Rotavirus

I called the doctor back this evening when Rowan's fever spiked to 103, and he was overly lethargic in my opinion. When he got up to try to walk, he would seem disoriented and fall down. Literally ONE OUNCE of Pedialyte was making him have the runs. When he would drink one ounce, he would lose about 5 ounces in his diapers.
The nurse on call was very nice and very helpful. She instructed me to not give him anything for the temperature, and to reduce fluids to one teaspoon every 15 minutes for two hours. If he continued to have diarrhea or was vomiting, I was to call her back immediately. She also gave me some warning signs for dehydration, and if any of these happened I was to take him to the ER immediately. Basically, I was looking for: no wet diapers (she told me to put a Kleenex in the front of his diaper to see if he was wetting), dry mouth, dry lips or hazy eyes. I have been keeping a CLOSE eye on him for the last few hours, and cut his liquids as I was told to do. He takes the Pedialyte great, and wants more, but I cannot give him more! This has been very difficult to do. Also, I have been monitoring his temperature, which as of 15 minutes ago has gone down to 100.4.
I have him in my bed tonight; he is sound asleep for now! I am hoping that he does well through the night, and I am really hoping for a wet diaper by the time I lie down for bed tonight. Please say a prayer for our little guy tonight!!! Also, if you are wondering about the Rota virus, please see this site:

http://www.kidshealth.org/parent/infections/bacterial_viral/rotavirus.html

My poor baby~!!!!

Okay, so Rowan woke up this morning still running a temp. of 102. I decided, after a MASSIVE diarrhea diaper, to call Dr. Milbrandt, Rowan's pediatrician. She told me that he had five red flags for an ear infection: not sleeping for more than 45 minutes at a time, tugging on his ears, not wanting to eat or drink, diarrhea and a temperature. Because his temp was over 99, which is average for teething and/or ear infection, she was a little concerned and wanted me to bring him in today.
So, when we got there, we hadn't even made it to the elevator yet, and Rowan projectile vomited all over himself and the floor. I rushed him up to get checked in, and the nurse took him to clean him up. She brought me rags, towels and a blanket to wrap him up in. While we were waiting to get him weighed, Rowan started to have diarrhea again...and I knew because of what sounded like a freight train near his rear end. AND LORD, did it ever SMELL! Between the puke and the diarrhea, it was almost unbearable! Well, they weighed him and checked his temp, which had come down to 99.8. I had given him two doses of Tylenol since talking to the doc this morning!
The doc came in and asked lots of questions, then picked him up...and he threw up again! She said he had some viral infection of the GI tract, or something like that. She is concerned about him staying hydrated mostly, and she gave him some Pedialyte right then...I am to ONLY give him Pedialyte, one ounce every two hours, NO FOOD for 36 hours and NO MILK for ONE WEEK!!!!!! I don't know how he will handle this, but I will follow her orders to keep him hydrated, whatever it takes!!! :-) We went by Walgreen's to get him some Tylenol and Pedialyte...he threw up again, and had more diarrhea. We have been home for 45 minutes, and I have already changed two diapers. I am hoping we don't end up in the hospital tonight for dehydration. Dr. Milbrandt said his mouth and lips were a little dryer than she would like, so I am to keep close eye on it through the night. Also, I am to call her tomorrow and let her know how he is doing.

I asked her about his gag reflex, and she said she didn't feel comfortable dealing with the issue, but that his choking is a concern b/c it happens so often. By Monday we will have an appointment with an eating specialist at Koke Mill who will administer food and see what he does, hopefully we will know what is causing his choking!

Productive day, and I am ready for some answers!

Loves and hugs!!!

Red Cross

Today I called the Red Cross to sign up for first aid classes. I am going to take two classes next week: the first one is called Infant & child CPR, and it deals with the Heimlich maneuver and CPR, as well as all things first aid for children and infants. The second is basic first aid, which covers just about everything: bandages, burns, broken bones, seizures, allergies, administering medicines, strokes, you name it! They are next Tuesday and Thursday from 6-9 PM, and I am very excited to get started on them!!! I want to feel well-equipped and ready for anything...moms out there you know that with children, we truly do need to be "ready for anything at any time"!!! Being alone, raising our son on my own for now, I need to know what to do in case of an emergency. With Rowan's gag reflex, and choking, I think I will really benefit from these two classes! It is $25 for the first class, and $5 for the second. At this point, I would pay 10 times this for peace of mind!!!

Still not feeling well

It is past Ro's bedtime, 10:16 PM, and he is yet to fall asleep. He has gotten spoiled this last week, as in a desperate attempt at getting some sleep myself, I let him sleep in bed with me a couple hours...just about every night! NOT GOOD ON MY PART!!!
My goal for tonight was to go through Ro's baby albums. I accidentally put his pictures in backwards in his third album, and have to redo it. I also just received almost 600 pictures from my last Snapfish order, and desperately need to get them organized and ready to put IN albums...I also need to go and get the dang albums! LOL Oh well, maybe tomorrow.
For now, I am tired, and ready for bed. Rowan is just really restless, so he may end up in my bed again tonight. I know, yell at me later, okay???

loves and smiles!

