Well, the weekend did not go as planned. It was a low point in my seven months as a mother, that is for sure. I'd say it was my worst experience so far, actually. On Thursday afternoon, we ate at BWW with my sister for lunch and Ben cried and yelled the whole time. We ate supper at Red Lobster in Sioux Falls on Thursday night where Ben climbed around the booth like a monkey and made it impossible for us to eat and then went into fuss/cry/yell mode as soon as the food came. That night he suddently became feverish and none of the three of us slept at all at the hotel and Justin ended up going to Walmart at 4 am to buy baby tylenol because I forgot to bring ours that I often travel with in case the need for it arises.
He seemed better on Saturday morning so I was ready to head to the mall. I was feeling positive that Ben would spend hours sleeping if he was in the stroller and had slept very little the night before. Wrong again. As soon as I walked in at around 11:00 a.m. he started fussing and straining to get out of his stroller. He refused to fall asleep even though I could tell he was delirious from lack of sleep. After a few trips to the mother's lounge (many malls have these rooms for feeding babies...they are the best!) I realized that something was not right because he was also refusing to eat, via nursing or a bottle. Around 1:30 he absolutely went balistic, screaming himself into a frenzy. I knew I needed to get out of there but had nowhere to go since we were checked out of the hotel and Justin was working and I don't know anyone who currently lives in Sioux Falls so I ended up sitting in my car. I had some dark thoughts at this time, wishing I could just get away and shop on my own like I used to be able to do. After this I ended up going to a walk in clinic, which was very difficult to find even with my phone navigation system and an actual paper map of Sioux Falls, where Justin met me and we ended up staying there for 2 and a half hours only to hear that he had a virus (no ear infection or anything like that) and to give him Tylenol for his fever. It was the slowest, pokiest walk in clinic I have ever been to. I told them I needed to pump but didn't want to hog their bathroom so they said they would get me an empty room right away but I ended up doing it in my car because, apparently, no rooms were opening up even though there was only 1 other person in the waiting room before us. And once we got back to an exam room the staff took forever as well. They did a blood test for infection and the lab technition had to squeeze Ben's finger to get enough blood out to fill her little vial and Ben screamed and flailed and I had to hold him while she did this and ended up sobbing hysterically because it was so awful (and I am not a mother who cries about routine shots and things of that nature). So much for my long anticipated day of cruising around the mall and eating bad Chinese food at the food court while Ben lounged in the stroller and took in the sights.
Here is the poor little baby, after waiting for who knows how long at the clinic. He paused from crying to look really pissed!
After we got out of the clinic at 5:00 p.m. (I arrived there around 2:30) we headed to our overnight lodging an hour away from Sioux Falls and Ben finally crashed. We all started to relax and calm down and Ben played with his cousins (Jack age 2 and Spencer 8 months). We went to bed early but of course I was still wound up and couldn't fall asleep for over and hour and just as I was drifting off...Ben started crying and fussing...and then it happened again at 4 a.m. and he was hot and feverish again...so time for more Tylenol...and then he woke up again at 6 a.m...it was a better night than the one before but still...after full nights of sleep for so long it is not easy to go back to frequent wakings.
The next morning he felt better again and we thought, since he hadn't been feeling good, for some crazy reason we should bring him to the game with us instead of leaving him! UGHHH worst decision ever!!!! I will just say that I did not watch more than about 10 minutes of the game and once again ended up sitting in the car with him. There was even a streaker and I missed it! I truly cannot believe how much this kid screamed this weekend. His voice is hoarse from it and I feel truly awful that we didn't just bring him home and give up on salvaging the weekend. I try to stay positive but this one was just awful...between the hunger strike, the sleeping issues, the fever, the awful restaurant experiences, and...oh yeah...I forgot to mention that as I was sitting in the car listening to the football game on the radio I realized that a bottle had leaked some breastmilk into my $200.00 purse (#$%@#%#*! SERIOUSLY!?)
So...there were a few good things about the weekend...
-I bought a new pair of jeans that I really like. The actual process of buying them was miserable because Ben was arching his back in the stroller and crying and I just wanted to get out of the store but I am still glad I have them now.
-We got to tailgate for two hours and the portas had porta-sinks and soap! I have never seen that before! Since I'm being positive I won't mention the 10+ minute wait to get into a stall...
-I got to hang out with fun people at tailgating such as my sister and cousin and friends...all those carefree people who don't have babies and can do whatever they want and sleep all night and go out drinking and shop for hours in peace...I honestly wonder if these people will think twice about having kids after seeing what has become of me.
-Our nephew Jack can say our names and knows us by name even though we don't see him all that often and he loved to play with Ben and was so affectionate with him...very cute!
-When Justin was at Walmart at 4 a.m. buying medicine he found the baby gates we need for our doorways that have been sold out at stores around here...yayyyyy...
I took only one picture on my phone over the weekend, although I had planned to take many with the kids and at the game. Photography ended up being the last thing on my mind.
I didn't take this one...my cousin did but I like it! I sure look relaxed don't I? Haha I wasn't!
Ben feels much better today. He slept all night last night and also slept most of the way from Sioux Falls to Bismarck and once we got home he was back to his usual tricks such as fixating on the TV remote even though we gave him an old remote to play with. He still knows which one is the "good" one.
Oh RM- so sorry to hear about the bust! Sick babies are the worst because they just look at you like "mom, can't you take care of this?" and you can't. Sad face. At least you didn't miss the world's most exciting game.
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