Scorecard

It's been a hard winter in the Borders household, sickness-wise. It seems like every week or two we're getting hit with something new. Here's how it stands since October:

Ear Infections - 3: Ben (2), Sam (1)
Hand-foot-mouth virus - 3: Ben, Sam, Heath
Pink eye - 1: Ben
Various colds - 4+: Everyone, especially Heath, who had a cold for what seemed like a month.
Stomach flu - 3: Me, Sam, Ben

Heath also switched jobs in the midst of all that, so that brought stress of its own. We're all healthy right now, but the boys and I are headed down to Phoenix next Thursday to visit my parents, brother and sister-in-law, so I'm sure some new, horrible ailment will turn up before then.

Luckily, so far Heath and I have managed not to be sick at the same time. However, that does mean that we're both pretty exhausted. In March we're going to Florida with Heath's family and that should be lovely. A week of lazy days laying on the beach with lots of people around to watch my kids. Perfect.

Sick sick sick

Remember how, in Sam's birthday letter I was singing his praises? How he's such a happy, independent, easy-going kid? Normally he is, but when he's sick he is the EXACT OPPOSITE of all those things. He's super whiny, super clingy, doesn't eat, doesn't sleep, is basically miserable to be around.

I bring this up because Sam's having a milestone: Baby's First Ear Infection. On Sunday night he slept from 7:30pm-1am and then only off and on until 6am. Since Heath was in Colorado for work it wasn't a pleasant night for me. So we took a field trip to the doctor's office on Monday and discovered the culprit. As the nurse was looking in his ears I was silently chanting, "Ear infection! Ear infection! Ear infection!" I suppose it seems strange to want your child to be sick, but it's a REASON for the fever and crabbiness and not sleeping. And there are drugs to STOP IT. If there's no infection then you're just on your own to endure the misery.

Luckily (for me) there was an infection so we got our drugs and Sam's getting better, though he's still grumpy, probably partly from lack of sleep. This is why I now hate winter. Constant sickness. And with two kids it's just back to back to back to back.

I can't wait until Sam's older and when he's sick he'll just lay on the couch and watch TV. Those days are nice.

I'm not dead yet!

Our house has been hit by a plague. For seven days I spent the majority of my time at home nursing two boys with hand-foot-mouth virus. It's a rash that starts in your mouth, producing a seriously painful sore throat, and can spread to your hands and feet. Hence the very creative name of the disease.

Ben got it last Thursday and since he's usually so laid back about illness I didn't even realize he was sick until after lunch. I suggested we go to the park, since it was a beautiful day and he refused several times. A definite sign that something was wrong. His temperature was 102! He was down for the count for 2.5 days, completely lethargic and barely eating because it hurt so bad when he swallowed. Unfortunately since it's a virus there's no medication and we just had to wait for it to run its course. Tylenol and lots of fluids. By Sunday Ben was doing a lot better, but then Sam succumbed. I could see the sores on his tongue and lips and he started crying when I tried to feed him applesauce. Nothing is more sad than your sick baby. He has no idea what's going on and you can't explain why he feels so bad. He wouldn't eat anything for two days, but luckily he would still drink his bottles. I'm so glad this happened BEFORE we wean him from his bottles in a couple weeks.

Finally they're both on the mend. Poor Sam is still hoarse from all the crying he's done, though. Luckily, usually only kids under 5 get it, and so far I've remained healthy. Being sick and trying to take care of your kids is the worst. Also really bad: Being stuck in your house for seven days straight. Today we went to the zoo and it was AWESOME.

Sicko

Ben has always been a really good patient. He doesn't complain much when he's sick. We've never had problems giving him medication. He barely notices when he gets shots. It's been one of the delightful surprises of his childhood.

I think we're in for a whole different ballgame with Sam. Ben generously shared his cold, so for the past week Sam's been coughing and sneezing and running a fever off and on. He's been SUCH a complainer. Though he can't speak words yet, he's definitely getting his meaning across with almost constant whining. "Mommy, I'm sick. Daddy, I don't feel well. PAY ATTENTION TO ME! I'M SICK!" He's been pretty pathetic.

