Is this day over yet?

I'm sure thankful that the can't win, pull-your-hair-out days are few and far between, because I got a nice reminder today about why those days are so aptly named.

This has definitely been the roughest teething patch Jack has had thus far with at least 3 of them (that we can see) coming in at once. It seems as if my sweet child had been crying just about the entire day today complete with fever since yesterday afternoon. We hit 4 bibs by 1pm this afternoon because he kept soaking through them with drool, so I was left scrambling trying to find dry bibs which have been scattered between the van, his backpack, the washer/dryer, the kitchen cabinet, and a few random restaurants along the way. He won't let anything frozen near his mouth, which rules out teething rings, popsicles, and any other things which might give him some relief.

The one thing I was completely, whole-heartedly looking forward to was naptime today so that he could get some rest and a break from his mouth pain and I could get a break as well. Naptime came, and then went, in the span of oh, say, 15 minutes. I figured since he got up early this morning and was worn out from the crying that he would surely sleep a good three hours, but I guess his teeth wouldn't let him sleep either despite both the Tylenol and Advil.

So the afternoon literally crept by. Jack is a pretty snuggly child, but it's rare that I have to hold him all the time to keep him happy. This was one of those days, and I got to the point where I was whipping out Baby Enstein DVD's he hasn't watched in months just to keep some peace. Luckily that worked for a while! My work schedule also added a layer of multi-tasking to the mix that was a little tough to juggle, so I think the stress knot I often get in my upper shoulder grew about 100 times today!

I think one of the worst feelings in the world is not begin able to comfort your child when they're sick or teething. I remember some of those first days after Jack came home from the hospital that I felt so bad when he cried that I would cry too. Now I know that those bad days do pass and the best we can do is to try and provide as much comfort as we can, but boy today was really hard!

The fever without a cause

We have been very blessed with a healthy child during the first 15 months of his life who has managed to escape many of the nuisance childhood sicknesses like the cold virus and ear infections. Now sure, he's had a few minor colds, but nothing too severe and so far he's yet to have an ear infection. Of course, having said that, I'll now be on the lookout for him to start tugging on his ear any second now.

He has, however, had a few of what I call "fevers without a cause", which are basically the low grade fevers that never seem to have any other symptoms associated with them, are generally gone within 24 hours, and don't require a doctor's visit. Obviously, if your child has to be sick, this is just about as ideal a situation as you can ask for, but it does make Mother's Day Out (and I imagine daycare) a little tricky because of the guidelines that often want children to be fever free for 24 hours prior to attending. Since these little fevers sometimes come and go within 24 hours, sometimes it's hard for me to decide what to do.

I often chalk it up to his teething, which is in full force with the molars coming in right now, and probably explains why I'm seeing this fever crop up again today. I've heard some doctors say the two aren't connected (same with teething and blowout diapers), but since I'm not a pediatrician, I guess I don't really know one way or the other! I hesitate to even refer to him as "sick" since I'm not even sure he really has something that is contagious (Erin, if you're reading this I'd love your opinion).

Of course these things always seem to crop up when you either want to leave town or have friends or family coming into visit. Bob's parents called last night to say they are coming into town this weekend, so I hope this otherwise symptomless fever doesn't morph into something more!