Sick Baby

Sophia is really sick for the first time in her 7 month life. She caught some kind of stomach virus, and started throwing up early Monday morning. Mom went in to feed her at 4:30 a.m., and when she woke up at 5:30 crying, Dad went in to comfort her back to sleep. Not being able to be comforted in the crib, he picked her up to rock her. Shortly after, a spew of volcanic proportions ended up over both Dad and baby. That was just the beginning though...Mom got it several more times throughout the day. We were less worried about the fever itself than by the fact that she wasn't able to keep either breast milk or apple juice down, since babies can get dehydrated so quickly.

When Sonja took her to the doctor, he looked at her and said, "It looks like her disposition is still bright." But we have been so lucky to have such an easy and happy baby that what he thought was a bright disposition was a grumpy, sad, tired Sophia! We were so sad for her all day, because her normal experiments with her voice and new vowel/consonant combinations were missing, and her big, bright blue eyes were a little more droopy and sad.

Fortunately, it seems to have been short-lived. 24 hours later, she's on the mend, taking 2 ounces of either breast milk or pedialyte every hour or so. Thank goodness! Guess we'll have to deal with this many more times, but the first illness for a helpless little baby is hard for moms and dads to get used to.