Saturday I finally took him to the doctor because he wasn't eating very much and his fever kept popping up. It was awful. The nurse practitioner wanted to check his ears for infection, but there was too much wax. First she tried to dig it out with this little tool, but that wasn't cutting it, so she had to flush his ears with water. Oh, let me tell you, he definitely let us know how he felt about that. Another nurse was holding his head, I was holding down his arms and legs and he was SCREAMING BLOODY MURDER.

The end result was that he did have an ear infection and some pretty serious congestion with wheezing. In addition to antibiotics she gave us this inhaler with a pediatric face mask. Awesome. Not as bad as the ear flushing, but at least the crying does mean he takes big breaths and gets the medication into his lungs.

He's starting to get better now, thank goodness. He finally ate his regular six ounce bottle at lunch today. It's not like he's a small guy, but it makes mommies very nervous when their babies won't eat, no matter their size. And he's getting back to his normal, smiley self. Not looking forward to the next time he's sick.

Sickness update

Ben's surgery on Monday went very well. They took him to the OR at 8:30am and by 8:45 the doctor was back telling us it went fine. We were home by 10:30! He was pretty out of it all morning, but by the afternoon he was bouncing around and back to his usual self. Hopefully this will mean a lot fewer trips to the doctor this winter.

Ben's been on ear drops, eye drops and antibiotics all week (plus some Tylenol after his surgery), but I'm happy to report that by this evening we will be DONE with all his medications. I'm not against medication by any means, but I also hate putting that much stuff in his body at once. Especially since he hated the eye drops and is only slightly less hostile toward the ear drops.

I'm also glad to say that he's been more pleasant in general this week, I assume because he's not feeling so sick. Heath's going back to work on Monday and while I'm partially terrified of how I'm going to handle a newborn and a three year old by myself all day, I think we're all eager to get back to our normal routine. I'm hoping Ben's moods will even out a little once we're out of this limbo period.

I wish I was Jewish so I could say, "Oy Vey."

Sam will be three weeks old tomorrow. In that time Ben has suffered from the following ailments:

-A rash from head to toe, which turned out to be an allergic reaction to some medication.
-A constant cough and runny nose.
-An ear infection.
-And... PINK EYE. He came home from school last Wednesday and I saw some goop in the corner of his eye. Some more seeped out within minutes and my stomach sank, because I knew what it meant. For those not in the know, pink eye is extremely contagious, so there's been some serious hand washing and hand sanitizing going on in the house. Plus, we've had to keep Ben from touching Sam, which sucks because Ben wants to hug and kiss and help feed his brother and I definitely want to encourage that. But we can't risk Sam catching anything. Luckily he's shown no signs of being sick and Ben's eye drops have his eyes looking much better.

In addition to all this, Ben is scheduled for ear tube surgery tomorrow. I feel like we're being tested. Just how much shit can we take before one of us flees to Mexico? I'm sure I'm overreacting. There's been more than one (or two... or three) crying sessions on my part in the last three weeks, and I know it's mostly due to hormonal changes and sleep deprivation. But seriously, isn't bringing home a second kid enough stress, without adding all the medical drama on top of it?

Everyone I've talked to says the surgery is no big deal. It literally takes 10-15 minutes and he can go to school the next day. It's going to be for the best, because now he shouldn't be getting ear infections every five minutes from October to March. I just wish we didn't have to do it three weeks after I gave birth. I predict more crying in my future.

Introducing...

... Samuel Donald Borders, a.k.a. Sam, Sammy or Samwise. Born Monday November 14, 2011 at 12:09pm after only 4.5 hours of labor!

Things are going okay around here. I think it's a combination of Sam being a pretty good baby and us feeling more calm as "new" parents. I know that I, for one, am able to sleep a lot better during those times when he lets me sleep. With Ben I lost a ton of sleep just from being too freaked out to sleep.

Ben loves his baby brother and gives him hugs and kisses all the time. However, this is not an easy transition. Ben is very out of sorts. He's super moody and just not his usual self. It doesn't help that the day after we got home with Sam he developed a strange rash all over his body, which turned out to be an allergic reaction to some medication. And he's having ear tube surgery next week. And I had a blood pressure scare (which is currently being controlled with medication). There hasn't been one non-weekend/non-holiday day since we got home that SOMEONE hasn't been at the doctor.

