The never ending fever scare

I'm sure if you're reading you've probably been following what's been going on with Brayden on Facebook. Needless to say the last week has been ROUGH!  On Monday Brayden started with a fever. On a side note, I jokingly (although it's not actually funny) call Bray my "fever kid"  he runs a fever every time he's sick and even a low grade when teething.  Jason and I both were notorious for running high fevers as kids, so i shouldn't be surprised.

my poor baby 

Anyway, the fever started Monday and was around 102 degrees. So i started the usual regiment of all the "tricks' to help break it, alternating tylenol/advil, luke warm baths, cool rags, light clothing ,you name it. The odd thing was, was that he wasn't presenting with any other symptoms, so i figured it was probably the beginning of a stomach virus or strep throat again.  By just Tuesday the fever was the same. The meds were keeping his temp around 101-102 so it was somewhat manageable.  Then things got worse. No matter what I did the fever kept creeping up. He was waking up multiple times at night screaming and crying BURNING so hot. Even with the meds his temp was rising about a degree a day. And still, no other symptoms.  I had called the pedes on wed when is fever was lingering around 103.6 only after 2 hours of meds.  At this point i was alternating doses of meds as per  the dr every 3 hrs.  So it seemed really ridiculous that his fever would be so high.  The pedes told me to keep doing all the things i was doing and if we hit the 72 hr window on Thurs and it was still raging to bring him in.  His eating and drinking were definitely starting to suffer. He was still taking in some food and drinking an "ok" amount that this point but I was REALLY worried b/c it didn't make sense why he was so sick. He was still peeing in their recommended every 6-8 hours but it was definitely a stretch in between.

You know he's sick when he SITS and cuddles

Thursday was a a nightmare. The fever at it's highest was 104.6 and was consistently staying around 103-104.  The poor kid was crying all the time, lethargic, and just wanted to be held. As soon as the drs office opened I called and they got him in for an appointment.  We saw Jenna the nurse practitioner, she's really great.  She was really concerned that at this point it had been 72 hrs, which is when fevers usually start to break with viral infection, and he was presenting with no other symptoms. His lungs and chest were clear and ears looked okay so they did a strep test and wanted to do a urine collection to rule out a Urinary Tract Infection. Normally UTI's are not a big concern for boys but Jason and I both get them so they wanted to make sure that wasn't the case. Not that I was hoping he had strep but I was hoping it would be something simple enough that a course of antibiotics would fix. But the strep test was negative.  Urine collection was interesting. He was not a fan of the "sticky bag" around his penis but we were able to get a sample. Since he wasn't drinking much it took like 4 hours to get him to pee.  The test came back negative, which i was SO relieved about. If it had been positive they said they would of had to cathederize him to get a sterile sample to send to the lab, and I did NOT want to have him go through that.  His urine did come back positive with the presence of  ketones which just reiterated he was dehydrated and not eating enough.  :(

At the pedes

Friday the fever was still raging, staying high.  At this point I'm really getting scared. The dr sent us for blood work to see if they could figure out what was going on. Doing blood work on a dehydrated 13 month old was a nightmare, he cried, I cried, it was not fun. The techs at the lab were really great and only had to stick him one time but they were digging around in his arm with the needle for well over a minute and had to take 4 vials.  I felt AWFUL for him, it felt like  the longest blood drawl ever.  He did so great considering but it was still hard.

By Saturday morning the results were in and of course they were inconclusive. So they still have NO idea what made him so sick with fever.  Fortunately by Saturday the fever was staying around 101and lower with the meds and looked like it could finally be breaking. HUGE sigh of relief.  Today he's doing even better. The pedes office has been calling every morning to see how he is making out.  If he had a fever this morning they wanted to bring him back in. Not that they would be able to really do anything.  But this morning his temp was normal. Earlier this afternoon he was a little warm but a dose of Tylenol put it back down.

Needless to say it's been a rough week. I hate the feeling of not being able to make things better for Brayden when he doesn't feel good. And it was really scary not knowing, and still not knowing what the hell is causing the fever in the first place. Here's hoping we don't have to go through this again any time soon.  I just keep praying this fever stays away.  I hate the idea of giving him medicine to start with let alone giving him SO much meds with in a 5-6 day span.  That can't be good for him. :(

11 Months Old! How is that even possible?!

As usual I feel like I am way behind on my monthly Brayden updates!  I seriously can't believe that we are counting down till his first birthday.  16 days to go! I am in some SERIOUS denial.  It really is amazing how fast time goes, everyone says it does but I think it goes even faster!

The last month has been really busy!  We've been doing all kinds of activities, birthday parties, first hurricane/earthquate/tornados and more milestones. lol At 11 months Brayden was weighing in at 20lbs(25%) and 31"(98%) tall!  He is still drinking WAY to much formula/milk but we have successfully transitioned from formula to whole milk so that is an accomplishment in itself. He loves his sippy cup but will only drink water. We will eventually get the milk in there but I need to get the amount he's drinking down first. Not that we are trying to give him juice but he won't drink it even if we wanted him to. I think my kid's the only kid that doesn't like juice. lol  He is still in 12 month clothes with the exception of his waist lol  and is wearing size 4-5 shoes. This kid has big feet!

