Poor sick baby

Jocelyn has been sick since Tuesday. We noticed that she was really warm super early Tuesday morning. But I didn't think much of it, because it was uber stuffy in the room we were staying in, and I was also roasting (Mike was even hot, and he's never hot). Then when we woke up for real, we packed up, said our goodbyes, and headed out from Aunt Mary's house in Grand Rapids, MI to O'Hare airport. Jocelyn was fussy and then sleepy on the ride, but she always gets fussy and then sleepy in the car.

Then we were at the airport, waiting in the terminal while Mike returned the rental car. Jocelyn went from being happy / playing / walking / talking to CRYING. She just burst into tears. I didn't know what had happened. She was just sitting on the chair next to me. So, of course, I picked her up and gave her a big hug. That's when I smelled it. She had a major poop. I was still confused about what she was crying about, but then I felt it - the wet spot where the very wet poop leaked out of her diaper and onesie. And Mike had the baby wipes in the lunch bag.

Luckily he showed up just a few minutes later and the three of us headed to the first class area ladies' room (luckily it's not a heavily-used one - airports should have family bathrooms!). Poor Jocelyn had a majorly full diaper, and the texture was just not, well, right. I also noticed she was a bit warm, but we didn't give her anything yet.

Once we got on the plane she wanted to nurse and she passed out. She slept basically the whole flight (she usually doesn't sleep on the plane, but looks around and plays the whole time). She woke up at the end and cried at landing, which is also not usual for her. She was also significantly warmer, and not just from cuddling with me. Once we landed in Newark we made our way to the Admiral's Club for more changing, and this time there was temperature-taking. 101.9 F! That was her highest fever to date, so we immediately called the doctor. The prescription - rest, fluids, the fever reducer of our choosing and temperature monitoring. This was not enough action for me, but we took the advice. Call back if there's vomiting, diarrhea, unstable or increasing temperature or anything else strange.

So we drove down to Spring Lake and Jocelyn was just sort of tired and cranky, which was very understandable. We skipped our stop at Babcia's altogether, we only popped in at Miss Amanda's to pick up the booster seat, and we headed down. She puked all over herself within the last 2 miles or so of the drive, but seemed a bit better after that. A bit more Tylenol, a later bed time than we liked, and a baby in our bed all night, but we hoped for the best.

By morning the fever did not go down, so we switched to ibuprofen. That was a great idea, as it allowed the fever to go down and also served as a good pain reliever. Jocelyn was much more herself during much of the day. We still didn't put her in the car at all, and she was lethargic and uninspired when we took her outside (she normally loves outside), but she was pretty good. Cranky at points, but fine overall. We dosed her with more ibuprofen before bed and called it a night. She made it half way in her own crib and then we had to bring her to bed, where she slept latched on to me, but whatever.

This morning, however, she was BURNING UP! 102.1! So I decided it was time to take her to the doctor (and give her another dose of ibuprofen). A call to a local pediatrician sent us to an urgent care clinic about 15-20 minutes away. They assessed her ears for infection and throat for strep - both came back negative. So the prescription was still the same - rest, fluids, love, and come back if things get crazy or worse or unstable. She slept the whole way back from the doctor, passed out half way through our lunch, and slept for a good 3.5-4 hours (I may have joined her for two of those hours!). I offered her some food, which she refused (even a teething biscuit that tastes like an animal cracker!), and then nursed her some more.

We were ready for dinner, and my BIL (Jocelyn's Uncle Jeff) was working as a waiter that night, so we had dinner at his restaurant. Poor Jocelyn fell asleep in the car. She was so conked out that actually unhooked the car seat and brought it into the restaurant with us so she could keep on sleeping in it. She slept until we were just about done eating - a good hour+! She woke up a bit fussy, but cheered up once we held her and gave her some water.

Once we brought her home she ate two small cubes of strawberry and about a bite of bread. It was something, but not great. She was a bit more herself - with some talking, playing, answering the questions of "What does the cow say?" with "MMMmmmmm" and giggles, etc. But she was weak. Walking was hard. Her poor legs were shaky under her and she was off balance. It was frustrating for her. And I think that she hurt, because she would suddenly burst into tears and become inconsolable. Despite being fever-free all day, we gave her some ibuprofen for the pain she was clearly feeling. Eventually she fell asleep, even though it was way past her bed time. She's been in her crib this whole time (knock on wood!) and hopefully she stays there for a while to come (like the rest of the night). Being the worry wart that I am, I look in on her every 30 or so minutes.

Poor kid, though. She was SUCH a champ in Michigan (which is its own blog post, if I ever get to it). This is a crappy reward for such amazing behavior. And it also sucks that she's sick on vacation, when she should be having fun. We wanted to take her to the ocean, and Grandpa kept his schedule open to play with her, and she hasn't wanted to play. Instead of having fun she's miserable. My only solace is that she won't remember having a crappy vacation where she was sick for half the time. At least she had a blast in MI, chasing dogs, watching birds, and having her crazy great-aunts fawn all over her. But my heart breaks for her.

8w2d – Tiny Heart Beating!

I have been SICK as a dog lately. I don’t want to get into the details, but suffice to say that food isn’t really staying with me very well. I must have picked up a bug in Canada when I was just there for work. I didn’t think much of it, until I looked in the books to see if I could take anything (I can’t). Then I looked up what it means to pregnancy. The book was very clear – if you’re having three bowel movements of a certain consistency a day, go to the doctor.

