Well to say I'm behind is a bit of an understatement. I guess this is what happens when I go back to work! The last couple of weeks have been a blur. Between trying to get ready for school to start, G getting sick (more on that later) and then the first week of school, to say I'm exhausted would be an understatement.
Well last week I had planned to work at school every evening once Matthew got home. That way I would be able to spend as much time with G as possible and not have to find a babysitter. That plan worked great until I'd been there for a while on Tuesday night. Matthew called me frantic asking what I'd given Griffin to eat that day. He had thrown up his bedtime bottle and was then throwing up orange because of the sweet potatoes he'd eaten at dinner. He had given Griffin one bath, changed his pj's and put him back in bed to see that he'd thrown up all over the bed for a 2nd time. At that point he called me to come home. Now I honestly thought he was being a bit over dramatic. I assumed it was just a bunch of spit up (which isn't unusual) and he didn't want to deal with it on his own. Once I got home, I realized that it wasn't just spit up but actual vomiting. He was very pale and Matthew was holding him over the sink because he kept heaving and throwing up more. Unfortunately there was nothing left in his belly so he was just vomiting stomach bile. There really isn't too much worse than watching a baby heave and work so hard to throw up. He would look at me with great big crocodile tears in his eyes as if to ask what was happening to him and why wouldn't I make it stop. It broke my heart! In between each vomiting episode he'd go back to his regular happy self, splashing in the water and playing, then all of a sudden his face would turn red, his eyes would start to bug out and he'd start heaving again.
I was on the phone with the after hours nurse from our pediatrician's office. She told me that it was probably a stomach bug, and we needed to keep an eye on him and watch for dehydration. She also told me we needed to give him Pedialyte. He needed 1-2tsp every five minutes for four hours. When she told me that I was about ready to jump through the phone and beat her with it. How in the world was I supposed to keep him awake for 4 hours when he was already up past his bedtime and about to fall asleep in the tub?!?! Then she tells me that once he is vomit free for 4 hours, I was to double the dose and continue every five min for ANOTHER 4 hours. At this point it was all I could do not to laugh at her. It was almost 9:00 and I was supposed to give him Pedialyte every five min for the next 8 hours. Was she CRAZY?! So then she tells me that he'd probably need to sleep (YA THINK?!?!) and that was fine, but to make sure I set an alarm and gave him another dose of the Pedialyte every two hours. At this point I was ready to hang up on her because everything that came out of her mouth was more crazy than the last...but I held out.
While I was talking to her I sent Matthew out out to buy the Pedialyte. He got back just as I was getting off the phone. Now came the fun part...trying to get this absolutely disgusting liquid down the throat of a 7 month old baby. It sounds like it shouldn't be hard to overpower him, but he's way stronger than you'd think! It took several tries before we got anything in him. We tried with Matthew holding him and me squirting the liquid in his mouth with a syringe. That was an epic fail. My next thought was to put him in a seat of some sort and have Matthew hold him down. Enter the bouncy seat. We covered it with a towel to protect it from puke, set him in it, held him down and tried again. It was slightly better because there wasn't a fear of dropping him this time. To say he disliked the Pedialyte would be the understatement of the year. He HATED it. We were lucky we got anything down him at all. He would kick and scream and cry so hard that the tiny bit we did get down him came back up soon after. He was so worn out that he just collapsed into the seat and fell asleep. I couldn't bear to torture him with the stuff anymore, so I wrapped the towel around him, since he was in nothing but a diaper, and turned the lights out. He slept through the night in our bathroom, sitting in his bouncy seat, wrapped in a towel. It was one of the most pitiful sights I've ever seen. Every two hours my alarm would go off, I'd give him another dose and totally tick him off again. It's amazing that he went back to sleep after each time. I was really waiting for him to stay up and prevent us from sleeping at all since we were torturing him with Pedialyte. By the time 7am rolled around the poor kid was starving. The nurse told me that he could have formula again after 8 hours of being vomit free. We fudged the 8 hrs a bit, but he was fine. Everything was back to normal. Thank goodness!