As of a few weeks ago he was still taking 2 naps a day but since then he's dropped down to 1, it's been a very interesting transition to say the least. I've had to push his nap back so he can make it till bedtime. His nap is usually at least 2 hours but he REALLY needs to make it longer, like 3 hrs to be happier. Guess we will see how it all works out.

Brayden is still a great eater, when is isn't sick and teething.  He eats everything we do and loves trying new things.  One of his latest obsessions is tomatoes. Coming from the kid who had such bad reflux and stomach issues this is awesome!  He loves running around the house with his snack cup in hand. I've really been trying to push filling snacks in between the meals and bottles to help knock down the number of ounces he is drinking. So far it's helping a tiny bit but not enough.  Its a work in progress. I have a feeling we are going to be having a LONG talk with the pedes about this at his 12 month appt.

He is still waking at night! Uggghh! I'm not going to lie, 11 months and counting of not sleeping through the night has been really rough on jason and I.  With all the teething and sickness stuff that has gone on in the last month (he's currently teething BAD right now too) it's been at an all time worst. If he only wakes up 1x it's a miracle. Some nights it's been 2,3 and more times. He has NEVER been a good sleeper. I don't know if it's just the way he is or if it's a result of the terrible sleeping/pain he was in when he was little b/c of the MPI and reflux but I feel so bad for him. He is always moving around in his crib as he sleeps.  My poor baby, I keep joking with jason that he's trying to help us get ready for when we have baby #2.  lol

I know every parent is proud of thier kids but I am seriously so proud and impressed with Brayden. Not to come off as bragging but I'm allowed to do that here! :)  It's so amazing to watch your child grow and develop.  Especially at this age he really is understand things and how they work, talking up a storm and using words accordingly.  It's amazing. Now of course his words are very baby talk and if you don't spend all day with him you prob don't have clue what he's saying like I do but he is getting good at speaking. Of course he babbles, screeches and makes silly sounds but he does know some works to use appropriately. He knows mama and mom, dada, cup (comes out as up), nap, doggie, cat(rarely but sometimes he say it in context), up (as in pick up). He's learning to say other words or more or less repeating things as we say them.  It's seriously mind blowing. I've tried doing some sign language with him but he would rather try and say the words instead of signing them. But that's fine by me if he wants to be vocal. :)  His word association has really improved. We can ask him where the doggie(Riley), cat(jack jack), mommy, daddy, and some toys/items are he knows exactly what you're talking about.  :)   He is also getting really good as learning how things work.  We practice open/close, on/off (he loves doing on and off with the bottle lid) and putting things inside of things.

He loves playing with the most random stuff! Like all the kids I know you could give them a million toys and they want to play with the box it came in.  In the last month I've had to "upgrade" our child proofing. He keeps finding things that he can get in to.  I had all the "bad cabinets" in the house locked up but I've had to childproof the dvd cabinets, the remaining kitchen cabinets and drawers and take down more stuff that was he wanted to climb on or steal.  His obsession with emptying everything out and running around the house with all of my kitchen utensils made me have to lock it all up. Not that i necessarily minded him playing with them but it was like cleaning up after a tornado over and over and over.  lol

Brayden LOVES musing and elmo! lol He started noticing the tv more.  He doesn't really watch too much unless something grabs his attention.  But Elmo is like a drug to this kid!  He rocks out and dances to the theme song and is entranced by him. lol For this reason I really try and minimize the amount he's watching. A few minutes are not going to kill him here and there over the course of the day but he literally locks on to the tv like a statue...yeah not so good.  He also loves music. Which we knew but he's been showing off his crazy dance moves and it's AWESOME!  He learned to push the buttons on my ipod while it's in the docking station so he can play music.  I think i seriously need to get him one of those kid mp3 radio things, he would be in LOVE!  Anything with a beat and dance music is his favorite!

Some bullet points of the "highlights" of the last month!

*The trifecta of teething shenanigans: in a matter of 2 weeks(8/25, 9/1,9/7) we had 3 teeth come through, if anyone knows my son is NOT a good teether by any means, it def made for some interesting times :)

*9/2: First busted lip! Following by example of the grace and coordination of his mother he fell while playing and bit through his lip.  Poor baby had a bloody mouth but got a "freeze pop" to make it all better.

