I should mention that I had said a couple of times that I think Nickolas is teething again. Tooth #7 is ready to make an appearance, but I have no idea what tooth #7 it is. So far the tooth has stayed out of sight, but with red cheeks and swollen gums and waking up in the night, I thought it was a no brainer. And I should probably mention that Nickolas does not do very well with teething. It takes about 3 nights of screaming and tylenol before the tooth breaks and he is happy again.
All of that being said, when it is 2am and you have an inconsolable baby trying to throw himself from your arms you are pretty sure it is a regular baby thing, but are also thinking about all of those other things. And just the things that went through my head were:
#1 SHUNT!!!, yes we made it a year, but who is to say we don't need a revision after 13 months. And it does not help that his fontanel is almost closed, about dime sized. As I'm trying to find it, to feel it, when he's not screaming - because a fontanel of a screaming baby is always hard. Then we noticed that his shunt felt boggy. Really?! Really!!
Now this is mid-scream, but I'm already going through the steps in my head. Where do I have the neurosurgeon on call number, would I have to drive down to sick kids on my own. I'm supposed to be working tomorrow, could they do a head ultrasound at 3am, or would we have to wait until the morning, what about an MRI, he needs to be sedated for that. When did he last eat? Should I get dressed, I would need to pack a bag for us. Please, please, please don't be the shunt. Lets go through the symptoms, no vomiting, irritable, eyes? Open your eyes kid, let me see - nope too busy screaming. OK no sunsetting.
Lets go through the other possibilities...
#2 Constipation. We are currently in the midst of a constipation battle. Did he go today? did he go yesterday? What did it look like, how hard (sorry if TMI)? What if he's impacted, no he went today, it's getting softer, there was enough... His belly feels hard (yeah - because he's screaming!) What if it's something I missed? What if I didn't get aggressive enough with his constipation, what if I got too aggressive and it's gas?
#3 UTI (bladder infection). He drank lots today, maybe he needs to be emptied. Check, what did it look like (like I know - I cathed him practically in the dark), is it dark, smelly, painful? I don't know! Does he have a fever? No - OK probably not UTI.
Which leads up back to teething.
From 1am to 3am Nickolas was soooo upset. He wanted up, he wanted down, he wanted mommy, he wanted daddy, he wanted to be rocked, he wanted to lie down, he wanted on his belly, on his back. We gave him tylenol, we changed him, we offered milk (he never drinks at night), we let him pick whatever position he wanted to be in, we held him tight in whatever position we thought he should be in. We stayed still, we rocked, we rubbed his back, we rubbed his head, we rubbed his forehead.
At this point I have no idea what actually worked!
But it did. Oh and his shunt went back to normal and his fontanel was flat.
In the light of day I am expecting some little slivers of worry to show their ugly face in Nick's swollen gums any day now. In the meantime, I am very glad I'm working tonight! (Poor Kyle)
A potential other cause for the late night worries:
Notice the 2 layers of food - spaghetti and meatballs topped with chocolate cake and icing! Yummy during the day, maybe not so much from 1-3am!
