It has been a ROUGH weekend in the Rambach household. Zach was out of town, and it is Murphy’s Law that something always goes wrong when he’s away. This time was no exception — my poor baby Parker got sick for the first time ever.
It all started the day Zach left, which was Thursday. After work, Parker and I went over to my parents’ house for dinner. My stepsister was home with my niece, Annabelle, and baby nephew, Alec. Parker and Annabelle are a dynamic duo, and spent most of the evening chasing each other around the house. My mom noticed that Parker felt really warm right as we were getting ready to leave, so I took his temperature as soon as we got home.
Sure enough, he had a fever of 102. He wasn’t crying or acting uncomfortable, so I wasn’t too worried yet. My mom, on the other hand, was much more worried than me and insisted I call the telenurse. She basically told me to monitor him and call the pediatrician in the morning if his fever persisted and he had other symptoms.
Parker slept fine, but when I picked him up out of his crib on Friday morning, I realized he was burning up. He still had a fever of 102, and wasn’t acting like himself. I called the pediatrician’s office, but they didn’t want to see him unless his fever persisted for 72 hours. So I attempted to give him some Tylenol (most of which he spit out) and just tried to keep him comfortable.
Parker had no interest in eating breakfast, though I did get him to drink some milk. Mostly he wanted to just lay on my lap or on the couch and watch Sesame Street. That is sooo unlike him — this kid never sits still. We went for a walk around the neighborhood, but mostly just hung around the house the rest of the day.
I had to play a gig that night, so my in-laws came over to stay with him. They said he didn’t seem to be in a ton of pain, but he was still not interested in eating and had started tugging on his ears. He cried and whimpered in his sleep throughout the night, so neither of us slept well. I brought him in bed with me early on Saturday morning, and this is how pathetic he was. Poor baby.
He still had a bit of a fever and was really upset, so it was off to Prompt Care. Not my favorite way to spend a Saturday. That was a two-hour ordeal involving lots of waiting, screaming and crying, and two people holding Parker down so that the doctor could look in Parker’s throat, ears, and administer some drops. I wanted to cry, seeing my baby so miserable.
While we were waiting for the results of the strep test, Parker passed out from sheer exhaustion. Luckily, it wasn’t strep, but it was an ear infection. The doctor prescribed an antibiotic, so off to Walgreens we went.
Later that afternoon, my dad and stepmom came over to hang out with us. Parker was starting to feel better, thankfully, and did eat some yogurt and crackers. He slept much better at night, too — 12 full hours! My mom came over in the morning so that I could go grocery shopping, and then Parker and I laid low the rest of the day. I’m glad the weather was dreary all weekend; at least we weren’t missing out on being outside.
By Sunday afternoon, Parker was almost back to his old self. He was still more cuddly than usual (I’m not complaining about that!) but he was eating a little more and not tugging at his ears as much. The sun even came out after dinner, so we went for a walk before bedtime.
I’m really glad Parker’s first illness wasn’t anything serious, and I am so grateful he has stayed healthy for this long. Hopefully we don’t have a repeat of this weekend anytime soon (and Zach better bring me something good home from Vegas, since he got to miss out on all of this!).