The longest night

ZK developed a fever on Sunday. He was still happy and it was a low-grade fever so I just did some tui na. Before he slept, Sito and I forced some paracetamol into him :(

But it didn't go away on Monday. In fact, it got worse. And he was feeling bad and had to be carried until his morning nap, which lasted all of 20 minutes! But the medicine had kicked in and he was quite happy. So I plonked him in his stroller and set off for the office - need to collect my laptop to do some work!

I was quite worried he would not be happy when we stopped moving while in the train. But he was quite happy just looking around. Or perhaps I should say nonchalant - he didn't exactly smile a lot, as usual *.*

When we got to the office, he started crying when doting aunties and uncles came around! This boy, cannot take affection! :p Just told Sito that and he said, "like me!" I think, like me too :p

We must have taken some 20 lift rides that journey! But at least our public transport system is stroller/wheelchair accessible. And the irritating beeping sound on some lifts provided good entertainment for ZK. Or at least distracted him enough.

But with so little rest in the morning, he was really tired and fell asleep on the way to lunch - for 10 min! After lunch, I gave him some ibuprofen as his fever suddenly went above 38.5 deg.

But he's such a good boy - since yesterday morning, he has been taking medicine willingly! I just shoved the syringe at him nonchalantly and let him hold it briefly before trying to reach his mouth. He would usually reject a few times. Then I let him taste a bit. He might still reject but suddenly, he would open his mouth and let me put the syringe in, or bring it towards his mouth himself! So proud of him :)

Anyway, with the ibuprofen, his fever subsided for quite a well. We had fun playing in our bedroom - we played catching! Or the baby version of catching where he would dash towards the catcher when he saw me, all the while giggling madly :)

I decided to sleep next to him last night cos he kept stirring. If I were next to him, I could immediately pat him down so that he could rest better. Well, I bit off more than I could chew.

The pre-dinner paracetamol lost its effect pretty soon - I was alternating paracetamol and ibuprofen. After cleaning up his bottles, I found him hot and started sponging him while he slept. When it was finally 9.30 pm, and he stirred, I decided to give him ibuprofen. But he didn't take to it as well as in the day in his half asleep condition. We ended up with sticky medicine all over. And I also didn't know how much got in. I guess pretty much none cos he continued to burn!

So I kept sponging him, gently so he didn't wake or push my hand or the towel away. When his arms were limb, I would grab one and start the tui na massage - supposed to do 300-500 times (!) but I didn't think I did that many before he pulled his arm away. And our contactless thermometer was activated many many times as well.

And throughout the night, whenever I managed to get down to sleep, he would suddenly wake, pull himself to a sitting position and cry. I kept waking with a start to a little figure sitting next to my head, arms hanging limb and face pulled down. Very poor thing :(

So with his high temperature and his crying, I was very tired. And more than that, I was very worried and sad. My poor baby was suffering and I couldn't do much to alleviate his pain :(

This morning, we woke to many wet patches on his bed due to his saliva and the sponging towel which I didn't manage to keep properly on its plate - I must have dozed off somehow! He still had a temperature of 38.2 deg so I gave him some paracetamol at 7.30 am. By 8.30 am, his fever was gone and did not return! Perhaps the whole night of fever killed off the infection?

Whatever it was, I was so happy! And he managed to nap for an hour before Mum arrived to help while I did some work. He was cranky here and there but nop, no fever. And after his last nap, he got up to play quietly with some stuff left on the floor besides his bed! That also made me reconsider making his bedroom sleep only.. He was generally happy after that. We even took some pictures of him being happy :)

Gave him a - hopefully - last dose of paracetamol before dinner, just to help him sleep better tonight. But he's still sleeping fitfully. He's been sleeping for the past three hours, with three waking episodes and even more instances of whining. Poor boy :(

I'll still sleep next to him tonight. Hope he gets a good rest and wakes happy to go to school. Yes, he's going back tmr, barring any fever, cos Mama needs to go back to work - "Mama must work to buy you bread", I told him today. He pretty much ignored me. But I love him anyway :)