Car Seats and Viral Infections

Like most babies, Kylie loves her car seat. She is especially a fan of the "moving car seat." She might fuss if you stick her in the car seat, but as soon as you pick it up and start walking she is as happy as a clam. She really, REALLY loves when we drive in the car. She will sleep for hours, forgetting that she is hungry or sad when we are driving. It is wonderful! We went shopping on Tuesday and when we got home, she just kept on sleeping...The secret is keeping the blanket over her so she thinks it's dark. I had to wake her up when it was time for her to eat. Here is a picture of her from Tuesday snoozing in her beloved car seat!

Last week, Kylie had her first illness. It was miserable...for her AND her parents. It started on Monday night with a half an hour episode of wailing...I mean screaming! Clearly her stomach was hurting. (TMI Alert) Eventually she squeezed out some diarrhea and felt much better. Tuesday went well, but Wednesday was horrible. I think it was the worst day of her little life! She was fussy all day...She couldn't sleep, and she cried and screamed A LOT throughout the whole day! She also had a low grade fever all day...It varied between 99 and 101. I gave her some Tylenol, which helped the fever but not the fussing. She had another episode of the "squirts," and seemed to feel a little better. She finally fell asleep for the night around 11:00pm (usually she goes to bed around 9:30pm). I was able to sleep for a couple of hours and then I was awoken by more painful screams. I ended up holding Kylie until she fell asleep again, which took a looooong time. At some point, she ended up falling asleep for about 4 hours. Thursday was more of the same, but a little better. There was lots of fussing, a low fever, but no diarrhea, and a little more sleep. When she wasn't better on Friday, I finally took her to the doctor. Unfortunately, Molly was not in clinic, but we saw another excellent doctor named Dr. Derauf. He did a thorough exam, but could not find any obvious reasons for the illness. So we were sent for a blood test. That came back showing signs of a viral infection. So, that is what the doctor determined was the problem. Notice the "was." She is feeling much better this week...back to normal (knock on wood). I'm not sure where she picked it up...Probably one of her "dirty" parents! :) Although it was horrible, and I hope Kylie doesn't get sick again for a long time, it is a bit of a relief to get that first illness out of the way. Now we know that she can fight these bugs off and she is building immunity.

Winter is almost over...Stay healthy through these last few weeks of cold and flu season!