It has been a very busy week for our little Wyatt. He has been off and on febrile, so we know he's fighting something off, most likely the cold that has been going around the house for the passed two weeks. If the dried up snots around his nose isn't a sign, then I don't know what is...
We started the week off with the case study , and then we were off to Hazeldean Family Chiropractic for an assessment. In no way did the Chiropractor do any adjustments, just felt behind Wyatt's neck, and did an X-ray on his spine. Poor little guy has had so many X-ray's in his first year of life. *Sigh*
Right after the Chiropractor, Wyatt went off to see his Osteopath, who did her usual thing with Wyatt, and things went well, not great, but well. Wyatt was fighting off a fever at this point, so he was schmidge cranky.
Two hours later, Wyatt had a great mouth opening! We took some good pictures of him just babbling (his version of babbling, not normal baby-babble), and trying to stick things into his mouth. He's always so happy after the Osteopath, he's always talking and ... just plain happy!
The next day, dad had a Mess dinner to go to. Unfortunately, dad had to come home much earlier than he originally expected, because Wyatt developed a fever of 39.4.
As a mom or dad - do you feel you could handle two toddlers, and a infant with a moderate grade fever? I think I could, if the baby wasn't disabled. I'm going to tell you why.
Wyatt is connected to a Heart Rate/Oxygen monitor. It shows us his saturations, and well, the rate of his heart beat.
Two things happen to every human being when they get a fever.
Their body temperature goes up.
Their heart rate goes up.
Before I go further on with this story, you as a reader, must know this about me: numbers scare me. I said it in math class 15 years ago, and I'm saying again. Numbers, effing scare me.
Wyatt's heart rate had gone from 135 to 175 in a matter of an hour. Ask a nurse or doctor, and they'd shrug their shoulders to this and pat your shoulder and tell you NOT to worry, but - I'm no doctor or a nurse. These numbers were scaring me! By the time dad had come home, I was a complete, and total wreck. I felt like a complete failure - I thought the probe was on wrong, I thought he was working harder to breath (his O2 sats were at 85-88%), so his heart was beating fast to try and compensate. Oh, and I tried every trick in my book for that damned monitor 'to read correctly'. (It was always reading correctly).
BUT, it never occurred to me to take a temperature, with that thing... you know...every household has one...
Thermometer.
Wyatt was febrile again. Dad had realized it the moment he strode into our room. I had become so FOCUSED on the numbers, that I didn't just look at him, and think to myself, take his temp. I felt his forehead - but little did I know, I myself had a fever, so I couldn't feel his. We were probably around the same temperature in the end.
So, after bawling my eyes on dad's crisp, white dress shirt, and possibly rubbing most of my snot on it in the process, and telling him how I can't take care of Wyatt on my own, he just rubbed my back and said "Amy, Wyatt is a two-person job."
And that was, that.
I put the toddlers to bed (an hour late!), and dad rubbed Wyatt's back until his heart rate went down to a cool 120, and O2 went up to a lovely 98%.
I might get the toddlers 90% of the time, but Wyatt is more complicated when he's sick. Which, is often.
To top off the end of the week, Wyatt is lying in bed right now, medicated with Tylenol and Advil. Still febrile, but at least dad is stone's throw away this time.
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