Friday, October 27, 2006

Sick

Yesterday we took D. in to the pediatrician for his 4 month shots. Ouch. I nearly cried when the nurse jabbed the needle into his little thigh, and then did it again! and again!! That sadly hasn't been the last or worst of it. Last night D. woke up and started screaming. Usually I'm able to calm him down pretty quickly, but this went on for at least 20 minutes. It sounded like no cry I'd ever heard before, and I can only assume the kid was in some kind of pain. He finally fell asleep nursing and did okay through the night... but this morning he had a fever, and when I tried to give him some tylenol in the eyedropper, he emptied the contents of his stomach all over his changing table. Minutes later, he threw up again on our bed. And then he had another screaming fit. And then he threw up yet again (all over me) a few hours later. Poor baby.


I cancelled my class so I could stay home and console him (and not subject him to the ride to campus where he usually hangs out with dad in his office for an hour while I teach). He has been in my arms or on my lap all morning. And every once in a while, D. will open his eyes, look up at me, and smile.

I think we'll survive this.

3 comments:

jo(e) said...

Oh, I used to hate that. You bring your healthy baby to the doctor's and come home with a restless, sick kid.

My favorite part was always when the doctor would say cheerfully,"If he cries for more than two hours straight, give us a call."

Anonymous said...

Oh, poor sweetie. We went through exactly this same thing not too long ago and it's just heartbreaking. You're right that you will both survive this. May D. soon be feeling like himself again!

purple_kangaroo said...

That really sounds like a vaccine reaction. Even if it's not, it should be reported through the VAERS system (their website is http://vaers.hhs.gov/ ).

High-pitched screaming, fever and vomiting are all classic reactions to vaccines. How high was the fever?

High-pitched screaming is considered an abnormal or moderately severe vaccine reaction, and is supposed to be pretty rare. See this medline article, for example.

What did your pediatrician say about it? That combination of symptoms could be a contraindication to receiving that vaccine again, depending on how severe they were, so it's important to discuss it with your doctor if you haven't yet done so.

I hope your baby is feeling better now!