Sick Little Boy

Noah spent the night with my mom and dad last Sunday night to give us a little break and for my parents to have a little Noah time. We woke up Monday morning to a completely unexpected snowfall coming down steadily. Jamie and I had a great time playing in the snow and since we had several inches, we were able to build a pretty big snowman sporting an Alabama hat AND make some pretty awesome snow cream. YUM! I was sad that Noah wasn't with us to enjoy the snow, so I called mom to check on him. At that time, he was still asleep (at 10am!) but mom called me a hour or so later to let me know he was running a fever and obviously not feeling well...uh oh. Jamie and I headed to my parent's to get him. Once we got there it was obvious he felt horrible and he was running a fever around 102. He could barely keep his eyes open for more than 15 - 20 min at a time and he wouldn't eat or drink. He had NO energy and couldn't even stand on his own b/c he was so shaky. I was afraid he was dehydrating so we were able to get a little bit of Pedialyte down him but too much and he would throw it up. Later that evening, around 8pm his fever got up to 103.2 so we gave him Tylenol but made the decision to take him to the ER, mainly because we were afraid of dehydration or some type of infection. He was just SO pale and glassy eyed that it was scary. We got there at 9pm and were seen by the doctor (who had ZERO personality) at 10:30pm. He checked his ears and throat and listened to his heart and gave him some Motrin for the fever and just said it was a viral infection and to let it run its course. We were given our bill of $165 and sent on our way... wow, thank you very much. I was surprised that he didn't check for the flu or get a urine sample or SOMETHING... but I'm not the one with the MD behind my name. Tuesday was about the same... high fever, no energy and no eating, however he WAS drinking. Tuesday evening a slight cough developed. Wednesday afternoon he woke from his nap and was coughing, wheezing, and crying terribly. I called our Ped and they told me to bring him in immediately. They diagnosed him with the croup and prescribed an oral steriod. His poor cough was awful and he is so hoarse. Everytime he gets finished coughing, he cries out with a wimper because it hurts so bad. It's pitiful. And the steriod medicine is no fun... it makes Noah so irritable and fussy! The only way he'll nap is in one of our arms (mainly mine) and when we lay him down he immediately wakes up crying. It's made for a long several days, that's for sure. The good thing is that, THANKFULLY, he is sleeping through the night just fine, but I've kept a vaporizer in there so that may be what's helping him at night. I HATE seeing my baby feel so bad. I'm sure it's rough on all families when they have a sick child but what makes it more difficult for me and Noah is that he isn't able to express himself, so he can't tell me what he wants, what hurts, or how he feels. It frustrates him so much, which in turn makes it equally as hard for me and Jamie. I'll be honest, it definitely tests our patience trying to figure out what he needs when he's so frustrated and crying because of how bad he feels.

Thursday evening, Jamie came home and surprised me with my Valentine's gift... a trip to Huntsville to stay in the Westin, dinner at The Melting Pot, and shopping at BridgeStreet... YAY! He had arranged for my mom to watch Noah for us to give me a break because he knew it had been a long week for me. Then I woke up with a horrible sore throat/bad cough on Friday morning... ughh. We decided to go on and had a great time, I just stayed doped up on Dayquil and popped cough drops like they were going outta style! Once we got home Saturday afternoon and relieved my mom of her babysitting duties, I was feeling pretty rough, so I took some NyQuil (at 2 in the afternoon) and went to bed while Jamie took care of Noah (in which Noah cried pretty solid for 2 hours...Jamie was exhausted). I'm actually feeling a little better this evening but Noah still seems to be feeling pretty bad. Tomorrow is the last day on the steriod medicine so I'm really hoping it clears up SOON othewise looks like we'll be taking him back at the doctor's office.