my coming in. Got the little boy all fixed up and he will be off to camp on Sunday. I finally make my way back home to my sweet boy and along the way my car swerves to the right and the tire pressure light comes on! Yep! FLAT TIRE!
A flat tire. In Houston. In 107 degree weather. And no I can't change a tire especially on this car of mine. It's an Infiniti and it has this special tire lock thingie-ma-bob. I call the Infiniti Roadside Assistance who have me on the phone for 10 minutes and 18 seconds before informing me that my contract expired on May 26 of this year, as my cell phone battery is dwindling. I practically shove my credit card information through the phone to the woman and beg her to get me some help quickly. Amazingly enough the tow truck/assistance guy arrived within 14 minutes of my hanging up with the customer service lady. He got me fixed up and now I'm driving on my lovely spare which makes this car behave like a bicycle missing 10 spokes. Now I have to drive down the freeway tomorrow, WITH TATE, in this car to get the tire fixed. Mind you these are not cheap tires, and on the G35 you can't rotate the tires because gee, the front and back tires are different sizes. Yeah, I wasn't told this when I bought the car, and I'm pretty sure even if I had been told they were different sizes that I wouldn't have known the consequences. The salesman did tell me they would be expensive to replace. And yes I still bought the car!! (I do love the way it handles and drives)
Finally, I made it home. Grandmommy and Tate were happily playing and Vincent was in his usual spot on the couch. Grandmommy left to navigate Houston traffic to go home at 4pm. Tate and I played, he picked at his dinner and only ate applesauce and a few yogurt melts. Oh and did I mention we had to miss our swimming lesson for this morning? And we won't be going to our Gymboree class in the morning as his fever was over 102 this evening at bedtime. AND we can't go to the little birthday party he was invited to tomorrow afternoon. Sigh.
So, yes fever was 102 as I put him down tonight. He was asleep by 640pm. He woke up around 830pm and was still hot, and I had given him some ibuprofen when I put him down. Now I'm getting worried. He has no other symptoms...no congestion, no cough, he's not pulling on his ears. I don't think it's just teething as I don't think fevers get this high with teething. He is definitely miserable when the fever is returning, and he's exhausted. I'm truly praying that it will run its course over the next 24 hours. We are off to my parents' tomorrow and will drop my car off to see about the tire and will spend the night with them to be there for Father's Day.
So, tonight I'm almost scared to go upstairs and go to sleep. I tend to not be a worrier when he's sick, but he's never remained febrile for over 24 hours only to be relieved with analgesics, so that bothers me. And now my mind is racing...what if his fever gets so high he has a seizure in the middle of the night and I'm asleep. I know febrile seizures are common and usually not life-threatening, but still I would want to be awake if it happened. What if the fever continues to spike and he doesn't wake up. What if he's miserable and I'm scared? This is when I wish I had a partner the most...these nights that loom before me. I think to myself...it's 1033pm...it's only 7 more hours before there is daylight. You CAN do this.
So I'm off to brush and floss...that'll take at least 4 minutes. Close up my bottle of wine...another 1 minute. Put the dishes in the dishwasher and throw away the dinner trash...3-4 minutes. Pet Vinnie..10 seconds. Brush hair, take off contacts...4 minutes. Check on Tate, feel his little body to see if he's warm, press a kiss to his cheek and climb into bed...3 minutes.
Before I know it dawn will be here and Tate will standing up screeching 'POOP!' I can't wait!
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| Being silly, even though he doesn't feel good |
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| He's learned how to say cheese for the camera but doesn't quite understand that he should smile after he does so!! |
1 comment:
What an exhausting day!
I hope Tate is feeling better and is fever free today.
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