A Rough Night

Last night was a rough night for us. When I tried to put baby K to bed, she started crying hysterically. I took her out of the crib and carried her for a little while; that seemed to work for about five minutes, at which point she started crying all over again. It wasn't just any crying; she was screaming as if she was in serious pain. I've never seen her in such hysterics before. She had a bit of a diaper rash, but we suspected that that wasn't what was really bothering her. M thought she might have an ear infection, but without having a doctor check her out, there was no way of knowing for sure. After about an hour of baby K's non-stop crying (she was so exhausted but wouldn't go to sleep), M and I finally decided to call her pediatrician's office, which gets routed to the hospital's call center since it was after hours. M spoke to a nurse, who told us to take her temperature, give her some Tylenol (or Motrin, which works better), and soak her bum in a tub of warm water with baking soda to help with the diaper rash. We did the first two (her temperature was 100.3), but baby K got knocked out right after taking the Motrin, so I just let her sleep (not that we would've gone ahead with the baking soda bath at midnight anyhow). The nurse also instructed us to call the pediatrician's office the next day and schedule an appointment, which we did once they opened at 9am.

I must say, last night was probably one of the worst nights we've experienced since baby K's been born. It's the worst feeling, being a parent and feeling helpless to alleviate the pain your child is in, or not even knowing what the problem is. Unfortunately, I know there will probably be more to follow. As we watched baby K sleep, M said to me that he had a tight knot in his stomach (from worrying). I simply nodded, for any words that came out of my mouth would have been accompanied by a steady stream of tears that I was trying to avoid. I couldn't respond and tell him that I didn't have a tight knot in my stomach; all I had was an extreme ache in my heart for my poor baby girl. She's normally a very tough cookie (doesn't even cry when getting her shots!), so it must've been something severe for her to react the way she did.

This morning, baby K woke up all smiles. It was as if last night's episode of hysterics had never happened. We took her to the doctor's and it was confirmed that she has an ear infection, so she needs to be on antibiotics again. At the rate she's going, she'll be totally immuned to Amoxicillin by the time she turns 2!