Adventures in baby sitting

As Isabel gets stronger, we've been working on having her sit unassisted. She's not quite able, yet, though. Her heavy noggin--it's that big brain!--falls forward and she collapses to the side or slumps forward like she's trying to do a toe touch.

Hubris

I just had to comment on Isabel not getting sick. And then she got sick. It's horribly upsetting to have a five-and-a-half-month-old baby shrieking with a skyrocketing fever and diarrhea and know that she can't really communicate "what's wrong,"--whether she's frightened, in pain, or both--and that you can't do anything other than cuddle her, put a cool damp cloth on her, give her some infant Tylenol, and keep her hydrated. Thankfully, it only lasted a couple of days. She was tired and her sleep schedule was erratic for a couple more days after that, but she's bright-eyed and back to her normal delightful self now.

What goes down must come up

Webhamster and I were both sick last week with the latest "stomach virus." It was sudden onset for both of us. His started on a Saturday, and mine started on a Monday on my way to work. This was vicious stuff. I left work after an hour in which I went to the toilet three times. By the time I got home, I was throwing up and having violent diarrhea every 10 minutes and blacked out. I slept for 19 out of the following 24 hours, and had a fever. The next afternoon I was considerably better, but I was exhausted and had stomach cramps and couldn't eat much for about three days afterward.

Poor Webhamster had more vomiting than anything, and it persisted for about two-and-a-half days. He was so dehydrated the first day that his gums turned white. He couldn't even keep water down. I was much luckier, obviously, drinking Sprite by the end of the first day.

Thankfully, Isabel showed no signs of illness, even though one of her daycare friends, whose father works with Webhamster, was so sick he was hospitalized. That baby was not in the whole week, nor the previous week, though, so I think she avoided that exposure. Ken thinks he got the virus from the co-worker, who had been sick.

It's amazing--and scary!--how quickly and effectively these germs travel from host to host.