The last 24 hours have been the hardest hours of my life as a mother of two kids.  Hard days and moments come and go, and they leave me thinking, “yeah, that was rough, but not awful.”

Not this time.  Oh no.

Whenever B goes out of town, one or both of our kids get sick.  This has been a theme since long before Bryson joined our family.  We always – ALWAYS – joke as B is packing that he’ll come home to a sick kid.  We had breakfast with his folks on Sunday and B mentioned to his dad that he felt bad leaving me for two nights, three days alone with the kids and his dad said, “at least the kids aren’t sick.”  B responded, “Not yet.”

Not yet was right.  But it didn’t take long.  B left yesterday morning at 8:00.  By 4:30, crisis had hit our house.

Bryson was a super happy baby all morning and early afternoon.  We took Matthew to school and then came home to just hang out together – and it was wonderful!  We chatted, we played, we set an alarm so we didn’t forget to go back to get Matthew.  HA!  We picked Matthew up (he cried when we left school – he loves it so much!) and headed to lunch and Bryson was super alert and happy.  We even got cupcakes.  🙂  We all came back and I got Matthew down for a good nap and then Bryson fell asleep and I actually wrote 12 baby/birthday thank you’s (long overdue).  It was a great couple of hours!

Bryson woke up SCREAMING at 4:15 and I figured he was hungry, so of course I nursed him.  He wouldn’t latch on, but he wasn’t gassy (the usual suspect when he won’t latch).  Ok – he’s not hungry.  I kept trying though, because that’s what moms do, right?  Then Matthew woke up pissy from his nap (he always wakes up pissy) so I had two screaming kids on my hands, both needing to be held.  I started texting B that something was wrong with Bryson, but I had no idea what.  This went on for an hour.

Bryson finally settled down and went to sleep again, without eating much at all.  I had enough sense to take his temperature and it was 97.1 under the arm – just fine.  I didn’t worry.  He slept 30 minutes and was up screaming again for another hour and then conked out hard.  I assumed he was just over-tired and even texted that to B.  But after 40 minutes, he was up screaming again, and even harder.  By almost 10:00, it had been 5 hours since he’d eaten and he finally ate, which was so wonderful!  I was relieved.  It lasted 5 minutes and he was screaming again.  He fell back asleep (of course) and then woke up screaming again at 11:15, but this time was burning hot.

His temp under the arm was 101.7 so with the added degree, it was 102.7 which is not good (I thought it was OK until I read on every medical site to go to the ER immediately).  I did call two triage nurses who told me to take him to the ER right away – which is a problem when your husband is out of town and your two year old is asleep.  I texted B and asked him to start calling people while I did the same.  My friend, K, got the first call since she stays home with her daughter and didn’t have to go to work the next day (poor K).  She answered the phone and headed over.

Long story short, we got to the ER and his temp AFTER baby Tylenol was 101.4 and he had a bad ear infection.  They offered me a shot of antibiotics instead of the oral regimen and given that Bryson won’t take bottles from me and his dad is out of town (B can give him bottles), I opted for the shot.  It was not fun to make him go through it, but he needed the meds and that was the only way I could know for sure he got everything he needed.  And it was one dose!

So Bryson had his first trip to the ER.  He was in ridiculously good spirits and charmed everyone, including the doctor who came back in after he was finished just to smile and talk to him.  Cute!  It took 2 hours from start to finish and we were back home at 3:00 trying to get some sleep.  Matthew woke me up at 6:05 and I’ve been up since, with a super tired baby and a fussy toddler who didn’t nap today.  YAY.

My fuse has been super short today, and that makes me feel bad because Matthew doesn’t deserve my grumpiness.  He’s such a good boy who is just bored to death with his tired mom and sleeping brother.  He’s been so good today, but when he didn’t nap, I lost my temper and quickly shouted at him.  😦  I immediately hugged him and cried into his shoulder that I was sorry, but what was done was done.  He seems to not be fazed by it though, so that’s good.  He’s such a forgiving boy.

Matthew’s in bed now, so that’s good for all of us.  I told B that I was glad he was asleep so he could be “out of the line of fire.”  I am just so tired and frazzled and just want to sleep.  Poor kid – it’s not his fault that my night was so incredibly awful.  I did completely relish book time with him and we had a great time.  We took our sweet time reading CG, then “Where Do Diggers Sleep at Night?” (adorable book!), and then, “Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site” (the best book in his collection right now!).  I LOVE book time, and B usually does it – so this was just what I needed.  I needed to snuggle my boy and give him the time and patience he deserves.  Matthew fell asleep within 9 minutes of the lights going out.  That’s the up-side of no nap! HUZZAH!

Bryson and I then had a nice nursing and snuggle and he’s now sound asleep in his little rocker.  I loved holding him until he was snoring.  I miss that with this little guy – there just isn’t time to sit and hold him for no reason other than that I want to.  He gets short-changed in the snuggle department so when I have time to do it – I like to REALLY do it right!

So yeah – hard 24 hours.  Impossible 24 hours.  I’m so glad they’re behind us.

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