Something was a little different about Hannah at breakfast on Saturday. She didn’t eat any pancakes at the pancake breakfast we attended. We are talking about a girl who once ate three large blueberry pancakes at 9 months old. She did play for a little outside after breakfast, repeatedly stepping over the gap between the lawn and the sidewalk. After about a half hour of this she suddenly leaned against me in exhaustion. It was naptime, so I didn’t think anything of it. Then she woke up from her nap crying unconsolably. She had felt warm to me for about a day, but I didn’t take her temperature, because I thought maybe I was cold. We attributed the crying to teething.
Hannah is getting 8 teeth simulaneously. This would be torture enough, but in her case her gums are just being ripped up. Okay, I may be exaggerating a little here, but there is some aggressive teething going on. One day Hannah bit me on the shoulder uncharacteristically, I set her down and said “no,” which made her cry as if I had broken her heart to pieces. When I took a peek in her mouth to see if I should rub a gum and help her out, there was this giant piece of gum potruding like a centimeter from the surface. Then I touched it and she retracted. Then the bleeding started. Not a little bit of blood, but a good size stream of blood coming from her mouth. I had to take a minute to remember if she had taken a fall or two when playing. When I rubbed her gum again I could feel a tooth, so it was obviously from teething. Now I look in there and her gums are swollen white where the teeth hasn’t surfaced, and where teeth have surfaced her gums are shredded. Poor Hannah.
To get back to my story, since we thought it was teething and a common cold, we packed everybody in the car to go look for a laptop for me. We ended up going out for dinner. This is a rare event these days because, dinner with a one year old is ….well, a lot less fun than dinner at home, and a lot more money. Surprisingly, Hannah sat quietly next to me and ONLY NIBBLED AT HER DINNER. She didn’t even drink her water. Then on the ride back, she was glazy eyed and quickly fell to sleep. Something was up. Hannah is a wiggler and an eater.
I took her temperature. It was 102. We called the after hours clinic for an appointment, expecting an ear infection or strep. Dad took her while I put Rachel to bed. When Dad called if was hand, foot and mouth disease, a virus that is somewhat common for kids under 10. She had blisters inside on her tonsils and a very sore throat…not to mention the eight teeth ripping at her gums. So…of course the girl was fussy, and this was why I had been waking up at all hours of the night.
We did what the doctor recommended and drugged her up, alternating between Tylenol and Children’s motrin. We holed up waiting for the virus to pass.
Whenever my kids get fever there is a part of me that is so grateful to have the opportunity to just sit with them lying still. With Hannah this is a rare treat. Normally, I get lots of cuddles all day, but they last no more than 15 seconds each.
By Sunday afternoon, however, after Dad and Rachel had left for the super bowl party, the rocking, holding stage of the virus gave way to this fussy, “I want to try to play but I’m going to whine and complain every minute of it” stage.
I spent about a half hour watching Hannah complain because she couldn’t fit her extrawide size-six foot inside the door of a Little People school bus intended for two inch “little people.” To change the scene, I took her up stairs and started a bath. She started fussing to get in the tub before I could get her clothes off and then when I had her clothes off she clung her naked legs around me tight and screamed every time I tried to put her in. I finally gave up on the bath and turned off the water. Then I sat down to sort socks while she frantically brought two dolls to me repeatively asking me to undress and dress…undress and then dress each one alternatively.
Finally we did get that bath taken care of. She did enjoy it. I doped her up with children’s pain medication and put her to bed. I was early…6:00. The house was quiet.
Sweating and exhausted I walked through the house, picking up…the cheerios I had allowed her to dump all over floor because I was so desperate stop the fussing, the little people town that Rachel had been playing with before the Super Bowl party, the macaroni and cheese Hannah had pushed onto the floor as soon as I placed it on her highchair tray, empty medicine boxes and sticky sweet medicine residue.
By the time Rachel and Dadcame home the house was quiet and in some semblance of order They were bright eyed from the party. I listened to their stories.
I was desperate for a good night’s sleep and I finally got it. They both slept through and for the first time in many days Hannah woke up happy. I was able to drive Rachel to school and we were ready to start another week. We were getting back on track.
