The worst of times

It's been a trying week for Baby E: on Sunday last, he came down with a high fever, which was untouched by Tylenol and lasted the whole night. At the same time, he contracted a horrible case of diarrhea which left him incredibly uncomfortable. By the time we reached the doctor's office that Monday morning, he had a severe case of diaper rash and was just miserable, staring up at me in disbelief each time I had to change his diaper and wailing inconsolably after each change. This from the child who rarely cries, so his reaction was doubly pitiful. The doctor prescribed a concoction of nystatin, hydro cortisone, and zinc oxide and took some stool samples, just to be sure.

And then followed a week of sickness. E was eating about half his normal intake, which for my jumbo-sized baby is highly unusual. He was still smiling but spent most of the days in a sort of pathetic haze. His sleeping at night was erratic at best, and he returned to eating twice a night, something I thought we'd left behind. Eventually, the diaper rash got so bad he was bleeding to the touch, so we called the doctor again and got additional instructions, which included rinsing him with warm water after each change, leaving him open to the air as much as possible (they recommended, in light of the diarrhea, just putting him down naked on a garbage bag. Umm, no.), and putting double the amount of this creamy mixture on him. By yesterday, he was finally starting to heal just a bit, but it had been a long slog.

In the meantime, he got his first tooth on Thursday! So on top of all this mess, he was busily cutting a tooth. AND he has grown too large for his infant car seat, which he JUST go used to, so he's been upgraded to a giant, plush new Britax Marathon, which is all well and good, except that he HATES it, so every car trip has been a trial. THEN, his intrepid parents took him to a minor league soccer game this weekend where the noise was just too much for him and that, combined with the arduous car seat made the ride home just one long, 32 minute crying session. FINALLY, today, I put him down to sleep on the pew at church during our first meeting and Toddler J managed to kick him in the head not once, but twice! Like I said, a hard week, but he has been a champ through it all, with very little drama (unlike what we could expect from his older brother in a similar situation, I'm sure!). He is such a good natured child, one hates to see him suffer since he would really rather be laughing!