My baby is sick...:-(

Today was another "relax" day; I had to run a few errands, nothing too major though. Rowan hasn't been sleeping too well for the last few days, which I attributed to his teething and the traveling (new place every night is not easy on a wee one!). Well, this afternoon, he woke up from his nap and was running a temperature of 101.4. I gave him some Children's Motrin, and he went back to sleep for a little bit, but when he woke up the temp. had not broken. He is just very sleepy and has the temp., and diarrhea, nothing too major as of yet. I am hoping the Motrin will help break this temperature before bed time tonight!!! My poor little man; it is NEVER fun to see your baby sick!

MY SLIDE SHOW

This damn site sucks when it comes to adding a slide show, so click on the following link to view my new slide show of pictures from Neil, Ericka and Josie's visit!!!

http://www.slide.com/r/7BoH5rQ_7z-QRQzIr23BAEqMdzuqAphZ?previous_view=mscd_embedded_url&view=original

We're back home

After a whirlwind of a week, Rowan and I arrived home early this morning. Florida was absolutely beautiful, the weather was amazing (except for the random storms and tornadoes!), the wedding was flawless!!! I would like to say it all went smoothly and perfect the whole time, and for the most part it did...however, it was a very stressful week.

Autumn, Rowan and I drove to Peoria late Tuesday evening and stayed at her parent's house. Our flight left at 6 AM on Wednesday morning. Rowan did very well on the flights, slept the entire first one in fact. When we got to Florida, we picked up our rental car and drove to Naples. The hotel we stayed in was absolutely amazing, and the staff was top notch! If ever in the area, please check out the Bellasera; it is so beautiful!!! We stayed in a three bedroom suite with Autumn's family the first two nights, then moved to a different room with all the girls the next night. That Saturday, we stayed with Autumn's cousin and her family, then we headed to Fort Myers to stay at her Grandma's neighbor's house (a rental property that was empty). Needless to say, all the moving around was a little tough to handle with Rowan, but we managed!!! :-) I didn't have time to get to the beach, which is pretty disappointing, but what do you do? We did hang out poolside most days, so I can't complain too much!!! Rowan loved the water, of course! My little fish baby!

Well, we did have a freak out moment. Rowan has always had a really sensitive gag reflex, and Saturday night during the reception, he choked on a french fry. I did all that I knew to do, and he was not getting it up. He started to turn blue and his eyes rolled back; at that moment, all Mommy instincts went out the window and I completely FREAKED OUT!!! I screamed for HELP, and I don't remember what happened after that. I was later told that an EMT came in to the reception hall, someone took Rowan from me, and Julie was able to get the french fry out of Rowan's throat by sweeping his mouth. Apparently, he had swallowed a 3 inch fry and it swelled in his throat to be about a half inch wide; he was not able to get it up, or down, and I couldn't not get it out!!! I literally do not remember what happened after I screamed, I just remember hearing him start to cry and knowing that he was okay. I can't explain the thoughts that went through my head in that moment; I truly thought that I was going to lose my son; when I turned him over and hit his back, I expected to flip him back over and he would be okay...it didn't work. I stuck my finger down his throat and couldn't feel anything!!! I am going to call today to see about getting in to some first aid classes. I lost all composure, and I couldn't help my baby...that is every mother's WORST nightmare!!!

Whew, it is good to be home!!! I am now just really anxious to get into our house!!!

What! TOO BUSY TO BLOG???

Yeah, been too busy to blog! Unimaginable, right? My brother, his wife and daughter came home from Tucson, and I have been enjoying their complany! Well, now Rowan and I are leaving for Florida and won't be home until next week! Talk to ya'll then!

Jamie, my love, I MISS YOU SO MUCH AND LOVE YOU ENDLESSLY!!!

It's JUNE!!!

Today was pretty fabulous, and exhausting...as usual! I thought we were going to see Neil and the fam today, but we didn't. So instead, I decided to take Justin and Rowan to the pool. My friend Melissa and her two kids met us there. It was really fun. Rowan didn't really like the BIG pool, but loved the baby one! We had a little mishap, and he fell, belly down. Well, he has a Speedo swimsuit with the floaties in it, and he was stuck, couldn't get flipped back over!!! So, I had a little panic issue, and he was fine. He cried for a minute, but got over it quickly and just wanted to play!
Ro and I came home, left Justin with his friends at the pool. Rowan was SOOOO tired, and he fell asleep on the way home...but was WIDE awake when we got here~! My Aunt Joyce and Uncle David came to visit, and we had some pasta for dinner...YUMMY! Well, I had to go back and get Justin, and his mom picked him up here. Then, I had to go back to town to take back the movie from yesterday and...well, get some DQ of course!!!
It is only 8:30, and I am basically ready for bed!

NEIL AND FAMILY!!!

Oh yay, today was awesome!!! :-))) I haven't seen my brother in a couple of years, and today he, Erick and Josie flew home!!! YIPPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE I drove to Spfld, and met them at our Mom's house. We all hung out for a bit, and they had to leave. Rowan and I stayed and went out on the boat for a while; it was really nice and relaxing, and I love to see how my mom interacts with Rowan...it's kinda cute!
Well, we are back home, and Rowan is pretty much a walking zombie. My cousin, Justin, is staying the night, and I took him to go skating...picked him up at 10, rented a movie, came home, Rowan is up past MIDNIGHT!!! Insane!