Claire is, normally, a happy smiley baby. I can’t tell you the number of times I have been told, by both friends and strangers alike, how happy she is. Sure, she gets pissed off just like everyone else, and she makes sure you know when she is upset about something, but those moments are few and far between, and there are usually very distinct reasons for the crankiness – she’s tired, she’s hungry, she’s frustrated about something. The rest of the time, she smiles, laughs, claps, and she loves nothing more than to make others laugh.
It didn’t take long after she started daycare for her to develop a cold, and I have written about the TWO eye infections she has had with this same cold since she started there a few weeks ago. But for the most part, she was still the same happy baby she normally is.
On Sunday, she was a little cranky when she first got up, but it seemed to be only because she was famished. Neal was on duty on Saturday so after breakfast and doing a few things around the house, she and I went and picked him up. She went down for her nap in the late morning, and when I got her up a couple of hours later, I immediately knew she had a fever. A quick check with the thermometer told me I was right.
For the most part, she has been between borderline feverish or heightened temperature, and a low-grade fever. Yesterday afternoon and evening, she only wanted to be held and would become very upset if she was set down even for just a minute. This is very unlike Claire – she is always on the go, and will only tolerate short snuggles and hugs before she squirms to get free.
Because Neal worked on Saturday, he was off today, which worked out well since Claire was in no shape to be going to daycare. Last night she woke up at 1 a.m., 3 a.m., 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. Neal said that although she was a little cranky, she still played a bit this morning, but then this afternoon and evening she was back to wanting to be held the entire time. Because her nose is so blocked and she can really only breathe through her mouth, she is not interested in drinking much of anything, and the only things she will eat is baby cereal with milk and fruit, or yogurt with baby cereal and fruit.
She didn’t drink much tonight when I put her to bed, so I am expecting she will wake up at some point. I just hope that overnight her nose will drain and she’ll be better able to drink something and some of her energy will return. Otherwise, I don’t know if she will be going to daycare tomorrow.
I just want my healthy, happy baby back.
