Poor Little Boy

We've been lucky for the last 6 months or so. I really don't recall any scary sick baby stories involving our little monkey. I mean, he's had a fever or a cough or cold here and there, but nothing has made him even really cranky as far as illness goes.

So when Dave called yesterday to tell me that Conor was running 102 fever, I thought, "Well, it's another virus, but probably not a big whoop." I gathered up stuff to work at home because I figured even if Conor wasn't really sick, they wouldn't let us back in the next day with that temperature.

Then I arrived at daycare.

The poor little guy was sitting on the bench outdoors (he never sits outdoors) pale as a sheet and he started wimpering as soon as he saw me. I picked him up and he melted onto me, lying his head in the crook of my neck. That's when I found out they were getting a 102 temperature under the arm. You can add at least 1 degree to that for the booty temp.

YIKES!

I took him home, put him on the sofa and gave him some ibuprofen. 45 minutes later, it's still 102, and he is still out of it. We ended up calling the doctor's office because the fever wouldn't go down and he was incredibly lethargic and only wanted to be held. To be honest, last night the only time his feet hit the floor from the time he got home until he went to bed was when he took two steps to get from Dave's lap to mine while we were eating dinner.

We also started the alternating motrin/tylenol "trick" to work on stubborn fevers. Every 3 hours, you switch from one to the other. Fortunately, after the first Tylenol dose, his fever went down to 99.7 under the arm. He slept fitfully until 1 at which point we brought him to bed with us and we all slept fitfully. Although that was because he turned into snuggle monster to the nth degree. I've never had any body sleep that close to me in my life. I will admit that there was some extraordinary cuteness when at about 4 am, we all woke up (fever back up; more meds) and I kissed him on the nose. That was followed by about 2 minutes of constant chin kissing from him to me that was heart melting.

The good news is that the fever is completely gone today and besides being a bit cranky from being hungry and tired, he seems no worse for the wear. It was not fun last night. Our little boy never hangs around in our laps with no affect or interest. It scared me when one of the first things the nurse had me do after I told her there were no other symptoms (e.g., cough, runny nose, rash) was to have him move his neck! Meningitis immediately sprang unwanted into our minds.

Thank God(dess) it appears to have been none of that bad stuff---just some unknown quick virus. He seems just fine today and is back to his energetic self---we even danced around this kitchen before lunch to Ralph's World (Have a little lunch! Take a little nap! Shake your booty!!)

So all's better in toddler land. Oh! But selfishly back to me: I forgot to mention that I also have a fever blister: hives, twitchy eye, thrown out back and a fever blister. "Now showing on Must See TV: Anti-Bonita Anita." Lovely.