Another First To Avoid

...this was a most unpleasant "first" for my little guy so I will keep this brief. Last week, his runny nose quickly led to 102 degree fever in the morning and then spiked to 104 by some dark, scary, hour in the middle of the night. Earlier that day, I had called the pediatrician--fearing that it might get worse in the late hours--and asked what I needed to do and the symptons that would trigger a hospital visit. Fortunately, we never had to make that visit. EO was taking in his formula and wetting his diaper--key signs that the body was doing its work. But heavens, why did his head have to get so hot!? What did help was a dose of the baby tylenol, a wet (lukewarm) washcloth on his forehead, and a sponge bath to help bring the temp. down. The hardest part is that I could feel he was scared---it was probably the first time he has felt vulnerable and the first time his mom could not make it all better (the way mom has with every dirty diaper by simply changing it or the occasional gas-y stomach by holding him a certain way). I comforted him as best I could--we rocked in his chair from 10 pm until the nanny Tehila arrived at 8:30 in the morning. I held him so snug hoping he would know that I was with him every second and would not let go until he would begin to feel better. He slept in my arms most of the night as I rocked him to sleep and on occasion he would let out a long wailing sound like you hear from a sick animal crying out for some relief. At one point, I decided I would try to lie down, holding him in my arms, so that I might get a little sleep and it actually worked for about an hour. Thank goodness this is behind us and while I have to accept this will not be the last fever, I hope we have a long stretch until it comes back to visit us.
postscript: And did I mention that he then got me sick! He is in big trouble but that's a blog posting for another day.