Sick Baby Boy! :(

Well today was a VERY long day for us! Last night when Parker went to bed we noticed that he had a very nasty sounding cough that had developed out of the blue. We could tell during the night that he wasn't feeling the best because we heard him cough very loudly and disgustingly into the baby monitor several times. This morning when he woke up we went in to get him and he had his nasty cough and then when I took him out of the crib he just sunk into my arms with his body all limp and lifeless and was blinking really slowly and acting like he was still really tired. This is very unusual for him because once he's awake in the morning he's usually super active and happy. James and I could tell something was up and when I felt his head I told James I thought his head felt hot and that we should take his temperature. Although James could tell Parker wasn't being himself, he didn't believe me at first when I told him that I thought Parker had a fever because I probably think Parker has a fever at least once a week and he never does. Anyway, we took his temp and it was 100.4 with an under the arm thermometer (which means it was really 101.4 because you add a degree to under the arm thermometers). Shorty after taking Parker's temp, he proceeded to throw up on me and a tiny bit on his pajamas. It was unfotunately only about 7:00am and the pediatrician's office doesn't open until 8 so we had to wait until then to call to make an appointment. So James took care of Parker while I went and took a shower so that if they had an opening shortly after 8 we could just dress Parker and go. At 8:00 on the dot I call the pediatrician's office to set up an appointment. The earliest appointment they had was 10:45am so we took it. Parker hadn't eaten for the day yet at this point so we decided I should let Parker nurse and hope that he'd be able to keep it down...which he unfortunately VERY much did NOT do! After only eating for about 5 minutes or so he projectile vomited ALL of the milk he had drank onto me, the chair and himself. After this we went to the playroom and I read books to him and tried to keep him doing calm activities so he wouldn't wear himself out too quickly. He would play alright for a little while and then all of a sudden he'd get really lethargic acting and fussy and just want to be held and cuddled. You could tell he just felt MISERABLE and it just broke my heart!! :( At a little bit after 9am we decided we should go ahead and try to feed him some solids. We figured he wouldn't be able to keep them down but thought it would be better to try so that if he WAS able to keep anything down, he'd have something in his stomach. Well...this experience was very much like the nursing experience! Projectile throw-up EVERYWHERE! At this point we were getting really scared that he would get dehydrated since he hadn't been able to keep anything down and he hadn't eaten or drank anything that he'd been able to keep down since about 7:30 the night before.

In the waiting room at the pediatrician's office Parker had some good drinks of water so we thought we were making some progress and were pleased that he was at least keeping water down! However, on our way to the room to be seen, Parker threw up as we walking down the hall getting watery throw up all over his shirt (and some on mine as well). Luckily we had a change of clothes for him (no change of clothes for me however so I had to wear Parker throw up on my shirt until we got back to Wamego...lovely). We found out at the pediatrician's office that he has a very nasty stomach virus that is going around like crazy. He said they have literally seen hundreds of kids with this and that it is HIGHLY COMUNICATIVE! :( James and I are hoping and praying that we don't get it and that no one we know ends up with it! The worst part of this is that today was my niece's 2nd b-day party and tomorrow Parker was scheduled to be dedicated at church and we were going to have a family b-day party for him immediately following this with his aunts/uncles/cousins/grandparents and great grandparents! Now we not only didn't get to go to my niece's b-day party but Parker's dedication and party have to be rescheduled! :(

So you might be wondering what you do for a vomiting child under the age of 1 to keep them hydrated? Well our instructions were to give him 1 tsp of Pedialyte every 5 MINUTES he's awake during the day for the first 4 hours after he has thrown up. Then he could nurse for up to but no more than 5 minutes on one side and not more frequently than every 30-60 minutes. Then from 4-8 hours after he hasn't thrown up you up the Pedialyte to 2 tsp every 10 minutes instead of 1 tsp every 5 minutes. Needless to say, we felt like we were CONSTANTLY giving Parker Pedialyte! Anyway, they must know what they are talking about because he threw up 4 times between 6:45am and 10:45am but hasn't thrown up since then. (which is good b/c the doc said that if he throws up you have to start the routine all over again of the Pedialyte and not nursing) I didn't realize this but apparently allowing your child to drink as much water as they want often causes stomach irritation when they are as sick as Parker which causes them to throw up which is why they say it's better to offer very small doses of liquids very frequently instead. James and I had assumed it would have been good for him to drink lots of water so he'd stay hydrated when instead it would have caused him to continue throwing up making him more dehydrated.

Needless to say...it's been a long day! Please keep Parker in your prayers as he recovers from this nasty bug! This is the first time he has had anything other than a minor cold so it was pretty scary for James and I as well. We're just thankful that we didn't end up in the hospital or anything to keep him hydrated!