Isn't This Always Just The Way It Goes?

So, Jack had a rough night last night. Which means that we all had a rough night. And by rough I mean hardly any sleeping, lots of crying, chills, a raging fever and loss of nourishment from both ends. (That's about as pretty a picture as I can paint of that.) I am cautiously smiling now, but the hours between 2:00 and 6:00 this morning were some of the worst and most frightening I have ever experienced. Jack's highest "recorded" temperature was 104.5 degrees, but I would be willing to put money down that it actually got higher than that. (I finally reached a point where I was afraid to take it.) His skin felt like it was absolutely on fire.

Phillip and I made the decision around 6:30 that we would most definitely be making a trip to the doctor today. Jack slept in, thankfully, so around 9:00 I loaded him up and we headed to my parent's house, as they live about 5 minutes from our pediatrician. I was able to schedule an appointment for 11:00, which seemed an almost unbearable amount of time to wait.

Needless to say, after such a rough night my baby wasn't feeling too fabulous on the way to the Doctor's office. Poor little guy.

However, after arriving at the Doctor's office, getting stripped to his diaper and being poked and prodded by a myriad of cold instruments, this little boy showed up.

Don't get me wrong, I was thrilled to see this Happy Kid, but his appearance made it quite difficult for me to convey the severity of the symptoms we had experienced just a few hours before. Thankfully, the doctor Jack saw today was actually my pediatrician not all that long ago, so I think she believed me! She was great, and said she felt pretty good about the way Jack was acting in light of the night's events. She gave me the option to either wait and see if the fever and other symptoms returned, or go ahead and draw blood to check his white count in case it were a more serious illness we were dealing with. Her recommendation was to wait, since he did seem to be on the upside of whatever was going on, so I decided to do that.

Now, ya'll know that I am a worrier, so this was a difficult thing for me. I really wanted to know for sure that this was nothing more serious than a virus. But, I tried to reign in my anxiety and spare my sweet baby a finger prick.

We came back to my parent's house where Jack almost immediately became fussy again. The fever returned, he refused to eat and at one point was absolutely inconsolable. This was probably the first time in my career as Jack's Mommy that I was truly and deeply conflicted over a decision I had made in regard to his welfare. So, I decided to err on the side of caution and call the doctor's office to see if we could come back in for blood work ASAP.

Long story short, the Good Doctor was able to calm my fears over the phone. And I think she is definitely right when she suggested to wait another day on the bloodwork. Jack perked back up this evening and actually had a wonderful night. He played hard and laughed a lot. Hearing that laughter again was such a blessing.

Right now, he is sleeping peacefully. And I pray he will be doing just that until morning. As soon as my coffee buzz (which was a necessary evil just to keep me awake today) wears off, hopefully I'll be sleeping peacefully too. Sweet dreams, ya'll.