Baby MPB is sick. It’s his first illness.
He woke up with a fever. He was warm to the touch and we measured his temperature to be 102 degrees F (39 C).
We happened to have a doctor friend stopping by to visit that morning, so we had easy access to a doctor.
We tried cooling him down and giving him baby Tylenol.
His temperature kept increasing. He became more and more lethargic. He stopped eating and even drinking.
When his temperature surpassed 104 degrees F (40 C), we decided with the support of our friend that it was time to go to the Emergency at the Children’s Hospital. As Mr. MPB drove, I sat in the back with Baby MPB – his tiny hand held onto my finger as he drifted in and out of sleep.
When we arrived Mr. MPB stopped at the front entrance. I quickly gathered up my little boy into my arms and I dashed inside with him. Mr. MPB joined us after parking the car. As we waited, I wouldn’t let go of my sweet little boy, he slept in my arms.
Rationally, I knew he was in the best place possible under the watchful eye of a pediatrician and a team of nurses. But, my heart was breaking as I watched helplessly as my little boy was suffering in my arms.
The pediatrician and nurses were great. Asides from the fever, an elevated heart rate and a lack of energy, Baby MPB checked out completely fine. In fact, the only action he would make was to open his eyes and smile at the doctor and the nurses when they were checking him out – he really is a very smiley happy boy.
So, they started giving Baby MPB some medicine to get his fever to break. If it didn’t work, then we would move onto more invasive testing – blood work and urine testing.
.
Thankfully, it worked. His fever started to drop, ever so slightly. And he appeared to have a bit more energy as he took a few ounces of formula.
Once we knew the fever was dropping we were released from the hospital, as it is a balance of staying in the hospital under the watchful eye of the doctor and risking catching an even worse bug. We were given very clear instructions for watching him and when to bring him back. Interestingly they are not so concerned about his temperature, the focus is on his actions (or lack thereof). If he’s lethargic or not drinking, we need to go back.
And so now we wait. We wait to see how his body fights this infection over the next few days.
If you like this post, please feel free to share and please click the follow button on the side or return to myperfectbreakdown.com to follow my journey.
We have left Baby MPB with our nanny alone a few times. But only for a few adoption related meetings, work related meetings, when Mr. MPB picked me up from the hospital after my surgery and one mandatory work evening event. Clearly, nothing fun that even resembles romance. In fact, of the things that we’ve done without Baby MPB I’d say work meetings have been the most enjoyable and also not something we do together as a couple. Which probably isn’t a good thing.
I’ve always said once we have kids (yes, naively I always said kids plural), we are going to do weekly date nights after the first few months. I want to be sure that I know my husband and we continue to connect as a couple while raising our kids.
But, today I’ll admit that Mr. MPB and I still have not had a date night since Baby MPB was born. Which means no dinners or movies out just as a couple. The reality is, when it comes down to it, we simply have not made an effort. I can use the classic excuses:
- no family around to help take care of Baby MPB;
- no energy for a date after spending our days attempting to balance our professional responsibilities with our family needs and desires;
- babysitters are expensive;
- we both like spending time with Baby MPB and we like putting Baby MPB to bed ourselves.
If I’m honest, I really do feel like we are struggling a bit with the balance of both working full time and providing Baby MPB with the attention he deserves and the attention we want to give him. My current priority list seems to be:
And, honestly, adding yet another thing to the priority list right now feels overwhelming.
If you like this post, please feel free to share and please click the follow button on the side or return to myperfectbreakdown.com to follow my journey.
My Perfect Breakdown 