Well, Cole's first Christmas was memorable, but not for the usual reasons. The morning of Christmas eve he woke with a fever, but it was difficult for me to tell at first since I had come down with the flu the Sunday before. When he started crying every time I moved him, I could see his joints were hurting him, so I had to break open the package on the rectal thermometer. It was not fun, but I knew he needed me to take care of him, and if that meant taking his temp, well, I had to get over it. Poor Cole who is usually such a happy little boy was just not himself. He was screaming crying and was barely consolable. The pediatrician had already closed when I called, so I left a page for the doctor on call who told me to take Cole to the ER. By this time, Cole had begun to calm down, but his sudden stillness made me even more nervous. I packed him up along with a diaper bag full of everything I could think of and we headed out.
Once at the hospital, Cole was seen right away. His temp was up to 102.2 and they gave him Tylenol for the fever. Tony met us there and then the waiting game began as we sat in shared room with an elderly couple from California. Worse than the waiting, was when they tried to put an IV hookup in Cole. It's difficult to find a vein on a baby, even harder on a pudgy baby. They poked and prodded his wrists, ankles and elbow creases as he screamed for at least a half hour. Unsuccessful, a second doctor came down later to try again, and finally found a vein on her last try...otherwise, I was told they were going to put the IV in his head! I held him as the tried to put in the IV, but if they had tried to put a needle in his head, they would've had to hold me down too! 6 hours after our arrival in the ER we learned Cole was being admitted, and then in another 2 hours we were given a room in the pediatrics wing.
The nurses on the floor were amazing and they had a huge impact on our stay and on Cole's recovery. I am so grateful to them. Cole had a tiny monitor attached to his toe to check his oxygen levels and his heartrate. The monitor had a small red light that reminded us of Rudolph while we watched it glow at night. Tony and I camped out in his room during his stay, staying cozy in a twin bed, but at least we were all together for Christmas.
When we came home on Friday, my mom came down to stay with us. While Cole was doing much better, I was still pretty sick with the flu because I hadn't gotten much rest during Cole's hospital stay. Mom cooked for us and helped to relieve Tony too so he wouldn't get too worn out. Nurse Kittenhead also made sure I had someone to snuggle with during my brief naps.
We're all fully recovered now, and we're looking forward to a healthier new year...and we'll definitely be getting flu shots next fall!
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