*9/11: Sickness hell breaks loose. Daddy started the week before with a stomach virus that was passed along  then Brayden and Mommy followed suit.  The next day Bray started vomiting and running a fever, not eating or drinking.  We were able to get in with the pedes and he had a stomach virus and Strep throat :(  First time taking amoxacillin. He HATES the taste of it!  I remember as a kid loving the "bubblegum" medicine but this kid acts like he is being tortured when you give him and meds. Must be flashbacks from the Zantac days.  lol  He ended up losing a whole pound while he was sick.  By the time he hit 11 months he had gained 1/2 lb back and was back up to 20. By the end of the month he was back up to 20lb 5 oz.

*9/17 First Apple and Pumpkin Picking!  He had SO MUCH FUN! With him walking so early it has really made things for him so much more enjoyable!

Taking monthly Onesie pictures is ridiculous!!! this kid refuses to sit still! It takes at least 2 of us acting like complete idiots to get any decent pics! lol  

 Trying to escape giving a devilish face! 

 FINALLY a nice smile! Even though he's looking at Aunt Katie! lol 

 Typical Brayden expression! 

BLOOPER! Most of the pics are crazy like this and up in his face b/c he was trying to 

run and dive on the couch at us or reaching for something in the distance. lol 

Nothings worse than a sick baby!

It has been a ROUGH week of sickness! Last week Jason started with the stomach virus that has been going around and at this point it's made its way through each of us. It has been terrible. On Sunday Brayden started with it and things went down hill fast. Aside from the chronic diarrhea he started spitting up. He would walk around screaming and crying and even picking him up wasn't helping. It seriously breaks my heart, I hate seeing him in pain and not being able to make it better.

 On Monday he started projectile vomiting and running a fever 101.5.  His poor bottom was so raw that this point you couldn't even touch him.  Time to head to the pedes. Advil and tylenol were keeping the fever at a minimum but he wasn't eating, drinking and able to keep anything down.  By the time we got the pedes he started to rash out all over his body with red bumps.  Low and behold he also has strep throat. My poor baby.  He just can't win.  The dr started him on amoxacillin and the virus part just has to run it's course. It's has been a struggle to get him to keep anything down, especially after taking antibiotics, they've been tearing up his stomach. Of course my son is "weird" and he hates any kind of drink other than water. So no juice, Pedialite, Gatorade ext. So it's been interesting getting fluids in him, being that milk/formula make him sick.  The good news is things are getting better, he is drinking, eating and sleeping a little more.  He is still fussy and miserable but it's nothing like it was.

Here's hoping by the weekend everyone in the house is feeling better! I know i'm struggling to function and take care of a baby. Jason was awesome and stayed home yesterday to help even though he's not feeling 100% himself.  Keeping everything crossed this doesn't linger too long. I am really hoping to take advantage of the beautiful weather this weekend him to the farm for apple and pumpkin picking this weekend.  :)

Scary fevers!

Brayden has had colds and stuff before where he's ran some fevers but NOTHING like his last bout of sickness. The fever literally came out of no where and he was down for the count. His fever was lingering over 104 degrees.  It was all actually pretty stressful because we couldn't get him to take ANY fluids. As a result he wasn't really peeing. I talked to the pedes and they had reminded me to make sure he was peeing at least every 6-8 hours and if not to call back. We tried getting him to drink formula, water, pedialite(which he HATES...what a waste of $5...lol but it was worth a try), and even juice/water mixtures and had no luck. It had been 10+ hours with NO wet diapers and of course it was after the office was closed so they had a nurse at the hospital call me back. They had us force feed him via syringe to get something in to him. I cried, he cried but it helped. The way the nurse put it, it was the lesser of evils than bringing him in to the hospital and hooking him up to iv's.  By the middle of the night i was able to get him to take a little bit of bottle so I was SO relieved. A little bit after he gave us a little wet diaper..huge SIGH of relief!

For the fever we had to alternate between tylenol and advil every three hours. Even then alternating meds was only keeping it at about 102. Fortunately by morning his fever broke and finally dropped to the 100's range. You could tell he was sick because he was cuddly and docile, the absolute opposite of his usual energy filled hyper personality. I did love the cuddle time but I absolutely hate him being sick and burning up so bad. Looks like he's going to follow in both mommy and daddy's footsteps with high fevers...uggh not looking forward to that! Fotruntately he's been okay since then, so it had to of been viral.  I'm just glad he didn't present with a rash after the fever finally broke! 

Saddest little face ever :( 

One of those weeks...

Brayden definitely hasn't had the best few weeks.First it started off with a cold that lasted almost two weeks, he's been teething relentlessly despite no breakthrough and this past week he must of been having one heck of a growth spurt waking up multiple times a night.  Poor kid! 

I'm not going to lie it definitely has been tiring and at times frustrating for me (and Jason) but I can't complain or imagine life any other way.  I look back at all the times that I cried because we couldn't pregnant, all the cycles and failures we went through and feel grateful for every moment good and bad I have with my amazing little man.   I can't imagine a better life of changing diapers, making bottles and wiping snotty noses! :) 

Look Mom a Truck!!

He discovered he can spin the wheels :)