At 9:30, he woke up crying and was very warm to the touch. His injection sites were swollen and hot to the touch, but not as bad as that morning. However, there had been no swelling or warmth since the inital problem... and his eyes were glassy. He wouldn't nurse and wouldn't play. I took his temp and it was 101.1 degrees under his arm. We think you are supposed to add one or two degrees for under arm temps; anyway, no matter how you dice it, he was running a fever.
Because of the swelling and fever, I called the on-call doctor and physically and mentally prepared to take him into the after-hours clinic or ER. Thankfully, the on-call dr called back quickly. It was the same man who caught him (you know, the one who I said, "I don't care WHO you are!" to) but I don't think he remembered us. Heh. Good.
Dr. R told us to do bendryl and OTC pain meds and monitor him at home. If he didn't improve, we were to take him to the ER. We dosed him and then I stripped off my shirt and his sleeper to cuddle on the couch to do some skin-to- skin. As we were cuddling, his breathing became fairly rapid. I prayed and prayed to not panic... and also slowed my breathing to deep, rhythemic breaths, slow and deliberate. I closed my eyes, placed my hands on his head and bottom and pictured the toxins leaving his body.
(I also prayed that his godfather wasn't on duty that night. His godfather is an 911 dispatcher and I didn't want him to have to take the call that something was bad with Cole!)
I was thisclose to calling 911 when his breathing improved. 20 minutes later, I took his temp and it was 98.9 under his arm. He slept with me that night and slept in to 8:30 the next morning! Now, I don't know if he "slept in" from the medicine or because he wasn't feeling well... or if he normally would sleep in if it weren't for his siblings waking him at 6:30 am!
He was fussy again that morning, so he had another dose of pain meds.
That night, I took him into the chiro, so she could adjust him (which always feels good!) and to see if she had any advice about ridding the toxins from his body. She and another chiro did an adjustment on him when he was laying on my belly. He wasn't happy about strangers messing with him so close to bed time but he must have felt better shortly after because he nursed WELL for the first time in 36 hours. Really, really well.
Her advice was to take Blessed Milk Thistle myself, so he would get the dose through my milk. She also recommened a high anti-oxident diet (like onions, garlic and so on). She suggested putting a raw potato on his skin to draw out the toxins and showed me a gentle way to rub his legs to help his lymph system get rid of whatever caused his reaction. I can also use garlic oil on him and a few friend suggested making smoothies of anti-oxident rich berries. Cal/mag are supposed to help too; I already take those.
I know it sounds hippy-dippy and extreme but I want whatever caused my baby so much pain OUT of his body. And, frankly, rubbing his legs and feeding him garlic won't hurt him and could possibly help. Worse case senerio? Vampires stay away! ;)
For the past two mornings, I have put a potato on his injection sites. Think about how a potato reacts in a soup.. same concept.
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For the record, his wounds:
Right leg, HiB shot
Since he is little and breastmilk is still the major source of his food, I have made sure that everything he eats is pretty good for him. After Googling and some reading, there's not much I am going to add to his diet except kale, berries and beans. Adam makes a lovely rice with cilantro. For Thanksgiving, our friend brought a fruit salad and he loved the blueberries and blackberries from it!
I'll write more later about what he is eating... hopefully, I can help him feel better.
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