Scary Night

Last night put Paul and I to the test.

We put Ian to bed directly from getting home after visiting some friends. He had a very busy day and was exhausted. He had spent the previous night at my parents, then we went to the cookie decorating get together at Grandma Jo's, and ended the night going to my friend Stella's house to view her fabulous Christmas light display and decorations. Kudos to her husband Tom for doing all that work outside.

By the time we pulled into the garage, Ian was asleep. When we pulled him out of his carseat, he felt warm, but we figured it was due to the extremely warm coat he was wearing. Paul got him into his pajamas, lowered him into his crib and he curled up with his blankets and went right to sleep.

Being exhausted parents, Paul and I got ready for bed. I fell asleep immediately, while Paul read a book. Later, I'm awoken by Paul rushing out of our bedroom and into Ian's room. I have no idea what is going on. A minute later, Paul pokes his head into our room and asks for help. When I walk into Ian's room, I see Paul quickly removing all of Ian's sheets and blankets from the crib, and poor Ian sitting on the floor shaking with some residue vomit on his sleeves. We comfort him the best we can, get him into a clean sleeper and give him some Tylenol for his fever. He cried through this whole process, obviously feeling miserable and tired.

I decided to stay in Ian's room to keep an eye on him while he slept. After about half an hour, he seemed fine and I went back to bed. Needless to say, we're awoken by the sound of Ian crying. He had vomited a small amount and felt extremely warm. I scooped Ian into my arms to console him. This only upset him more. We decided a bath might calm him down and help lower his fever. He cried harder and harder. We sang to him, talked to him, cuddled him, nothing seemed to work. Paul and I felt helpless not being able to comfort our baby. Ian was obviously tired so we put him back to bed and he immediately fell asleep.

Fortunately, Ian has slept through the rest of night, and is even asleep now as I type this up. His fever seems to have dissipated, hopefully for good. If anyone has ideas of how to comfort a sick baby, please share them with me. Being somewhat new at this since Ian has only had colds in the past, I would greatly appreciate other people's knowledge in this area.