Biological Warfare

On the plus side, Adam is much recovered from his bronchiolitis. Not completely, but the coughing is fairly infrequent, and he doesn't wheeze when he breathes now. In fact, we moved his bed back into our closet (which is a converted bedroom, folks - hang up with social services) several days ago, when we weren't so concerned about him catching a breath and the whining at night was driving us nuts again.

But still. He's back to nursing at least once during the night, and wakes up 3 or so more times and cries until his pacifier is put back in his mouth.

I know. I KNOW! He's got us right where he wants us.

But with the whole cough/wheeze thing going on, I didn't feel comfortable letting him "cry it out" - you try laying in bed listening to a baby cry until he starts gagging. It ain't easy.

This whole process means that I've been operating on two or so consecutive hours of sleep, which served to beat down my normally robust immune system. And now I'm sick. Like, fever for three days (and counting), headache, congestion, sore throat, oink-oink sick. I really wish I'd have gotten this the week that Leah and Ben were sick, so I wouldn't have to miss out on activities AGAIN. Thank goodness Aaron is willing to pitch in, even if it means rearranging his work calendar a bit. And thank goodness my mom (still) lives in town - she came and entertained the kids yesterday afternoon, until they drove her crazy and she fled with the shreds of her sanity that were still intact.

I told our pediatrician that if Adam doesn't get this flu it'll be a miracle, since he'll rarely let me put him down, much less walk out of his sight and Hello! have you seen those cheeks? I cannot stop myself from kissing them! She said, after giving me a prescription for tamiflu, "Why? You're nursing, so he's getting the antibodies from you - as your body fights it off, he gets some of that, too." Good to know. Vaccination the old-fashioned way.

Today at lunch, friend Tara was dropping of some new tea for me (what a sweetheart! Thanks!) and observed Adam trying to fit just one more! finger into his mouth. She asked if he was teething, and both Aaron and I quickly poo-poohed that idea - neither Ben or Leah had any teeth before 8 months. Leah only had two at a year! And they were both drool monsters for about 5 months beforehand.

After she left, Aaron said, "I don't know, maybe he IS teething?"

I said yeah maybe - his cheeks are red, but he doesn't have a temp...

So this afternoon, I decided that hey! Maybe I should check it out! I washed my hands well and dug in there. AND THERE WAS A TOOTH. On the bottom, when I've been watching the top.

Well I'll be a monkey's uncle. No wonder the little bugger's been fussy, clingy and generally onery. Now, let's see if this improves his night-time sleeping. I CANNOT allow the baby to win this battle! ONWARD!