My poor little bear

My poor little bear has been sick since about midnight on Thursday evening or Friday morning...however you want to see it.

I say this not to send guilt to anyone...although many moms including my own and even my pediatrician mentioned the 'letting your baby cry a little' or not going in to get him every time he cries methods to get him to sleep better...so why in the world did I choose this night of all nights?

I have learned to become accustomed to Adrian's varied cries. He has some shreaking...you need to take a breath now cry for when he falls or he's scared, he has an I'm bored and I need some change cry, he has the I want some attention so if I keep making noise you'll come get me cry etc...

So he starts to make a cry around midnight, but it wasn't the "I'm in pain and I need your help" cry so I decided to wait it out. I heard him every 10 minutes or so and then after about 35 minutes he stopped. I snuck into his room and pushed his foot back through the crib rails and saw that he was okay, so I left.

I heard him make a noise again maybe 45 minutes later, but that was it, nothing continued. He actually does that a lot when he rolls over in his sleep.

The next morning at 5:40, he woke me up with his cry. I went in to get him and came into a horrible smell...throw up. I immediately felt angry and guilty....angry at listening to anyone else and guilty that I didn't follow my own gut and just go get him at midnight. There was throw up on his pajamas, on his sheets, in his hair and he had a poopy diaper.

I stripped him down while Cristian pulled the sheets off. I bathed him, scrubbed every inch of him and then nursed him for his morning feeding. Immediately and now in our bedroom, he threw up again, all over me and this time on our bed:) So I got undressed and Cristian pulled our sheets off. I changed clothes and took the dirty clothes and sheets outside to spray them off with the hose before starting the laundry. Did I mention laundry? I think I just finished my fifth load.

Cristian cleaned up Adrian and rocked him back to sleep, meanwhile I emailed a friend about how to get the stink out of her baby's room after a throw up incident (She later called and said, Wash the bumper. It holds in all kinds of smells!), called my mom and cried to her about what a horrible decision I had made to not get him out of his crib (she assured me that this would not be the last throw up incident...thanks mom), and called the Pediatrician's office...talked to an Ask a nurse who gave me some advice and said I could call my Pediatrician during office hours since it was one of three things...Adrian caught a virus from the nursery on Wednesday (there was a boy who got sick that morning), Adrian is reacting from his fall on Monday, or Adrian is reacting from his ear infection the week before. The answer...#1!!! I wish I could say I had won a prize.

My friend who had called earlier also said to get some saltines, Lysol and pedialite...so I made a trip to walmart while Adrian was asleep and I was waiting for the Dr.'s office to open.

Long story short, the Dr. confirmed that Adrian caught the virus and told me what to do. I gave him some pedialite and saltines and he played on the floor with his now sterilized toys. I cleaned everything that he sits on, lays on, plays on, bathes in, and puts in his mouth...etc

I can't even remember now when what happened...I know he threw up his lunch. I tried to give him a little food and that came right back up, all over his clean clothes and clean high chair, then when I stripped him and put him on his rug and ran to clean the high chair, he alerted me with a scream that he had thrown up on himself (diaper only this time) and his new rug...so thank God for old houses and wood floors, we created a new play area in the dining room. Either before or after this he had two diapers full of, well diarrhea...sort of...not too soft and runny though....not yet...just wait...

so after these 3 incidents, we got cleaned up, nursed up and Adrian took about a 3 hour nap...being sick is exhausting and he only had saltines and pedialite from then on.

Ok...so let's go back to the guilt thing...we are working on weaning and sleeping these days, and it seems like every time he stops a feeding something happens, i.e. ear infection, stomach virus etc....so the weaning isn't going so well. And now the guilt, I sleep in the room next door. If he is wailing, I run in, but I tell you he was just 'making noise.' He's been waking up several nights just at midnight or 1am, not wanting to be fed, just wanting to be with Mommy...that's why I decided to listen and wait to see if he would go back to sleep or if the crying would escalate. And no I didn't hear him throw up...the only thing I can say is this...Friday night, after a long day, I gave him a nice warm bath, put him in clean pjs, nursed him and he went off to sleep at about 7:30 and he didn't wake up til 6am! So God knows why he let this weekend happen exactly the way it did...He is sovereign and even ordained it, but I must admit, I told Adrian he could wake me up at night til he was 30!!

So Sunday morning, Cristian leaves for his training...oh I didn't tell you, Cristian is taking his Fundamentals of Engineering Exam in late October and has all day training sessions every weekend...so I was ALONE with all this...
We didn't go to church, obviously, but I didn't want to keep him inside all day, so we took a drive and I thought if he looked ok, we'd go to Lowe's . He did, so we went in and bought a sprinkler. We walked in, got it and left. I put him back in his car seat and we drove home. I left him in the car while I hooked up the sprinkler and then went to get him and oh the smell....I picked him up and felt the drip...green goo is all I have to say...I sat him down on the steps to strip him and leave his soiled stinky clothes outside to deal with later. I took the carseat out of the car to also deal with later.

Adrian and I ran inside trying not to drip green goo on our new rugs while I made way for the alarm system, mind you the green goo is now all over my arm and Adrian's leg. I take off his diaper and set it aside and in the tub he goes...no toys this time...just you, me, a little soap and a bucket for water. We washed away the pooh, got into some clean clothes with a fresh clean diaper on too, and a little milk later, he was sound asleep...again being sick is exhausting. He slept for a good 2 1/2 hours while I cleaned the car seat, the porch, the stairs, the clothes, the bathtub, my clothes and then took my own shower to clean the pooh off me too!

A little lunch for myself and I needed my own nap! So I hope that is all I have to tell of this story. He woke up, had a little pedialite, Cristian came home early (YEAH, GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and the two boys played a little and then Daddy rocked him off to his second nap, just a little over an hour. I went and got tacos (I think I deserve not to make dinner tonight), we ate, Adrian woke up, I gave him more pedialite, a little banana (my friend told me about the BRAT diet when babies are sick...banana, rice, applesauce, toast) another warm bath, toys and all. He then had his nightly feeding, but didn't go to sleep quite yet, no, no...Daddy's home, so I want Daddy to rock me...and rock he did...off to sleep a little after 7pm and I haven't heard a peep yet.

We'll see what tomorrow holds...