On Friday I had a day off. I was rather looking forward to spending some time with the boys in the day time - as well as to some time away from the boys in the day time, if you know what I mean. The boys, however, had other plans entirely. They woke up crankier than usual, at different times, ate poorly, refused to sleep, and generally gave aunt Olga hell. Zev, the elder brother, took the lead role in this. By shortly after 11 am it was clear my great plans were doomed. The boys required both of us to keep them from crying and Zev raised concerns with aunt Olga who though he was coming down with something. With schedules miraculously again in sync by 1 pm, I seized the opportunity to take them for a walk. The next two and half hours were downright pleasant. The moment we left the garage the boys fell asleep and remained so. I found a bench, parked the stroller, and read my kindle. The boys even let me drive them right into a coffee shop to get me a latte. After 4 pm the sun set, the temperature dropped, my bladder complained, and we headed back in.
At home Zev was all smiles for about ten minutes, and then went straight back to the cranky, hold-me-or-I-will-scream self of earlier that day. Aunt Olga and I held the fort as best we could until mom arrived. With Zev fed, it was also clear his eyes were read and puffy. A temperature reading revealed a 38°C fever. It was official - Zev was the first of the brothers to get sick. What a way to greet the grandparents.
With Zev drugged up on baby Tylenol, the house was (sort of) in order and I was off to the airport. There I met my parents and, as casually as possible, informed them of the fever, one (so far) conversation with an on-call physician and what was likely ahead. My parents kept their cool. I was immediately treated to a partial (due to finite length of the ride) recounting of my own ills during the first six months of my life. All was in order.
The night went reasonably crappily, with Zev never quite yelling at full throttle, but being on the verge of it for a while. By 1:30 I had three almost-trips in the babies' room. After that Alla told me to rest and I passed out. I do believe she made some unspecified number (greater than 5) of trips to feed and comfort.
The day brought more fever, more Tylenol, yet two more walks during which both boys slept like little angels. In Zev's case, very feverish, cranky angels upon waking. By 6 pm it was clear that the fever was not responding well to the meds and hovering in the vicinity of 39°C. The on-call doc (call number three) confirmed that we should probably get Zevy seen by someone. Likely, in order not to have us call him twice-daily for the rest of the weekend. Grandpa Misha and Ben remained home, while the rest of us piled in a van and set out for the ER.
At the ER things went very smoothly indeed. With no wait at all Zev was admitted and the fever was confirmed. An LP and urinary sample via catheter were done. While those were no picnic, and Zev let us know that, I can only say those have nothing on the whole circumcision experience. One and a half somewhat nervous, slightly noisy hours later we were told that all tests were clean and we were sent home. The diagnosis is a viral infection with expectation that fever should break in a day or so. Until then, we offer food, drugs, comfort, and just ride it out.
At this point Zev is finally asleep. Alla, as she put it, is not sure whether she more tired or more hungry. We will plan the shifts of monitor duty, though there not much hope of rest for the provider of the one food Zev loves best. Once again, we will take things one hour and one feeding at a time.
Happy Holidays!
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