sick weekend
This past weekend was pretty tough. On Saturday night Bao developed a fever that hovered around the 38.5C range, although she had no other symptoms. This is the first time I have had a kid with a fever - The Bun has been fortunate enough to never have had a viral fever, only the low-grade sort that comes after vaccinations. So for me to feel Bao's hot little head and her even hotter neck was a little scary, especially because she's only about 6 weeks old. I began counting down the hours till morning, when we could go see the paediatrician.
We made it through the night, but it was not a good one. Apart from Bao's fever, which spiked at 39.3C, The Bun has been going through what seems to be his annual cough - one that sounds hollow and phlegmy at the same time. I am very familiar with this cough because I also frequently get it too, and it is what the Chinese call the '100 day cough' because it literally lasts for weeks and weeks. From my records, The Bun's last cough lasted from December 2011 to around March 2012, so I am not expecting to see this one end anytime soon.
Anyway, he was also miserable because of his cough and he couldn't sleep, so at one point in the night I was in bed nursing Bao when I heard him cough in his sleep, then wake and scream for me from his room. J went in to him but he only wanted Mom, and that brought on a fresh set of tears (which made him cough more) and worked him up so that it was hard to settle him after that. Worst thing was just sitting in bed with Bao trying to comfort him because I couldn't exactly just stop nursing her - I wanted her to get as much fluid as possible since she was still feverish.
That night was tough. J and I felt like zombies after that, but somehow we got up and went to the doctor's clinic. It was so crowded; there must be a tough bug going around. The Bun of course chose this time to throw the mother of all tantrums because he suddenly decided the doctor was 'scary', despite previous visits with no incident, and months after I thought his doctor phobia had passed. He cried for almost thirty minutes and did everything short of lying on the floor screaming. I didn't want to wait inside with all the other germy kids, so while J stayed inside to wait for our name to be called, I sat outside on a bench holding a feverish Bao, more or less letting The Bun cry it out - he was beyond the point where reasoning, threats, or bribes could work.
When we actually saw the doctor though, he calmed down immediately and went through the check-up without incident. I think essentially he is not afraid of her, but he probably picked up on the adults' tension and nerves and reacted to that. Bao had to have a blood test, and we sent The Bun out of the room while this took place because if he had witnessed the needle drawing blood and his sister screaming murder he would probably never see a doctor calmly again. Poor Bao - her hand got bruised while she got her blood drawn and she screamed so much she is still traumatised now. She has a distinct cry that we never heard from her before. It sounds frightened and has a piercing ring to it.
J and I spent the rest of Sunday taking turns to hold Bao, who needed to be in someone's arms constantly. No surprise there. She began looking better that evening, finally opening her eyes and looking alert, but her fever only really broke early on Monday morning. Her blood test results came back fine, so it was probably a viral bug, and we can only wait for it to run its course. She's definitely improving, though, so that's a relief.
I've had killer migraines for the last couple of days, the sort where it hurts to move your head. Probably from all the stress and exhaustion. Throughout it all I could only tell myself that things had to improve, that we would get past it eventually, I hope we're all on the upward swing now.
We made it through the night, but it was not a good one. Apart from Bao's fever, which spiked at 39.3C, The Bun has been going through what seems to be his annual cough - one that sounds hollow and phlegmy at the same time. I am very familiar with this cough because I also frequently get it too, and it is what the Chinese call the '100 day cough' because it literally lasts for weeks and weeks. From my records, The Bun's last cough lasted from December 2011 to around March 2012, so I am not expecting to see this one end anytime soon.
Anyway, he was also miserable because of his cough and he couldn't sleep, so at one point in the night I was in bed nursing Bao when I heard him cough in his sleep, then wake and scream for me from his room. J went in to him but he only wanted Mom, and that brought on a fresh set of tears (which made him cough more) and worked him up so that it was hard to settle him after that. Worst thing was just sitting in bed with Bao trying to comfort him because I couldn't exactly just stop nursing her - I wanted her to get as much fluid as possible since she was still feverish.
That night was tough. J and I felt like zombies after that, but somehow we got up and went to the doctor's clinic. It was so crowded; there must be a tough bug going around. The Bun of course chose this time to throw the mother of all tantrums because he suddenly decided the doctor was 'scary', despite previous visits with no incident, and months after I thought his doctor phobia had passed. He cried for almost thirty minutes and did everything short of lying on the floor screaming. I didn't want to wait inside with all the other germy kids, so while J stayed inside to wait for our name to be called, I sat outside on a bench holding a feverish Bao, more or less letting The Bun cry it out - he was beyond the point where reasoning, threats, or bribes could work.
When we actually saw the doctor though, he calmed down immediately and went through the check-up without incident. I think essentially he is not afraid of her, but he probably picked up on the adults' tension and nerves and reacted to that. Bao had to have a blood test, and we sent The Bun out of the room while this took place because if he had witnessed the needle drawing blood and his sister screaming murder he would probably never see a doctor calmly again. Poor Bao - her hand got bruised while she got her blood drawn and she screamed so much she is still traumatised now. She has a distinct cry that we never heard from her before. It sounds frightened and has a piercing ring to it.
J and I spent the rest of Sunday taking turns to hold Bao, who needed to be in someone's arms constantly. No surprise there. She began looking better that evening, finally opening her eyes and looking alert, but her fever only really broke early on Monday morning. Her blood test results came back fine, so it was probably a viral bug, and we can only wait for it to run its course. She's definitely improving, though, so that's a relief.
I've had killer migraines for the last couple of days, the sort where it hurts to move your head. Probably from all the stress and exhaustion. Throughout it all I could only tell myself that things had to improve, that we would get past it eventually, I hope we're all on the upward swing now.