Life with Teddy is Scary

Remember when I said I'd take puke over fevers any day? I didn't need to test that theory again so soon.

Last night was a normal night, although Teddy didn't settle down to sleep on his own. That's not uncommon, so Dave went to snuggle by him. When he came down, he informed me that he changed a really liquid diaper (hence blankets and a giant stuffed elephant going in the laundry). Teddy was asleep, though, so we figured it was a one-time thing ... until 2 hours later when Teddy was crying. I had already been asleep for a about 20 minutes (something about getting up at 4:10 a.m. to go running), but I crawled out of bed to assist Dave with another liquid poop diaper.

We ended up with poop down Teddy's legs from pulling down his pants, so we decided a shower was needed. I was concerned that would wake him up and make it hard for him to settle back down. How right I was for the wrong reasons. As Dave showered Teddy and I cleaned his room, Teddy started scratching his neck. By the time he came out of the shower, his arms were bright red, and he was developing hives.

This is the aftermath of the hives on his neck, all the scratches.

That was enough for us to determine the ER was where Teddy needed to be, so Dave got him dressed while I threw things in a diaper bag. They were on their way, and I pretended to try to sleep. In reality, I was texting Dave for updates and worrying. Teddy had more diarrhea, hives head to toe and lips swelling, so we were glad we took him to the ER when we did. When Teddy puked, Dave pulled the trigger to call his parents at 11 p.m. when they were sound asleep to get someone down to our house, so I could head to the hospital as well.

The last time Dave and I were both at the Oshkosh ER with Teddy, we ended up inpatient at the ICU in Milwaukee. So, just to be safe, I threw together several changes of clothes, deodorant and toothbrushes. As I did that, I realized this is the difference between our lives and parents of typical children. If it were AJ instead of Teddy, we'd have given him Benadryl and monitored him at home. Because it was Teddy, we went to the ER, both of us terrified of seizures and the endless string of what if questions.

This photo captures how wonderful Dave is as a parent.

When Dave's dad came down, I headed to the ER shortly before midnight. I made it there for the PA's report where we determined that Benadryl would be sufficient rather than adding steroids. The best guess was a stomach virus, complete with viral hives. (We never had experienced those, so they were rather scary with how quickly they developed and overtook his body.) We headed home, where Dave probably didn't sleep all night as he laid awake worrying about Teddy.

Me, I knew I was the one staying home with Teddy all day, so I got the 5 hours of sleep I could. Teddy had a few more diarrhea diapers this morning, but by 8 a.m. he was pretty much his usual self. As I told both my parents and my in-laws, it looked like a tornado went through our house ... a few times. That's a good sign because that means Teddy is feeling better.

Fingers crossed that we all get a lot more sleep tonight. Even when Teddy's up half the night sick, he still doesn't believe in the restorative power of naps as you can see below.