So, it's been hard. I'm still hormonal, not to mention recovering physically, which makes Ben's outbursts harder to take. Though Heath is bearing the brunt of that. At least this time we know it will get better. That just seems a long time off.

Blargh part 2

So, I've had this cold 11 days now and it hasn't been getting much better. Friday I got the added bonus of fluid in my left ear, so this morning I went to the doctor. I have an ear infection! It's not too bad, but she did say it could've gotten worse if I hadn't come in. I used to get them constantly as a kid, but I don't think I've had one since before high school. Ben comes by his ear problems honestly.

Antibiotics are on their way and man I hope they work quickly. I am sick of being sick. The house is a mess, I'm missing time with friends and I just want to be able to breath normally again. On the upside, Ben's medicine seems to be working. Though he didn't sleep well last night, his cough isn't so bad anymore and his nose isn't too runny.

Blargh.

So far 2011 has not been kind. It's not its fault, really. How can an arbitrary block of time be blamed for germs infecting our systems? Still, shaking my fist at something helps my mood a tiny bit. But it doesn't help me breath at night. *sigh*

Ben and I have had a cold almost all year, which has led to some bad, bad sleep. And we all know how well I do with bad sleep. Really, Ben's had a cold(s) for about a month and this morning he woke up with a fever so Heath took him to the doctor. She thought he might have weak bronchitis, based on his coughing, so they came home with antibiotics in tow. I feel so bad when he's coughing because there's just nothing I can do to help.

On top of this, he's also getting his two year molars which has made him a joy to be around. At least this time we know it's teething for sure, because he told us his teeth hurt without any prompting. And that is why toddlers kick babies' asses all the way.

Happy Pukesgiving!

Our Thanksgiving was lovely. Wednesday night we ate a wonderful vegetarian dinner at Heath's parents' house with them, his brother Todd and Todd's girlfriend Sarah. Some family friends came over afterward for dessert, as is tradition. Ben was completely enamored with the plastic train/car set Nancy bought for him and spent most of the evening playing with that (it ranked above eating mac & cheese, which is really saying something). I even got to share my deviled eggs with the family for the first time, since I found mayonnaise made with free-range chicken eggs, which are the only kind Don will eat. It was a good time.

Then on Thursday we headed to my parents' house. We ate all the traditional things, including my favorite - wild rice stuffing. Yummy. After Ben went to bed Heath and I introduced my family to Shadows Over Camelot which is a complex, but really fun board game. After getting the hang of the rules I think everyone had fun. I went to bed around 11pm full and happy. Little did I know...

At 1am I heard Ben wake up. Then I heard the undeniable sound of vomiting. I jumped out of bed and sure enough, there was Ben's Thanksgiving dinner all over his pack-n-play. I patted myself on the back for bringing the sheet for it, otherwise it would've been a lot worse. Ben was actually very calm about the whole thing. He just kept talking about how he "spit." Luckily he hadn't really gotten any on his pajamas, so I cleaned him up, gave him a drink of water and brushed his teeth. Then he climbed into bed with Heath (which was a feat, since we were sleeping in two twin beds).

For the rest of the night Ben threw up about once an hour. I called the nurse line and she said there's a stomach virus going around right now, so I guess he picked it up somewhere. Obviously it wasn't a restful night for anyone. We spent the rest of the weekend sitting on the couch watching Dinosaur Train and Thomas and Friends. He's fine now.

The thing that amazes me about parenthood is how much instinct is involved. When Ben was throwing up all night I wasn't thinking about how disgusting it was or how much I wanted to be sleeping. I just did what had to be done. I cleaned up, I comforted my son. In between I dozed. Simple.

Grab bag

We've been fighting colds for about a week and a half now in the Borders household. I think Ben has it worst of all. Heath and I don't feel too well upon waking, but we're making it through the days okay. Ben, however, has been a snot faucet and coughing at night wakes him up. The good news is that he's finally getting the idea about blowing his nose! No more battles over the aspirator. Snot bubbles are copious, but maybe we won't end up in Ear Infection Land quite so often. One can dream.

