still not at work

my second week of vacation has not started out as well as my first. really going back to sunday night, beatrix had not been feeling well. she didn't want to sleep, didn't want to eat, and seemed to be uncomfortable no matter what we tried to do.

when monday came and she was still feeling the same, we were a little more concerned. she had some funky looking spit-ups that were a little different from her usual ones, and there was definitely some gas rumbling around in her boiler. she would sleep for an hour at a time, wake up, act hungry, not eat, and scream like a lunatic. daddy had chalked it up to an irritation in her system (babies get gas and scream, ask my mommy and daddy- side note: dear mom and dad, thank you for not killing me. beatrix says thanks, too.), but mommy, who is ever vigilant, and also a little too quick and handy with the rectal thermometer, felt otherwise.

bebe pooped a real grown-up smelling poop, which babies her age are not supposed to do. and she pooped it all over herself and part of a pillow and maybe a bit of mommy. and it was not a pretty poop. it lacked all the charm and beauty her bowel movements had been characteristically composed of thus far. it instead had things in it which i will not describe here. i myself was not bothered by it on a purely fecal level (i have a high poop tolerance) but i was alarmed it had come out of my baby.

in went the thermometer (the patient tolerated the procedure with no complications), and when it came out it told us she was running a slight fever. A HA! i said to mommy. i knew she was sick! we've got to get her to the doctor's office, STAT!

mommy was one step ahead, as she so often is, and got an appointment for that afternoon. some people would get irritated having their partner one step ahead of them all the time, but not me. i figure, if there's a big hole up there or something, she'll fall into it first. then i can come along and be heroic. it works out nicely that way.

beebs strips down for her weigh in. 11.7, i think. we had hoped she'd be fatter than that by now. i guess we'll have to wait till next thanksgiving to eat her. you've bought yourself some time, young lady. but if i get home and find a potted plant someone has been spitting their breast milk into instead of swallowing it like a good baby, there's going to be trouble!

mommy and bebe doing the 'waiting for the doctor' dance.

heh-hey, doctor b! what's happenin'? i gotta tell ya', i feel great! yep, never been better!

bebe's doctor explained to us that often times, babies who are sick at home get better on their way to the doctor's office. bebe's temp was normal and she was as charming and cheerful as ever. it's hard to complain about that, but still. luckily, daddy took some pictures of the irregular poop as proof. nice try, bebe. we know you were sick and we've got the pictures to prove it!

flexing the guns...

bebe just loves being at the doctor's!

however, once we were home, she was back to being sick. wtf?

this picture tells the story of someone who has pooped their pants and feels uncomfortable about it, while the person holding said pooper (the poopee?) eyes the source of the poop and thinks 'p-u.' this is, in fact, a non-fiction story.

since mommy needed a break, and daddy needed a break from mommy (just kidding!), he and bebe decided to take a walk around town.

we saw this cool tree that looked like the roots were melting like lava onto the sidewalk

and also these beautiful flowers. don't tell mommy about all of those bees...

we also came across this sleepy guy, napping in the sun (hint, hint!). unfortunately, bebe is a little slow and didn't get the hint.

by the time we got home, she was back to being fussy. she spit up again, but this time it was bright yellow with foam and chunks of stuff in it. this was enough to worry us, but on top of that she seemed to be leaking something from her left eye. it wasn't tears, but it wasn't necessarily oozing either. bebe's doctor just happened to be the doc on call that night and had said to page him if there were other developments, so we did. he wasn't too concerned about the eye since the discharge was mostly clear and not full of pus. the spit up was a little more concerning and he admitted he wasn't sure about what that was all about (not so smart now, are you, mr. medical school, mr. residency, mr. jama subscriber?). there's nothing more frustrating than hearing a medical professional say 'jeeze, i don't know.' and they seem to say it A LOT.

eventually we decided that if she had another spit up like that or other symptoms developed, we should page him again and/or take our baby to the emergency room. she was no longer running a fever and had gone back to her normal and beautiful poops, and by about nine o'clock she was fast asleep. she slept normally through the night and as of right now (nine am) she seems to be doing better. she wants to thank everyone for the get well soon cards and flowers which nobody sent, on account of not knowing how sick she was because we didn't really tell anybody and now she's better so what's the big deal don't be such a cry-baby about it.