Never Ending Fever

What a week! Monday everything was normal. By 12:30 AM Monday night/Tuesday morning depending on how you look at that, Kiernan spiked a fever.

I was sleeping soundly when I woke to hear him moaning in his room over the monitor. That is never be a good thing. I reluctantly got up and went to check on him. He was burning up. A dose of Tylenol and an hour later and he had cooled off and was back to sleep in his crib. If I thought that was the end of a bad situation, I was sadly mistaken.

The next morning began a vicious cycle. I stayed home with Kiernan Tuesday and expected nothing less than a very trying day with him. Most kids who are suffering from a fever are cranky. Kiernan is apparently the exception. He was in quite a good mood, was drinking plenty and eating decently. Sure he had his moments - his patience was short on occasion, and he got clingy during the times he didn't feel well. His fever came and went throughout the day.

Tuesday night his fever was back so we tried a warm bath. Yeah, that backfired and made him shiver instead, poor guy. That doesn't help with bringing the temperature down. Later that night, I went down to check on him and he was positively burning up. A check with the thermometer revealed a temperature of 104 degrees! I am not one to panic, but I have to admit that was worrisome. I tried calling the "ask a nurse" hotline but of course they closed at 9PM. No help there.

I woke Beosig up at this point who suggested calling the pediatrician's office in order to contact the on-call doctor. Nice idea, why didn't I think of that? It was so obvious. The pediatrician's answering service contacted a nurse at a local hospital who called me back. We were told 105 degrees was high enough to warrant a trip to the ER. A bit close for comfort, but we decide to hold out until morning and keep an eye on him until then. Fortunately the rest of the night was uneventful.

Wednesday was Beosig's turn to keep watch. He took Kiernan to the doctor and everything checked out ok. They even swabbed him for flu - no signs of any issues. What the heck was going on with this kid? His appetite diminished a bit Wednesday afternoon and he wasn't drinking quite as much as he probably should have, but again was in fairly good spirits.

Thursday I again stayed home with Kiernan while we waited for his fever to break. He clung tightly to me almost non-stop. A sure sign that he wasn't feeling very good. Finally by early afternoon his fever broke. Yay! At last! He started to perk up a little bit that day and by Friday afternoon seemed to be pretty much back to normal except for his appetite.

I have to say, it sucks having to watch your kid suffer and being unable to do anything about it. We tried alternating Tylenol and Motrin, tried the Vicks on the bottom of the feet trick, everything I could think of to help and none of it did anything. I felt so bad for Kiernan not being able to do anything for him but watch him suffer. To have nothing other than a fever materialize is bizzare as well. They tend to accompany colds, ear infections and such, but nothing this time. A mystery to say the least.

Naturally, all this happened the week before Beosig was due to be out of town for a conference. Great timing. At least it broke before he left. Not much worse than playing the single parent role with a sick kid. Glad I missed out on that.

Any Regrets?

Recently, a divorced, single, childless friend asked me if I had any regrets about deciding to have kids. I didn't hesitate to answer no, but a discussion ensued with him.

He asked me if I didn't feel tied down and less able to go do the things I wanted to do. My answer? Sure, sometimes I miss out on things that I used to be able to do any time I liked. The thing is, once you become a parent, if there is something you really really want to do, you simply find a way. Your child becomes an extension of your life. They go with you and you hope you have done well enough to teach them to behave properly, or you find a babysitter. I'd be lying if I said that having the extra money that we spend each month on daycare wouldn't be fabulous.

Sure, I could have more time for my hobbies such as quilting. I wouldn't have daycare to pay for so maybe I could afford to go to cat shows from time to time. I might even have horses by now if Kiernan hadn't come along. But the trade off is worth it.

The way I think about it, everything is just on hold for a few years. I'll get my moment to have the things I wanted, and I will share them with Kiernan if he is interested. Or maybe my views and interests will change, as I have found to be the case in other circumstances.

On the other hand, if Kiernan hadn't arrived I would have missed out on a lot of things that I enjoy with him today. I wouldn't have gotten to watch him grow from a helpless, tiny little infant to the independent little boy he is today. I wouldn't have gotten to watch him graduate from lying helpless on the floor to sitting independently to creeping to crawling and finally to walking and running. Trying to describe the pride in watching that progression is impossible. It simply can't be put into words.

I would have missed out on hearing his attempts at new words and the chuckles it envokes hearing them. For instance cat is mow (pronounced as meow without the e), ow is cow, bir is bird, ello equates to hello, (maybe he thinks he's British? lol) upf translates to up (as in pick me up), ak ga is Kiernan speak for all gone.

I would have missed out on all of his silly antics that never fail to make me laugh. I would never have known the smile that still melts my heart every time I see it and makes every day 100% better.

No, looking back I have no regrets about becoming a parent. It's the best decision I ever made.