still in the thick of it

Ok, I'm gonna try to get in an update of this last week while everyone's asleep. I think you'll understand the need of quickness by the time you get to the end of this post.

So last week, Fry got over his little gastro by the next day and I caught Stéph's crud. So much for Mommy not getting sick! I was upset because I was afraid it would mean canceling our outing on Thursday, which I was so looking forward to, but the Actifed Jour & Nuit seemed to be doing its job so off we went.

Fry and I took an early morning train to Paris where we spent a few hours at Aimee's. She suggested her place so Fry could keep to his eating and napping schedule. Everything went perfectly that day. Fry was great on the train, a little fussy on the metro but it was getting close to lunch time, ate his lunch like a champion and slept for two and a half hours in Aimee's magical back room, never made a peep in the metro on the way out and slept most of the way home on the train. He charmed everyone he came in contact with and I gained a ton of confidence in taking Fry out like that. We had a magical day.

Unfortunately, it seems Fry picked up something during his big day out. He didn't seem like himself all day Friday and it culminated with a screaming fest we haven't seen the likes of for months and months at bedtime. After two hours, he threw up (for the first time), finally calmed down and went to sleep.

Saturday was more of the same. As the day went on, it seemed like the gastro was back along with a fever, but he went down a little easier. But no, around midnight he was back up with diarrhea and he looked deathly pale. Luckily, vomiting brought his color back. Um... You know what I mean. He got us up again around 4am with a fever of nearly 40 (104 F) which sent Stéph for the phone. He called 15 (the SAMU or medical emergency line) and they told us we didn't need to head to the hospital unless we couldn't get his fever down and to call back at 8am to find out who the médecin de garde would be, because that's right, Fry chose a Sunday morning for (what is hopefully) the peak of his illness.

Bright and early Stéph had 15 back on the phone and it turns out that Dr A was the médecin de garde and the pharmacie de garde was also in Tiny Town - what luck! (On Sundays there is always one pharmacy open in major towns or in a "sector" or group of small towns, like where we live, only for prescriptions. The list is posted on the door of all pharmacies on Sundays.) Dr A confirmed Fry's big nasty gastro but also thinks his spleen is swollen, which he says has nothing to do with the gastro. We're going to have to make an appointment for a sonogram for that today. In the meantime, I picked up the medicine and Stéph took Fry home.

Now, I don't know what they give babies in the States for the stomach flu, but here they take babies completely off milk and give them a substitute that helps keep them hydrated and doesn't aggravate the diarrhea, which apparently milk does. Sometimes it's soy milk but this time Fry's got some kind of medical milk substitute that has carrot powder in it. In any case, he doesn't like it much. We are really fighting to get some kind of liquid - any kind of liquid - down his throat. We tried water or his medical milk about every half hour and no dice. The only thing he wants is his regular milk. We got so desperate Stéph actually called 15 back, and they were lovely. They confirmed that we should be ready to try everything before resorting to his milk, even sugar water.

The worst, though, was his fever, that spiked at 40.5 (105 F) when we got home from the doctor. That was completely scary and I hope I never see my baby like that again! We were ready to pack up everything and head to the hospital if it didn't come down in the following 45 minutes, but happily the Advil kicked in. The fever yo-yoed all day but never broke.

All of a sudden this crud I have, that never really went away, got worse yesterday so I wasn't much good last night. Fry got up twice, I think, and eventually did drink a bit of sugar water. Things seem to be improving in the diarrhea area. Now we just need to get him to drink a bit more today and I think we'll be alright. I've got to see Dr H today because that makes a week I've had this head cold, and my go-to OTC drugs aren't touching it. I may take Fry with me and ask Dr H to weigh him, as Stéph and I are both concerned about his not drinking.

So that's where we're at. It's heartbreaking to see your kid so sick but I know it's gonna be fine. I even told Stéph last night that this is just the first of many times he'll be sick. I just hope we'll get a break from illness in this house for a good little while!