Ergh.

Tough day!  Poor, poor ill Tabitha, I have never seen her look so miserable, her whole face kept crumbling into the saddest expression you can imagine.  If I went more than a metre from her she cried and cried, even if someone else kind was holding her.  She just slept on and off all day, maybe 6 or more hours in total, mostly in the Ergo carrier while I walked around the house.  I have never been vomited on more in my life!  At least 4 complete outfit changes for me, more for her.  Fever hovered around 38 - 38.6 all day.  Kept her dressed lightly - I thought about when I am ill and feverish and shivery, what do I like to wear?  Something light, not to overheat me, but to stop my skin getting a chill.  So that's how I dressed her.  When we put her to bed tonight, we tried some Panadol which was promptly evacuated, via vomit, at great speed!

I predict that I will be up a LOT tonight.  I would be surprised if there weren't several waking and vomiting episodes during the night.  So I am going to bed in a minute, trying to be asleep by 9:30.

This morning my friend Alice called me and asked if everything was okay and if I needed any help (knowing that Tabitha was ill and I had loads to do).  Oh goodness!  I think I burst into tears on the phone...  She came over and was INCREDIBLE and just took it upon herself to start cleaning and decorated my Christmas tree (up to and exceeding my own high standards), and helped with cooking, and helped keep Tabitha a little cheerful.  Amazing.  So that really made the day go from impossible to bearable.  She even brought roses!

I managed to make 100 honey joys, prepare eggs for 50 sandwiches tomorrow morning, make 4kg of potato salad, prepare all the platters, ice the cake with marzipan and white fondant, and do about a million loads of washing (all that vomit!)

I had hoped to colour my hair and do some general beautifying this evening, but that is NOT happening.  I am going to bed, and just hoping that I don't look like I've been hit by a truck tomorrow after being up all night.  Thank goodness for YSL Touche Eclat.

Best Laid Plans

Babies are excellent at teaching you to be more easygoing and less rigid.  The saying, 'if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans' could easily read, 'if you want to make your baby laugh, tell them your plans'!

Today I was all set to work on more of a (loose) routine, trying to get back to 3-4 hourly feeds (over the last two months, Tabitha has been FAR too interested in the world to settle down for a proper feed during the day, and instead has been surviving on tiny snack feeds during the day, and feeding lots at night).  The ABA advised me to try and get good long 3-4 hourly feeds into her during the day.  So, my plan was to stay home all day, lots of songs and games and quiet play, and a few good feeds.  Oh, and work on the nice long sleeps, with 2-hour gaps in between sleeps.  That was my plan for today!

Instead, Tabitha woke up with a 38.6 degree fever, very sleepy eyes, a little vomit, and quite a grizzly mood!  I called the wonderful Nurse on Call hotline (1300 60 60 24) and they advised me to administer Panadol.  This is contrary to the advice of my GP and my MCHN, as well as the baby first aid course The Daddy and I did.  Their advice is generally NOT to administer Panadol unless the fever gets about 39 degrees - the reasoning being that the fever is beneficial, in helping burn up any virus or bug.  So I'm going to hold off on the Panadol, and just keep checking the fever.

So instead of feeding 3-4 hourly, I'll be feeding HOURLY! To make sure she gets loads of fluids and wonderful magical healing breastmilk.  And instead of working on her naps, I have already put her back to sleep 1.5 hours after waking.  Of course, since she is feeling poorly, I had NO intention of working on her self-settling sleeping, and thought it better to cuddle her to sleep - but again, babies laugh at our intentions, and in the time it took me to go and get a glass of water, she had fallen asleep in her cot on her own!  She must be tired, poor little lamb.  Hopefully with some good naps, lots of breastmilk, and a quiet day at home, she will feel better soon.  And hopefully she won't vomit on the Reverend tomorrow during her baptism!

PS - overnight, WOW she slept beautifully!  No 1-3 hour wakings!  She woke briefly to feed at 10:30pm, not  again til 3:30am!  Then she woke at 5:15am, I patted her back to sleep.  She woke again at 6:15am, I patted her back to sleep.  Then she woke at 6:45am, which is a reasonable time for her to get up.  However now I'm not sure whether her incredible sleeping last night was because of the sleep tips from yesterday, or because she is ill and needed more sleep!