A Long Week

It’s been a long week. I guess it kind of started out long – if that’s even possible. And I guess, technically, this week is no longer than any other I’ve ever lived. But you know how it is. Some weeks just seem to drag on forever. Especially when they start out rough.

Emry hasn’t been feeling very well. It’s hard to tell exactly what has been bothering our little peanut. She can’t very well say how she feels or what hurts. You just know she’s not at all herself. She doesn’t smile as much, she’s fussy, and I’ve spent three nights up with her for an hour or more, trying to coax her back to sleep. This from the girl who has slept through the night since she was six weeks old!

Mostly it seems to be her teeth. Her gums are sharp enough to chew food, but not one pearly white has peeped through yet. Meanwhile, she pulls at her ears, and chews on everything and it can really hurt to feed her! And people tell stories of their kids teething. The son of a guy I work with had nine – NINE – come in at once! I can’t imagine that, but sometimes I believe Emry might be in enough pain for nine…

Then she started running a fever on Saturday. I thought it might be related to the teeth. Now I’m not so sure. It was a little frightening, holding our little peanut while she burned like she was on fire. I was ready to call the doctor Monday morning, but the fever broke Sunday morning. By that afternoon, she was much more herself. Except she woke up that night at one in the morning, screaming. It was a long night…

The teething seemed to continue, but on Monday afternoon she started getting a rash. At first I thought it was just the warm water in her bath, but by Tuesday morning, it was all over her chest, belly and face. I called Ed at work, and he said he had noticed it, too. Except that she continued to be fussy (but was that the teeth?), the rash didn’t seem to bother her. So, we decided to wait it out before we called the doctor. (Since she has an appointment on Monday anyhow…) I looked online just to see what it might be. I know you shouldn’t diagnose from Google, but everything I could find pointed to a thing called Roseola, which is a virus that has a fever and then a rash that doesn’t seem to bother them although it might cause them to be fussier than the fever. There’s no antibiotics to treat it, it goes away once it runs its course in a week or less and if the child has it, she’ll be immune forever. Meanwhile, we had another long night…

Sure enough, by Wednesday morning the rash was clearing up. I gave her a warm water bath (no soap, except to wash her hair because it needs it every couple of days) and by that afternoon, there was just a few spots on her chest that cleared up by the evening. She was happier, more her playful self and I picked up a natural teething rub to try to help with that little problem. That night, she woke up for about fifteen minutes, but she wasn’t screaming. I rubbed her little, sharp gums and put her back in bed where she promptly fell asleep.

Thursday morning we awoke with a smile – not screams. We played happily, took a good nap, tried yogurt, made all the noises Papa is teaching us and Mama hopes we sleep through the night completely tonight! But whether we do or not, it is an answer to prayer to have our happy, smiling, little girl back well and healthy – even if we still don’t have any teeth showing!