The other interesting thing that's been happening relates to an earlier post about manipulation. Though Ben's speech is becoming increasingly more understandable and complex, there are still those moments when we just don't get it. So it's become a habit that even when we do understand what he's saying, we repeat it, to make sure we really did understand. Ben uses this to his advantage. So if he says, "Have snack?" and I say, "You want to have a snack?" he says, "Ok," and his inflection is such that it seems like it was my idea all along and he's just agreeing to it. "Oh a snack, Mother? I hadn't even thought of that, but now that you bring it up - Ok." It's both hilarious and worrying.

Another cool thing is that he's starting to memorize songs and sing them. That just started a few weeks ago. We sing the "Three Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed" song and he chimes in at the end with, "No more monkeys jumping on the bed!" He and Heath sing songs from Dinosaur Train. And yesterday morning I could tell he was singing a song, but I couldn't tell what it was. Finally that afternoon I realized it was "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star," which I've been singing to him before naps and bed since he was born. Every day he's more and more like a kid and it's so fun to watch.

Here we go again...

Remember a couple weeks ago when I said Ben started waking up in the middle of the night? Well, we discovered that he had an ear infection. It was mild so hopefully the antibiotics took care of it in one round. We'll go back to the doctor later this week to find out.

However, now he seems to be working on some type of cold, complete with runny nose, which makes it more likely he'll develop another ear infection soon. He's continued waking up in the night (not every night, but enough), with the added bonus of 5:30am wake up calls. Because he doesn't sleep enough at night he'll often take 3+ hour naps, but I'd gladly cut back on naps if it meant he'd sleep from 8:30pm-7am. Even 6:30. I'd accept 6:30am.

And the extra kick in the pants is that it's supposed to be 90 fucking degrees tomorrow. So not only do we have to deal with a sick kid and less sleep, I don't even get to wear jeans and sweaters.

An explanation

Posting has been light the past few weeks because I was in the midst of Health Drama. I had a polyp in my bladder, which was removed on Friday. I'm overjoyed to report the tests came back negative, meaning there were no cancer cells. Which you better believe I made the nurse tell me explicitly. I don't want any of that sitcom confusion in which "negative" really means, "Oh, isn't it negative how you have cancer?" But, I'm positive she said negative, so it's all good. :)

Obviously I had some recovery time, so Heath was on full-time Ben duty all weekend. Then my dad came over on Monday to wrangle the boy. So I really didn't see much of him for three days. It's amazing that even though he's almost two, Ben's still changing everyday. I don't always notice it since I'm with him so much, but this weekend it was really magnified.

He's starting to speak in sentences. His main sentence is, "I see (whatever)." It's going to be totally bizarre when he can have actual conversations. And apparently over the weekend he learned how to go down the porch steps all by himself, without even holding on to anything!

My recovery is going smoothly. I'm still taking it easy this week, which means Ben's been forced to walk a lot more (evil mommy!), but that's definitely for the best. I work out, but the kid is getting heavy to lug around. Hopefully soon I'll be back to normal and this will all just be a memory.

He loves me, he loves me not...

For 9-12 months now Heath has been the obvious Favorite Parent. At first it didn't bother me at all and, in fact, I welcomed it because it meant I got a break when Heath got home. Lately, though, it's started to affect me. Ben's favoritism doesn't seem to be diminishing at all. If Heath's home Ben wants almost nothing to do with me*. Seriously, he bawls like it's the end of the world when Heath goes into the bathroom for a minute. It makes me feel like I'm some strange babysitter. I know he loves me and he clings to Heath because he doesn't see him all day. I choose to believe that since Ben and I are together all day he's extremely secure in our relationship so he takes me for granted. That only relieves a little of the sting when he's pushing me away, though.

Yesterday morning he woke up with a slight fever. Nothing worrisome. It barely got over 100 and today he's fine, but yesterday he was sluggish and just not feeling well. Before Heath left for work we were all in the kitchen. Ben walked up to me and said, "Up, up, up." Already that was strange because Heath was standing right there in Ben's line of sight and he came to me. I picked him up, figuring I was merely a vehicle to get to Heath, but he put his head down on my shoulder and snuggled in. And that's the way he stayed until Heath left. We spent much of the day on the couch watching cartoons and though I felt horribly guilty for letting him watch that much TV, it was so nice being the chosen parent for once.

Today he was back to his normal self and was barely consolable when Heath went upstairs to shower, but maybe next time he's sick I'll get another deliberate snuggle.


*Unless I'm engaged in an activity I don't want him involved in, such as cooking. Then he's all over me.

