A Whirlwind of a Week...

And it's only Wednesday!

Sunday night we went on a desperate search for bottle soap.  We went to Target together on our way home from my parent’s house.  Then Ty dropped Carter and me off at home and he searched elsewhere.  All day Sunday I had been thinking Carter felt really warm, but just chalked it up to being held most of the day.  When Ty dropped us off at home, I pulled Carter out of his carseat and once again thought he felt warm.  I took his temperature and felt a slight panic come over me when it read 100.1.  I told myself to keep it calm and took it again multiple times, it still read 100.  I decided to give him a bath and take it again.  It read 99.4.  I felt much better, told Ty about it when he got home, and figured I would message the doctor in the morning to be safe.

The next day his temp was still 99.4 so I went ahead and took him to daycare.  I told his teacher and asked her to keep an eye on him.  That day we were taking our field trip to the zoo and I wouldn’t be able to leave since I’d be riding over on the bus, so I asked that they call Ty if needed.  I got a text from Ty around 9am saying Carter’s temp was 101 and he was going to pick him up.  He messaged the doc and was told to keep an eye on him and as long as he wasn’t fussy, we didn’t need to take him in.

Not to be outdone by daycare, Ty took notes on Carter's day.

Not long after Ty arrived home I received a picture of Carter smiling with a caption reading “I faked being sick today so I could stay home with daddy.”  It turned out Carter’s temp at daycare was actually 100.1 and Ty never got a reading over 99.5 at home.  

 

Carter being "fake sick" at home with daddy.

Ty left for a work trip to Las Vegas early Tuesday morning.  My mom came to watch Carter (more on his time with her to come) so I could go to work since I used all my sick and personal days for maternity leave.  She decided to stay all week to watch Carter and to keep me company until Ty returns on Friday.

Resting in bed with Grammy.

I was still worried.  Carter didn’t seem to be himself.  He wasn’t as smiley as normal.  Usually when I get home from work he smiles right when he sees my face.  Instead I had to pull out all the stops to get him to smile and even then it wasn’t his whole face I love you to pieces smile.  I really felt like something was wrong, but last time I insisted on a doctor’s appointment he just had a cold and all they did was give him a nasal decongestant.  I wanted an appointment that time because his nose and cough sounded so bad.  I wanted an appointment this time because my baby just wasn’t himself.

I decided to go ahead and message the doctor.  My mom later said she didn’t know how he ever got work done with people messaging him all the time!  We got an appointment for that afternoon and I could rest easy.

I told the doctor all of Carter’s symptoms and he checked him out.  It turned out he had an ear infection.  Luckily I caught it really early on, so it didn’t get too bad.  My mom told me I was right, he had needed to go to the doctor.  I joked I was 1 for 2, but deep down I was really glad I had listened to my gut.  She also said, “You really know your baby”.  And I thought about it, you know, I really do and I’m darn proud of it.  To most other people Carter seemed like a perfectly content baby, but to me he just wasn’t his happy and smiley self.   My mom enjoyed telling people I knew Carter was sick because instead of smiling all the time, he was just smiling sometimes. 

Carter's serious face.

Last night we had a bit of a rough night.  When he would wake up to eat he would eat a bit, then scream, eat some more, scream some more.  The only way I could get him back to sleep was to stand simultaneously swaying and bouncing him all while singing directly into his ear.  If any one of those three things stopped, the crying commenced.  It made for a long night, but I really didn’t mind due to the extra cuddles with my baby, just as long as he wasn’t crying.

Last night my grandma was moved from her nursing home to the hospital so my mom left to be with her this afternoon.  Carter goes back to daycare tomorrow.  He’s feeling much better so I hope his day goes okay.  I was sad to see our time with my mom cut short and even more sad for my grandma to be back in the hospital.  Please keep my grandma in your prayers.