Down With the Sickness

Seth was up and down last night with a slight fever and a major case of the sniffles. Michael and I finally took him out of his crib at 5:30, because it was clear he was up for good. The poor little man's eyes were a little puffy and red, he was still oozing snot, was too warm for having the fan on, and just didn't seem like his normal self. Michael and I chalked it up to allergies since everyone is getting hit with them.

I called the doctor's office as soon as they opened, and after being put on hold for 32 minutes, the nurse agreed that his symptoms sounded like allergies and to give him 1 tsp of Children's Benadryl. Now, the box says not to give it to children under the age of six and at that age they would get 1 tsp. So, I called the doctor back before buying the medicine. She assured me it was ok and that was the recommended dosage. Naturally I texted my bff, DR.(!) Bryan Dodd, to verify what she said and he told me that I should give Seth 12.5 mg. Now mg cannot be converted into tsp without some fancy formula. So, needless to say after googling quite a bit and doing much more math than I have in a long time, I found that 12.5 mg of Children's Benadryl is 1 tsp! (I know that was incredibly boring, but it took a lot of effort on my part.)

So, I gave Seth his medicine and his snack and he went to sleep. He dozed off and on for a while before he woke up crying. When I picked him up he felt even hotter, so I took his temperature, which he is not fond of. He had a fever of 102.4. I called the doctor and got an appointment for that afternoon. I took him in, we waited. They weighed him, we waited. The doctor saw him, we waited. The nurse took swabs of his throat and nose to check for flu and strep, we waited and waited. And finally the doctor came back and said he showed negative for both and that he probably has Roseola.

Roseola lasts for several days with the first three to four days averaging a high fever and leaving the patient contagious. Once the fever declines, he will develop a rash that will spread to his whole body and may or may not itch. At this point, he is no longer contagious (but who really wants to bring them out looking like that?!). So it looks like Seth and I will be homebound for the next week or so.

My poor baby barely cried or fussed all day, which is so unusual for him. He was mosty just zoned out and clung to me like a little monkey. It's odd to miss crying and fussing when normally you pray for quiet days like today. But I know why he's quiet and it makes me so miserable for him. I put him to bed an hour early, hoping that he can catch up on the sleep he missed last night and maybe sleep this thing off.

It's times like this that I wish Michael were home with me. It's not that I can't handle it, it's just sort of heartbreaking when your baby gets sick for the first time and you can't do anything about it. Which got me thinking....

The next four years are really going to suck in a way. As it is, Michael works a normal job, but then brings work home regularly. Sure, he usually tries to do it after I've gone to bed, but I usually end up going to bed early so that he doesn't have to stay up too late working on it. We don't spend the time together that I wish we could. Not that we aren't fortunate, because we do get to see each other a lot more than other couples do; I'm just selfish. But anyway, Michael's semester started this past Saturday. He has classes on Wednesday and Friday nights and Saturday mornings. We signed up for small groups: his is on Tuesday nights, mine is on Thursday nights. That leaves Monday, Saturday, and Sunday nights open for me. But where does homework fit in? Right, so that leaves some time for me. Some is still better than none, but not as good as a lot. And so this is roughly how the next four years will go.

The situation makes a lot of questions. If we were to have another child, when would we? Michael wouldn't be able to be involved until he/she was a toddler unless he postponed school more, which postpones school more. How can I plan for special father/son time when there's barely any time? I'm lonely now; how am I going to feel next semester? Year? Presidential term? It makes me miss my friends. I'm very grateful I have my family here, because they really are some of my closest friends. (I mean, who else is more easily manipulated to go garage-saleing, grab lunch, or have game nights?!) But I really hope that I make some friends closer to my age who may be experiencing similar things. Anyway, that was a lot of random thoughts thrown together, but that's how my mind works: point A to G to V to 2.

How do I get from a blog about my poor little angel getting sick to feeling sorry for myself? It comes naturally - I'm selfish and self-pitying and I have another 1 1/2 hours until my husband comes home. Blah...