I am worn through, threadbare like my favorite sweatshirt. My son has been sick for what seems like the entire season, and actually has been. I’ve had my share of illness as well this winter. Since December:

  • I had a stomach flu
  • I had strep throat
  • The Boy had a cold
  • I had the stomach flu again
  • The Boy had a stomach bug
  • The Boy had another cold, this time w/a croupy cough
  • The Boy had a near-week long fever, culminating in a rash on his face & body
  • He was diagnosed with Fifth’s Disease (a viral thing)
And now tonight, the poor thing vomited everything he’d eaten today and I caught it. For real. I was holding him, and literally stood still while catching the vomit. I stripped him down, wiped his face, stripped myself down (so.carefully.), put on my bathrobe, and rocked him to sleep in just his diaper. I slipped a shirt on him and laid him down in the crib, then took a shower while he fell asleep.
20 minutes later, I heard weird noises coming from the monitor and he was awake again. When I peeked in the crib, I found his other end had blown up and made a huge mess. I picked him up – poor thing was saying ‘nightnight’ over & over. He’s exhausted – and plunked him in the tub, removed his diaper, wiped him off, carried him back to his changing table, re-diapered and dressed him. Then I put him in the rocker w/a lovey, removed the crib sheet, wiped down the crib liner w/all-purpose cleaner, dried it, put a clean sheet on, gave him smooches, laid him back down.
Then Husby came home. Good timing, Husby. =/
We’ve taken our little Boy to the doctor almost weekly for five weeks for the following:
  • croupy cough
  • fever spike
  • rash
  • enlarged, hardened lymph nodes
…and now I’m wondering if we need to go back? He still has a low-grade fever (about 100.3), which is high for his usual 98.4ish. I want to fight for him if he needs it and follow my gut (which isn’t telling me much right now), but don’t want to be ‘that mom’ who goes to the doctor for hiccups, you know? His symptoms are now the low-grade temp, rash on body & face, runny nose, croupy cough, irritability and decreased appetite. So far I’ve diagnosed him with Reye’s Syndrome, Kawasaki disease, and kidney failure.
Maybe I am that mom after all.
Friends, seasoned mamas, do you have any tips or words of wisdom? Should we continue to brave the clinic waiting room, change our diet, or start vitamin supplementing? Should I be doing research on seasonal illnesses? Should we move south so we can be out of doors more in the winter months? And how in the world do I disinfect my whole house/care for my sick child/get my work done/remain a good wife/try to have a little life without losing my mind???
Did I mention we were supposed to go on our first trip away from The Boy this weekend?
And after filling you in, could I ask you to please keep our little family in your prayers? I know Husby is frayed too, our poor darling little Boy feels so cruddy, and it gives me such fear to see him sick (no matter the severity of illness). I don’t know how to help him and I feel like I should know when to fight (see the doc, a new doc, etc.) and when to let it ride as normal kid stuff. This new mom thing is hard, yo, and my heart and brain are fried and I am so.tired. of all the sick.
-anna
{girl with blog & (sick) baby}

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