The rest of the week I spent wishing time would stop so that I didn't have to go back to work and leave my little buddy. Unfortunately it didn't cooperate. Monday rolled around and it was time to take him to the new sitter for the first time. I didn't have any school responsibilities until the afternoon, so I let him take his morning nap at home and we went over around 11. He did great and seemed to have a really good time. I wasn't worried about him or the sitter. I was more worried about me! At least I didn't cry this time. Ha! He absolutely loves the sitter, and is eating up the attention from the other kids. She sends me pictures of him playing and the kids sitting around and playing with him. He looks like the most popular kid there! :o) He's the youngest by over a year so they're all pretty excited to have a baby around. All of the school aged kids she watches will be going back to school this week, so it won't be quite as exciting around there anymore, but he's definitely enjoyed his little celebrity status!
When I picked him up after day 2, I found out he'd been throwing up AGAIN! Just liek the week before. As I inspected the dirty rags and things, it finally donned on me. He had to be having a reaction to sweet potatoes. I'd fed him those for dinner the week before, and he'd eaten them for lunch that day. That was the only common factor in this. I couldn't figure out why it had taken so long for him to react to them. He'd been eating them since May, but I honestly don't know what else it could've been. I called our pediatrician's office on the way home and spoke to another nurse. She said reactions to sweet potatoes are pretty rare, but it wasn't out of the realm of possibilities. She made a note in his file and told me to take them out of his diet until we're able to talk to the dr. at our next appt in Sept. I'd already planned to stop feeding them, so I wasn't surprised by this advice. She also said since it seemed like a reaction to the sweet potatoes, there wasn't a reason to withold formula as long as he'd stopped vomiting. Thankfully he had, so he was able to eat when we got home. Poor kid was starving again since everything he'd eaten that afternoon came back up. He played for a while and started acting more and more like his normal self. I could tell he was just exhausted so I put him down for a nap at 5:30 and he slept all the way through to 5:30 in the morning. It's hard work throwing up that much! The babysitter was also so nice to let us bring him back the next day. Since it didn't appear to be a bug, but a food reaction she said there was no reason for him to stay home. Now that we've quit feeding sweet potatoes, he's been doing great. He had a great week at the sitter, always happy and smiling when we get there to pick him up. Hopefully week two goes just as well as week one did (with the exception of the vomiting...)
I was so ready for the weekend to spend lots of time with my little guy. I have to admit I miss the super snuggly phase. It's so nice to be able to set him down with some toys and he's able to occupy himself for short periods of time, but I do really miss being able to sit on the couch and snuggle with him. He does make up for less snuggling in other ways though. My first few days back at work have been pretty stressful. I won't bore you with the details of why, but each year is met with more and more demands from people who don't have a clue about education and how schools really should function. This year was no exception, and of course we were bombarded by it all at the very start of the year while trying to get the year started. Thank goodness for Griffin. We came home Wednesday afternoon and played in the living room. His smile and laugh can make even the worst day disappear. Within a few minutes of being home he made me temporarily forget about all of the crap that had been going down at school. Matthew called and was on his way home, so G and I went upstairs to start dinner. I turned Pandora on the iPad and we were rocking out in the kitchen. He was dancing away in his highchair and I was dancing and singing all around the kitchen. He would laugh and squeal and bang on his chair tray. The sillier I got, the more excited he'd get. Before long all thoughts of work had completely slipped my mind. I was really worried about being stressed about work and not being the mom I want to be when I get home, but thanks to my favorite little guy, I don't think I have to worry about that. He makes me realize there is way more to life than work. Some things are just way more important :o) It never ceases to amaze me just how much love I have for him, and even though he can't say the words yet, his actions speak volumes and show just how much love he has for Matthew and me too.
Now that I've gotten all sappy and have written a novel, here's the fun part again! If you actually made it to the end of this post, thanks! Hopefully I didn't bore you too badly! I'm going to try to do better about not missing weeks anymore. The posts are just too long then. LoL!
Love this little guy!!!
Hmmm...how can I get this thing undone???
At the zoo with my buddy Aubrey
Daddy let me stand on the couch...such a big boy!
That face makes me forget all my troubles
