At Least the Week is Almost Over

Last night was yet another one of being up with Eli off and on, all night long. As I mentioned in the previous post, Eli's high fever started on Tuesday, and this continued for the next few days. While Eli wasn't as hot yesterday during the day, the fever spiked again last in the night. We had put him to bed at 7:30, but at 8:30 he woke up crying, and it took me an hour to get him to fall back asleep (Ben was gone at his book group).

Around 1 a.m., he woke up again, screaming, miserable, and burning hot. There is nothing worse than seeing your toddler crying and uncomfortable like that. This time it took an hour and a half to calm him down and go back to sleep. He was up again a few hours later, and then up for the day a little after 7 a.m.

I had a hard time falling back asleep each time that he woke up, and by the time I heard him waking up at 7, I felt awful. Ben had already left for work, Eli was miserable, and it took a long time to get him to stop crying. When I brought him downstairs to eat breakfast, I opened the blinds and saw that a few inches of snow had fallen and there was more coming down.

I LOST it and burst into tears. Seeing the snow pushed me over the edge. The day felt so daunting - I needed to eat breakfast, shower, and get Eli to the sick visit at his doctor's office before it ended at 9 (the doctor had said to come back on Friday if he was still running a fever). I had an OB appointment scheduled for 10:15, and while I had hoped to drop Eli off at a friend's house during the appointment, there was no way I would do that when he was still sick.

Going to these appointments in the snow was more than I could emotionally handle after three nights of very little sleep. I called my friend Carrie and she gave me a pep talk. At 8:45, I carried Eli through the snow to the garage, prayed that I wouldn't get stuck in the snowy alley, and drove to Eli's doctor's office. It turned out that Eli had another ear infection - not a huge surprise.

Then we walked next door to the building with my doctor's office. I was dreading having Eli at this appointment since I'm now to the point where the doctor checks to see if I'm dilated, but thankfully Eli was in such a tired daze that he just kind of stared at me and the appointment didn't last too long. I had mentioned to my doctor that we were going to the pharmacy to fill Eli's prescription, and he was kind enough to fax it to the hospital pharmacy across the street so I could just walk over and pick it up right away.

Eli and I walked across the street through an enclosed tunnel over to the hospital. It took a LONG time because I was making him walk. We picked up the prescription, and then I carried him through the hospital, across the street, through the snow, to get our car and drive home.

Maybe it's silly to write out the dumb details of my morning, but it was one of those days when I wasn't sure I would make it to lunchtime. I felt totally drained. The combination of my grandpa passing away, Eli being so sick, and my being so pregnant and tired was all too much.

Thankfully, I was able to nap for a few hours while Eli napped, and the rest of the day passed without too much trouble. Now it's the weekend and it will be SO nice to have Ben around to help me. Eli's on an antibiotic now, so I'm really hoping tonight is a better night.

I'm SO glad this week is almost over!