A Weekend I Won't Forget

I had a lot of weird ideas for the title of this post.  Such as...

Strep by Strep, oooh Baby!
Holy Snot Buckets!

Crazy Town

Beside Myself

One for the Record Book

You Learn A Lot About Yourself...

Anyway, this post is about one sick baby, one stressed out momma, and one event filled weekend.  So, I had last Thursday and Friday off from work.  Pam was off for her daughters wedding in Florida, so I took the days off to stay home with Brody.  Thursday was great and Brody and I prepared for what was supposed to be a SUPER FUN weekend for us.  You see, my bestest friend in the whole world, Krista, and her husband Joel, and their little girl Kiera, were all coming from San Diego to stay with us for the weekend, while my sister Rachel and Todd (who came in from Ankeny) watched the kiddos Saturday night so we 'rents could attend another friends wedding reception.  Well, Thursday night, Brody was not quite himself.  I didn't think much of it, but he was up a few times crying in the night.  Thought maybe some teeth were coming in.  No big deal.  But some time during the day on Friday, he started getting a massive runny nose and was drooling everywhere.  Again...thought it was just maybe teeth and no big deal.  The Kelly family got to our house Friday afternoon and we all played together and visited.  I haven't seen them in about 2 years so I was SO looking forward to visiting lots and catching up on everything.  Well, this story is getting to be longer than it needs to be, but basically Friday evening Brody started running a high fever.  I can't remember exactly, but throughout the night, it ranged from 100 to 102.5 or so.  I started giving him some baby Tylenol (the generic brand since Tylenol was recalled), but it wasn't really breaking his fever.  It would bring it down some, but never less than 99.5 or so.  And Brody was up crying A LOT that night.  He wouldn't sleep except for while laying on  my chest.  Brody hasn't been that needy or clingy since I was home on Maternity leave with him.  Jeff and I called the on-call doctor from our Ped's office around 4:00 AM that night.  She basically said since he wasn't acting lethargic or anything, that we could wait to bring him in to the office in the morning.  So after a pretty much sleepless night, that's what we did.  As a side note, I was supposed to be doing my first "real" photo shoot for a friend of my sisters that morning in a town about a half an hour away.  Aunt Rachel was coming over to watch Brody while I went and did the shoot.  But, I sadly (devastatingly) had to cancel since Brody was so ill.  :(  (Mary, if you are reading this...once again, I am SO sorry).  So, Rachel came to the doctor's office with me while I left Krista and Kiera at my house alone.  And the award for World's Worst Host goes to me.  Anyway, ends up, Brody had Strep.  Dun dun DUUUUN!  Poor guy. No wonder he had such a high fever and felt so miserable.  We got him on the antibiotics and I really thought things would start to turn around.  Surely he wouldn't have another bad night like the one before.  Ummm...WRONG.  I think I'll just let the following photos of him from Saturday afternoon/evening speak for themselves...(these were taken on my phone, btw).

At the doctors office Saturday morning.

Trying to sleep on momma. 

Poor guy couldn't breath through his incredibly runny nose.

I'm so tired, momma, and I hurt everywhere!

Why do I feel so awful momma?  Help me feel better!

Finally asleep for a short bit...snot dripping out his nose and all. 

You know when they say a sick baby is just as hard on mom as it is on baby?  I think this is true.  Brody was completely miserable on Saturday.  He couldn't breath through his nose, his fever wouldn't break, I'm sure he ached all over, and there was so much going on at our house that he had a hard time falling asleep.  Not to mention he would just cry and cry if I tried to put him down.  He wanted to be held all day and only sleep on my chest. 

So, I learned a lot about myself that day.  After finally deciding not to go with Krista and Joel to the wedding reception, and having a good couple of cries (a.k.a., melt downs) with Brody, I realized I may not handle stress as well as I once thought.  Jeff asked me a couple of times why I was crying and I couldn't quite explain it.  I honestly didn't feel like myself this weekend.  And that just made me cranky and sad.  It could have been the complete exhaustion from 2 sleepless nights in a row (and soon to be 3), the fact that I couldn't do anything I wanted to do that weekend, the feeling of being the most horrible host to Krista and her family, the worry that I was subjecting all these people gross Strep germs, the horrid July heat, the incredibly sick baby, or the fact that I couldn't do anything to help him.  Or how about a combination of all of that?  Can I get an Amen?! 

So, I'd like to take a moment to apologize to everyone. 

Todd...I'm sorry for the complete chaos at my house and all the driving back and forth you had to do last weekend. 

Rachel...I'm sorry for all the plans that fell through, and that you ended up getting sick with Strep too. 

Krista, Joel, and Kiera...I'm sorry that you didn't get a cozy germ-free home to crash in, and I'm sorry that we didn't get to visit the way we should have. 

Jeff...I'm sorry that I was not myself this weekend and that I was basically an emotional wreck. 

And Brody...I'm sorry you felt so terrible and got so sick.  And I'm sorry that I couldn't do anything to help you.  And I'm also sorry you didn't get to make a very good first impression on your future wife.  :( 

But can I also say some thank you's? 

Todd...thank you for driving all this way to hang out and help Rachel with watching the babes. 

Rae...thank you for just being there for me all weekend...there are too many things you did for me to list, but just know that I thank you for every.single.one. of them. 

Kelly's...Thank you for being such amazing guests.  Kiera is the CUTEST little thing ever, and I'm so glad I got to finally meet her.  You guys should be very proud of that smart little cookie.  Thank you for traveling all this way to see us, and thank you for being you.  You guys are generous and thoughtful and handled this stressed out, horrible hostess very well! 

Jeff...thank you for putting up with me, and thank you for all your help with Brody's sleepless nights.  Brobo...what can I say?  Thank you for being a champ, buddy.

 

Ok, this post is far too long...sorry if you're already a snoozin' through it.  But it was a VERY emotional weekend for me (to say the least) and one I wanted to document and remember.  Saturday night was actually the worst part of the whole weekend, and Brody woke up SCREAMING, I mean hysterically screaming, around 10:30.  There was not anything we could do to get him to stop crying and basically hyperventilating.  He screamed for almost an hour when I finally decided to take him to the E.R.  And of course my social little bug put aside his misery for 30 minutes once I stepped foot in the hospital doors and decided to cuddle with me and smile at everyone while we were there.  The doctors thought I was nuts, and maybe I was.  But I didn't know what else to do.  Things got a lot better after we got home and things are great now.  But...it was definitely a weekend I wont forget!

I sadly hardly took any pictures this weekend.  Only 6 to be exact. And they were all of Miss Kiera eating macaroni.  ;) 

Have I ever mentioned how much I LOVE baby feet?