Chad would NOT sleep last night. We're used to 10-20 minutes of protesting when he feels he has been unfairly put to bed. But last night was ridiculous. Screaming and howling and refusing to be held. He pushed away any milk we offered, and was not interested in cuddling with Grinch. He finally exhausted himself with crying and passed out.
More tears this morning, but we thought it was just outrage at being woken up after such a sleepless night. I felt his forehead, but he seemed fine, so off everyone went to school and work.
After a rough couple of weeks in the lab, I was happy to look at my calendar today and see that the only thing set in stone on my schedule was a holiday lunch party. No urgent mouse needs, and no day-long experiments. But less than an hour after I got there my phone rang, and daycare told me I had one hour to come pick up my screaming, feverish Chad. :( So kudos to Chad for getting sick on a day when I could so easily leave work, but really, could he not have waited until after I got to drink eggnog with my work buddies? I spent hours laboring over chocolate truffle mice to share with everyone!
I zoomed through Durham to daycare, where Chad was sitting on the floor being miserable. All his classmates were reading a book together, and he was just whining and reaching up to be held. Miss Candee said that he ate some peaches for breakfast, but was inconsolable after that, and when they took his temp it was over 100. The pediatrician couldn't fit us in today, so the nurse told me to take him to Duke's Urgent Care clinic to get checked out. (I'm not a freakazoid parent who calls the doctor about every little fever, but he had been coughing a lot the past few days, and I wanted to make sure it wasn't a cold that was turning into something more serious.)
Want to know a good way to make a screaming Chad even angrier? Have a nurse hold him down and then stick an otoscope in both of his ears. And good luck getting him to wear the finger thing that measures blood oxygen. He wouldn't even hold still long enough to get his temperature taken, and they have the kind that scans your forehead in about 0.5 seconds. I know of four (yes, four) nurses and one doctor that are praying Chad never gets sick again, because he was swinging and kicking and screaming at all of them like a demon child. During the ordeal many comments were made along the lines of, "He's certainly a strong one, isn't he?" and "What a little fighter." I'd like it to be known that I have NEVER kicked a doctor in the stomach, so I can only assume that he inherited this attitude from Andy.
Turns out Chad has an infection in both of his little ears and a respiratory infection that isn't much fun either. He'll be getting plenty of antibiotics over the next ten days, but he thinks sucking the medicine dropper is funny, so at least he's not going to be traumatized too badly by the meds.
Chad's been asleep for over two hours now, and it looks like we'll be spending another day at home tomorrow. Andy and I will be working in shifts, because I'll have to go back to the lab tonight as soon as he gets home. Those mice aren't going to weigh themselves! On the bright side, I'll have access to all the leftover goodies from the Holiday lunch!
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