It’s been a week since I’ve been online.  And what a week it’s been!

Last Wednesday, Vinay started coughing a little at night – so I gave him Tixylix before bed on Thursday and Friday and he was fine.  He was ok on Saturday during the day, but was coughing a lot during the night.  Again, I gave him Tixylix.  Our generator also stopped working on Saturday morning – but we had power for most of the day and all night – Thank God.

On Sunday morning the power went.  And V had a temperature of 101.  He was a bit cranky – but was, overall, in quite good spirits.  We went to the doctor.  A different doctor (again).  He said to continue with the Calpol and Tixylix and see how he was in 24 hours.  He didn’t want him to start antibiotics straight away.

By 7pm, the power still hadn’t come on AND the inverter died.  So we were in complete darkness with a poorly baby.  We packed up our stuff and headed over to the in-laws’ place for the night.  V was happy to be in the car, happy to see his grandparents and was quite playful.  But, his temperature had not lowered.  

It was way after his bedtime and he was exhausted – but he just wouldn’t sleep.  He spends time over at his grandparents’ flat, but he’s usually in the living room.  He’s not used to the bedrooms and kept staring at the ceiling, the walls and the furniture and crying.  He would stop as soon as I took him into the living room.  I thought about putting him to sleep there and then transferring him.  But it was too noisy – TV, people talking, chairs scraping, dog barking, etc.  I was desperate for everyone to go to their rooms so it would be quiet.  Hub?  He was sitting on the sofa leafing through a copy of Vogue India.  Yes, very helpful.

V wanted to be walked.  He kept crying and pointing at the front door.  So we I took him downstairs for a walk with the dog.  As soon as we went into the building again, he’d start crying.

We made it through the night with coughing, vomiting, crying, a non-lowering temperature and walking.  He was exhausted by morning, but still couldn’t sleep.  However, as soon as we got home, he passed out.

In the afternoon I took him back to the doctor.  His temperature was 102.  He was burning up.  His cough was so much worse and I was worried.  The doctor said he had a respiratory infection and we had to start him on antibiotics.  He said to continue with Calpol, but gave me a different cough syrup (thank goodness, because I hate Tixylix).  He instructed me to alternate the Calpol with Nurofen and said that if his cough wasn’t better in 24 hours, I’d have to take him back to use the nebuliser.

V was listless, tired, weak, cranky and his temperature would still not go down.  He tried standing and almost fell over because he was so weak.  And I wanted to weep.  It went down to 100, then up to 103, down to 99 and then up to 104.  My mum kept telling me to sponge him down, rub brandy on his forehead, feet and navel.  While these are all good things to do, Vinay hated it and just screamed blue murder.  Giving him his medicine was a battle.  All he wanted to do was sleep.  She told me to keep doing it and I had to get his temperature down so that the fever didn’t go to his brain.  I was a total wreck.  Should I call the doctor?  Should we just get in the car and go to the doctor again?

Hub was helpful – he helped me give V his medicines and was supportive when I was huddled in bed crying.  He is always ‘the strong one’.  But there was only so much he could do.  Vinay refused to go to him.  He would only stay with me.

The following day, Tuesday, his temperature was still up and down, but was mostly down.  He was eating a little, his cough was a bit better and by the evening, he was in good spirits.

He was fine by Wednesday – though still coughing a bit.  But at night, he didn’t sleep a wink!  He wanted to be walked and woke up every hour for about thirty minutes.  He had a tummy ache.  The doctor had said that Nurofen can give children tummy aches.  But what choice did I have?

Today we’re going to back to the doctor for a quick check-up.  Hopefully everything will be ok.

If you’re a mum and reading, you’ll know exactly how I feel.  Everytime he cried, I wanted to cry.  Everytime I took his temperature, I held my breath.  The relief I felt when I his temperature was normal for a few hours was so immense, I cannot explain it.

I posted a few weeks ago about how I’d turned to mush.  

Apparently nothing’s changed!