Tuesday, April 26, 2011

So hard

Korbyn started running a fever Wednesday evening, I took her into the dr. on Thursday because I was told that whatever she had before (all the cough and gunk) was ok, as long as she doesn't run a fever and if she does to bring her back in and with the long weekend coming up I wasn't going to chance it.  I saw the dr. that I love at the College Station clinic and she checked her from head to toe and said there isn't anything on the outside that is making her run a fever, I thought it might be her ears but she said they looked good.  She asked if she was eating/pooping/peeing ok and was she cranky and I told her that she wasn't, she was as happy as can be.  She actually was running 101.6 when we got to the dr. and that was with Tylenol, but you would have never known it!  So she said she's thinking that she may have roseola since she really doesn't have any other symptoms other than the fever.  She said that she would be ok to run a fever until Saturday afternoon and then she should get a skin rash and if that happens then she's ok.  But she said that if it continues after that to bring her back in because her next guess would be a bladder infection!  She said that they could test for it now, but since she's not cranky and she's still acting completely normal why put her through that (because they would have to catheterize her), which sounded like a plan to me.

That evening around 7ish I check her temperature rectally and it read 103.9, I was in disbelief so I checked it again and it was 104.5!  I felt her body and she didn't even feel the least bit warm and she was laughing and acting completely normal, it was the weirdest thing.  I immediately stripped her and gave her some more medicine and it eventually came down but that night I put her in bed with me, Colton voluntarily slept on the couch (he's too much of a hard sleeper), because it made me so nervous that she could start running that in the middle of the night and I wouldn't even know it because obviously she's not going to cry and let me know.  I don't want to call it a mistake, but it was, a HUGE mistake.  The next night I put her back in her crib and she was waking up every 30 minutes wanting to be held back to sleep.  And I know she was fine and not running fever or hungry, because I would check both every time.  She wanted back in our bed!  And I know this for a fact because it got to the point where I was delirious and I gave up and put her in bed with us and she slept just fine until morning!  And I'm sure it's not just "she wanted in our bed" it was probably that mixed with just wanting to be held and next to her mommy and daddy because she still felt cruddy from whatever she had.

I was talking to my mom and my aunt about it at Easter and my aunt said just put her in bed with you, all my kids slept with us.  Then my mom said just put her in her crib and let her cry, she'll get back to her routine.   And I honestly wouldn't have a problem with her sleeping in our bed, but it just doesn't work for us.  Colton sleeps too hard and really would not even know it if he rolled on top of her and I sleep too light so any little movement that is made I'm wide awake which means I get NO sleep.  So last night I tried the "cry it out" method for the first time.  And yes, this is the first time I've used it because she was always such a great sleeper before.  I made sure to read up on it before I just stuck her in her crib and let her scream.  I usually give her cereal, bath, bottle, bed.  Well I read to give her her bottle at the beginning of her routine instead of letting her falling asleep with it, because that becomes a comfort for her (which she usually did) and to try to put her in her crib awake so she'll learn to put herself to sleep.  So I gave her her cereal, bottle, bath and then bed.  She screamed of course when I put her in her crib because this was NOT how we did things and she knew it!  But not long after she finally just laid her head down and went to sleep.  I would come into her room every couple of minutes and give her some light pats on her back and shush her and then I would step out again.  She went to sleep around 8:30 and then cried around 10:30 and I just went in and lightly patted her back and she went back to sleep.  Then around 2 she was screaming her head off.  I knew this was a different scream and she wasn't going to let up.  So I changed her diaper and gave her some water (I know I already broke the rules of the method!) and tried to lay her back down but now she was even more pissed off than before.  So I caved and gave her a bottle, then she went right back to sleep.  Restless night but a HUGE improvement from the night before.

I never thought my heart stings could be tugged on so hard!  It really takes a lot to stand by your baby's crib and listen to them scream and not pick them up, I just kept telling myself a little tough love never hurt anyone and the way I look at it, I'm doing her a favor in the long run by teaching her to put herself to sleep and not having to rely on anyone to rock or pat her to sleep.  I was at home with her yesterday and I did the same things with naps.  She would scream but the times that she cried would eventually get shorter and shorter.  So we'll keep working on it, and hopefully we'll find a great sleep pattern...for mommy and Korbyn :)

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