Screw Jack Frost

Though I enjoyed snow as a child, I've long since accepted that as an adult, snow sucks. It just makes life harder. My newest lesson is that as a parent, winter sucks! Save a few blessed weeks, Ben's had a runny nose since October. That was also the last time he slept through the night with any regularity. We still get a few nights here and there, but once he hits three in a row then he gets a cold or an ear infection or he just feels like inflicting some torture. He's going to graduate to water boarding soon.

This will all get better once spring hits, right? Right?

RIGHT?!

What Ben got for Christmas: Two ear infections! :(

Thursday night Ben had a fever. We weren't too alarmed, because almost two weeks prior he'd received shots which the doctor said might cause a fever in about two weeks. So we figured it was just his vaccines kicking in. Friday he was fine, but then Saturday the fever came back with a vengeance. He hung out with us on the couch all day and napped for a total of 4.5 hours. He was feverish most of the day but it broke before bed. Sunday he seemed fine. His temperature was normal, he was running around and playing and he went to bed easily. Then around 11:45pm he woke up SCREAMING. Heath was still awake, but it woke me up, even with a fan on for white noise. Heath ended up sleeping with him in the guest room, where he tossed and turned a lot of the night.

So we went to the doctor this morning and he has infections in both ears. According to the doctor they're "really bad." She said it hurt her to even look at the one in his left ear. Poor Benny. We've acquired strong antibiotics ($44!!) and have another doctor's appointment in 10 days. Hopefully he'll be feeling better by this weekend, so he can enjoy Christmas.

Conversations with a toddler - Part 1

Scene: I'm wiping Ben's nose because he's all snotty.

Ben: *cry* *whine*

Me: I know you don't like this, but you have boogers all over your face. You don't want people to call you Booger Face, do you?

Ben: *whine* *cry*

Me: That would be pretty embarrassing when you're president.

Deja Vu all over again

Last night was what we in the industry call "a bad night." Last week Ben was diagnosed with mild double ear infections, which explained why he'd been having some trouble sleeping. However, since we started the antibiotics he's been sleeping fine. Until last night.

Heath put him to bed around 8pm, as usual, but he wasn't actually asleep in his crib until 1:30am. We took turns attempting to soothe him to sleep, trying everything in our parental playbook: rocking, singing, reading books, playing his CDs, letting him cry it out. We even brought him into our bed, though it was apparent after 10 minutes that it wasn't going to work. Nobody would get any sleep when one of the sleepers kept trying to crawl off the bed.

So finally at 12:45am I did what I've never had to do before, even when Ben was a newborn: I drove him around until he fell asleep. We drove for a long time and as we neared home my stomach was tied in knots. Being sleep deprived is a truly horrible thing and I was going to cry and cry if Ben woke up again. Well, he did wake up slightly when I took him out of the car seat, but he laid down in his crib with no protest. Then I had an extreme case of deja vu from a year ago. I walked back into our room wishing and hoping and praying that he would stay asleep, but knowing that it would take me a while to get there myself. I flipped on the baby monitor and let out a sigh of resignation as Heath began to snore. I laid down, sweater still on and hair still in a ponytail because if I had to get up again I didn't want to bother with those things. Then for half an hour I tried to calm my mind, but every time I heard Ben move (sounds that normally don't even wake me anymore) an electric bolt of fear would thrill down my spine and my body would tense, waiting to hear that whiny cry over the monitor. Luckily it never came and I was able to get to sleep in a respectable amount of time, but it's amazing how quickly I went right back to that place. We haven't had a night like that in many months, but I automatically went into battle mode. With time the mind can dull the pain, but apparently the body never forgets.

It just might

Sorry for the lack of posting over the last week. Ben's been teething and then we all came down with colds. Taking care of a now-mobile baby with a cold, while I have a cold is a feat unto itself, without having to worry about being entertaining.

And, unfortunately, there probably won't be too many posts until the last week of July. We're taking a road trip Up North, visiting relatives in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Actually, we'll be visiting a lot of the people who read this blog, who will be meeting Ben for the first time! So there will be much to report on our return, assuming the trip doesn't kill me.

Prospective parents take note

This is what happens when a baby with a runny nose sneezes
(Click on the picture to get the full effect)