It was a mess trying to get to the OB – she didn’t want to see me. To be fair, my regular doc doesn’t work on Mondays. So I was going to a different doctor. She didn’t understand why I wanted the baby checked out. But she reluctantly made me an appointment anyway. I did not care for that attitude, but that’s a topic for a different post. The good news is that she was right – the baby was fine! But I needed that confirmation myself.

So I got to see and hear Pecan’s tiny heart beating! It was amazing! I know that this is the second time that I am going through this, but the miracle of life is still so awe inspiring! It seems such a rare, special thing to create life. I know that lots of people do it every day, but I am still so impressed by it.

It’s amazing how worried I became that there was something wrong. In fact, I became convinced that there was something wrong. It was so reassuring to get to see my tiny baby on the sonogram screen. I know I will have other worries and bumps along the way over the next 32 weeks – that’s a given. Hopefully I can handle them a bit better. I was a hysterical mess this time!

7w3d – I forgot how hard this pregnancy business was!

I shouldn’t complain – I am not feeling *that* sick. A quick look at my blog from when I was pregnant with Jocelyn indicates that morning sickness was almost immediate last time. This time, well, not so much. I am barely nauseous. I am very hungry. But I am also very, very tired! I could take a nap right now. Of course, I am not sleeping great. And, of course, I am still nursing Jocelyn, so I am waking up at 6:00 to pump every morning. That’s not helping.

I couldn’t be happier about Pecan being on his or her way. But I would definitely prefer this whole thing if I could take a nap :-P.

Jocelyn's first 5K - and her championship day

When Jocelyn instinctively woke up at 5:25 a.m. this morning, she did not know what was coming. I could tell she just wanted to nurse and go back to bed. But she got a big surprise! Instead of nuzzling on the boppy, she got put on her changing pad, stripped naked, diaper changed and dressed in a onesie. Yeah, that made her unhappy. But some nursing calmed her down.

So why were we up so early? Well, today Jocelyn did the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure! Yup, Jocelyn's first 5K. We walked it as a family. Even though it didn't start until 8, we had to meet at 6:45 for a group photo.

One of the highlights - seeing Chester Cheetah. I thought that she might be afraid of him, but she LOVED him. In her eyes, he was a giant toy. It was too flipping cute to see her get all smiley at him. I just LOVED it. She also got to meet a Chick-Fil-A cow (dude in a suit, loved it), the Borden Cow (actual cow - didn't know what to make of her), and Tom Thumb (dude in a suit, of a dude, which I thought was creepy but she seemed to like okay).

Once it got to be race time somebody was sleepy and had enough of the stroller. So I stuck her in the Ergo Baby and she very quickly dozed off on my chest. Of course, when I gingerly tried to put her into the reclined stroller she woke right up. And then she was AWAKE. This was before the One Mile, mind you, so we had another two full miles to go. She strolled for most of it, pulling herself forward and looking around for most of it, yelling at dogs and big children. It was super cute!

We left shortly after the race ended. We did not get in line for ice cream. We went home. And we all took naps (thank goodness Jocelyn slept).

But she still woke up in time for Gymboree - where she climbed up and down stairs! She did it on her hands and knees, and took a bit of help from mommy, but it still counts :-P. She also took the opportunity while there to assert her independence a bit more - she refused a few of the games and instead chose to play with shakers. It was cute.

As if she wasn't enough of a champ, I happened to know that some of my girlfriends were meeting up for lunch at Baker Bros. in the same plaza at Gymboree, right at the time when Gymboree ended. Since it would be rude not to stop in when my friends invited me and I was right there, we popped in. Jocelyn seemed in great spirits, so we stuck around and ate lunch! Jocelyn had a Mac 'n' Cheese and ate nearly all of it (to be fair, a bunch wound up on the floor because we let her feed herself a few noodles at a time). She was great at lunch and did not fuss until the very end. At that point she was exhausted. So we got her home and she basically passed right out.

And tonight, after spending the afternoon / evening playing, swimming, eating, peeing on the floor (because she was in her swim suit) and then running around the house naked (post-swim, pre-bath), she is sound asleep. Hopefully for the night. And hopefully she doesn't instinctively wake up at 5:30 again tomorrow morning - because we do NOT need to wake up early for a 5K :-).

I forgot something hillarious from May 14

I can't believe I forgot to blog this awesome thing! It was a month ago now, but I'll blog it anyway.

Some background - Mike and I always shower together on weekends. It's just what we do. It's not naughty or sexy or anything like that. It's just reality.

Usually during shower time Grandma watches Jocelyn. But on this particular day she was busy or something, so we had Jocelyn play on our bathroom floor. Well, as I was stepping into the shower, Jocelyn pulled up and was cruising around toward me. And then she CLIMBED IN! She was fully clothed in her footie pajamas and she climbed into the shower with us. It was SO SO SO funny! I could not stop laughing. The little stinker loved it, too! I couldn't believe it :-P. She laughed, splashed, stuck her head under. It was SO funny.

Of course, it WAY increased the length of our shower. Because I had to hold her hands and couldn't wash. Once Mike finished washing he took her hands and I got to.

Anyway, I just had to share that. It was too flippin' cute!