It's been a tough week in terms of health around here.
Tuesday morning, Elias woke up and said he just couldn't get out of bed. His lymph nodes were swollen but he didn't know what hurt. I let him just stay in bed. He slept all day long. The next day, he stayed at home, too, but he was healthier.
Zuri also started teething during this time. This must be the worse pain for him. His solution is to moan. It's so annoying. I feel sorry for the little thing but imagine trying to cuddle with him while watching TV and have a baby who is constantly moaning (or crying) in your arms. He was nursing and nursing and nursing.
Elias went back to school on Thursday but Zuri now had whatever it was that Elias had. He was just lethargic and didn't look very healthy. I guess it could have been his teeth. It's just the other two never had any pain when teething. Just one day, teeth would appear but Zuri is having a really tough time. I kept thinking Zuri might have thrown up, but I wasn't sure (because it also might have been the cat but he sometimes would have little puddles of milk-like stuff on his chest). I barely got any early preparations done for our Thanksgiving feast.
We decided to do Thanksgiving on Saturday since Brad had to work Thursday. I woke up early, put the turkey in the oven and about an hour later, I hear Brad say, "Elias just threw up."
Afterwards, Elias seemed just fine. I cooked for six hours with only a couple of breaks (to comfort a still-moaning Zuri). I made everything from stuffed celery to pumpkin pie. The works. I tried to talk Brad into taking Zuri to the doctor, but he claimed that it wasn't necessary because he didn't have a fever. (I looked it up and usually with a sore throat, if there's no fever, it's probably viral and there's nothing that can be done other than wait it out.) Zuri looks really thin because he's been sick for several days now (a couple was just teething pain) and hasn't eaten very much. After a while, he would try to nurse, but he couldn't swallow and he would say, "Bobbin!" but then would get mad when I would offer it to him.
When it was finally time to eat, I looked at Ezra and could immediately tell that his lymph nodes were swollen. He ate a few bites of "The Feast" and Elias ate zero. None, zilch. Ezra just wanted to cuddle all afternoon and evening.
During this time, I changed Zuri's diaper, realized we hadn't changed it all day and it still only a small amount of urine was in it. I freaked out because the stupidest thing would be to let your child get dehydrated. I got him some apple juice and he wouldn't drink it because it hurt to swallow so I did something that I've read you shouldn't do...I put it in a syringe and squirted it into his mouth. I would wait until he was breathing out so he wouldn't inhale it into his lungs, though. He would cry every time. He was so mad at me. But after a few times, he got to where he would open his mouth and let me drizzle it in. He was very thirsty. He drank a lot like that and after about half an hour, he was running around here in a MUCH better mood.
He loves kissing booboos (he'll hit his brothers with something and then lean over and kiss them--over and over again). He started moaning at one point and climbed up in my lap, pointed at where his tooth is coming in. I realized he wanted me to kiss it and I did...it was so cute, that did the trick for a little while. He climbed out of my chair and played some more. During the night, he began to be able to nurse well again.
So we then put the kids in bed (Zuri wouldn't go to sleep for a while even though you could tell he was soooo sleepy because his throat hurt), and I heard Ezra yelp something. He had now thrown up all over his bed. We put them in the other bed, gave throw-up covered boy a shower, washed sheets and bleached the floors. Zuri of course woke up again.
Ezra came in our bed in the middle of the night carrying the garbage can we sat by his bed. He kept startling himself awake and wanting drinks of apple juice. I realized, after a few times, that he was proving his earlier-stated theory: "If you need to throw up, drinking water will just fight it back down your throat."
He didn't throw up again, haha.
So, this week, we've battled teething pain, sore throats, weird lethargy and throwing up. Everyone is on the mend except for Ezra.
I look in the refrigerator and see all of the left-overs and just can't seem to want anything to eat. Not because I'm sick but because it was so anti-climatic to cook for so long and then no one wanted to eat. I think next year, we'll just go out to eat because it's not the same without all your family anyway.
how to wake Ezra up
6 months ago
