Keana was really sick the last week in September. On Tuesday (9/25/07) she hardly ate anything and Sarah took her to the doctor’s. Two hours later, as usual, the doctor really didn’t have anything to offer except slight peace of mind—so maybe that’s something. “Probably some kind of virus, but nothing to worry about,” she said and sent Sarah and Keana on their way. I couldn’t be there because I was teaching, but luckily Iana was in town so Sarah had some support.
On Wednesday things were worse. I could hear Keana was awake by the rustling heard through the baby monitor, but she wasn’t her usual, super-chatty self. I went downstairs to check on her and the first thing out of her mouth was a very sad sounding, “You can stay home with me.” It was heartbreaking! I then noticed something dried around her mouth and neck and realized it was dried vomit. I checked her bed to confirm—yup, vomit indeed. I felt so bad for her and if you could see the look in her eyes you would have absolutely melted. They seemed bigger than usual—almost hollow around the socket—and a little sad or confused as if saying, “What’s going on with me?”.
She spent most of the day in my arms with Sarah and I taking turns with the bucket. Each time she was about to get sick she would turn one way then the other as if trying to somehow escape what was about to happen. She almost said nothing all day and when she finally did talk, it was a weak whisper. It was a challenge getting any fluids in her but she finally responded to spoonfuls of water, gradually working up to sips in the evening.
We never do this normally, but I went to the video store and rented some movies to occupy her mind. Usually she’s running all over the place with her imagination, but since she wasn’t up to it this day, a movie seemed just the thing. She had been really into Disney’s The Little Mermaid in book form so we thought that would be good. When I got home from the video store she had perked up considerably, whispering in excitement about actually getting to see the little mermaid in action. So we watched a little of the movie—stopping before any of the really scary stuff—and put our tired, but healing baby to bed. It was a really tough day, one Sarah and I were glad we didn’t have to do alone.
The next day Keana was feeling much better, gradually eating more and more as the day went on. It took almost a week for her voice to return to normal and we were really glad to have our little chirper back in the game.