Sick Baby

Put another notch in my Motherhood Belt.  We seem to have successfully survived Jack's first real illness.  At least he made it to a year without anything more severe than a few days worth of sniffles.  This is definitely the first time he has experienced anything like this, which seems to have been a short stomach flu. 

All day Monday he was acting "off".  Kind of fussy and more tired than usual.  By the time late afternoon/early evening hit, he was a fuss-bucket.  Very upset and whiny and cry-y.  Very unlike him. 

We knew something was going on, but we thought maybe it was some teething, perhaps his one year molars.  He was eating okay and wasn't exhibiting any obvious signs of sickness. 

We soon discovered what the problem was as he vomited 3 times overnight Monday night into Tuesday.  The first time was really bad because we didn't realize he had thrown up so he ended up laying in it for a while. 

Shortly after we put him to bed, we heard him kind of fussing over the monitor, but it only lasted a few minutes and he wasn't really crying so we figured he was just resettling and maybe his mouth was hurting him. 

He ended up waking up about an hour or so later, fussing and crying so I went in to check on him and he was throwing up and I then realized what had happened earlier  :-/.  Bring on the Mommy Guilt.  I felt TERRIBLE about not checking on him sooner!

Mark got his bed cleaned up while I tended to him.  I rocked him for a while and put him back to bed and threw in some vomit-covered laundry. 

Jack slept for a short time and was back up. 

He seemed to be hungry so I fed him a little bit of formula and rocked him for a while, then put him back to bed.  He slept for a little while again and then was up crying so Mark went to see what was wrong. 

A minute later Mark's calling me from the other room because Jack was throwing up again, this time all over himself and Daddy!  I guess it was actually better since we didn't have to strip his bed again.  Oy! 

Everyone got cleaned up again and I rocked him for a while.  He didn't want to be put down to sleep, but would lay on me and sleep.  Poor little guy!  I wish I could have spent all night rocking him, but I knew I would be caring for a sick little boy the next day and it was after 3am at this point and I had yet to catch a wink of sleep!  So, back into his crib he went where he slept for a little bit. 

He was back up after 4am and Mark rocked him back to sleep, he was refusing a bottle at this point, which was probably better because at least he wasn't going to be throwing up. 

Awake again at 7am.  I went to change his diaper and it was completely dry.  At this point he was definitely lacking fluids and had a low-grade fever.  He took a small amount of formula and we rocked for a while.  He went back to bed and was up again at 8.30am.  Same deal as before. 

We got up for the day around 10am and he took several ounces of formula and promptly fell asleep on me while sitting on the couch, which is very unlike him! 

We spent all day like this.  I offered him a bottle frequently and sometimes he'd take a little and sometimes he wouldn't.  I just let him lead!  I am kind of grateful that he's still on a bottle because at least he was getting some fluids and nourishment throughout the day.  We cuddled and he napped on and off or just laid on me. 

The cuddling was nice as I don't get much of a chance for cuddles anymore with a near-toddler that's going-going-going all the time!  But it was so hard watching him be uncomfortable.  He was whiny and fussy and constantly shifted around trying to get more comfortable and was frustrated when he couldn't.  I'm sure he wasn't feeling well because of the fever.  It was so sad.

By the time evening hit, he had improved and although he still wasn't very happy, he actually spent some time playing.  He ended up having a few bites of bread for dinner, which was more food than he had been willing to take all day. 

We gave him a bath before bed and he took 6oz of formula, which is slightly less than what he would usually have before bed. 

We put him to bed expecting another rough night, but we were pleasantly surprised to wake up this morning and realize he had slept through the night!  It's rare that he does that on a good day and I'm so glad his body got the sleep that it needed. 

He's been doing better today with eating and playing and his fever seems to be gone.  He's still not quite himself and is fussy, which isn't usual for him, but he seems to definitely be on the mend!  No more vomiting since overnight Monday into Tuesday, and he's back to having his normal amount of wet and dirty diapers. 

Hopefully he's getting his strength back and by tomorrow he'll be more like himself.  It's very hard to watch your little one be sick.  I wanted to make him feel better, but there wasn't much I could do and I knew that so I provided Mommy Cuddles, which I hope helped at least a little bit!