's birthday

[Guest guest]

Today is 's third birthday, and he is NOT sick! He also started

preschool today, so it was a very big day, and so GOOD to have him healthy.

His second birthday was in the middle of one of the worst fever episodes

he's ever had, and we got the probable diagnosis a month later. He had

an awful episode a week and a half ago, and I'm just so glad it didn't fall

on his birthday this year.

I've been reading all the " I want my child back " posts and I can relate so

well. We also struggle with how much to " baby " him and how to keep life

relatively normal for him and his older brother. Sleep is a really hard

issue for our family. wakes up so often when he has a fever, and we

have found he sleeps best if I let him sleep with me (he still wakes up but

falls back asleep faster and doesn't get so worked up). But then he doesn't

want to go back to his own bed when he's better, and it can take a week or

two before he sleeps through the night, and then we're about ready to start

the whole thing over again. I'd love to hear how others handle nightime

parenting with fevers.

He also goes into " only Mommy " mode sometimes with fevers. He wants me to

hold him all the time, but he also wants me to do everything. So he wants me

to get something that I need my hands free to get, but I also have to hold

him, and he won't let Daddy get it or hold him. Very frustrating for

everyone. Our almost six-year-old son also is very much affected by the

fevers, as they take so much of our attention and also stop us from a full

activity level. It was such a blessing to learn that is not

contagious and that we can still go out and be around people. Before the

diagnosis, missed out on a lot of outings and playdates. We try to

maintain normal activities, but sometimes we just can't. We were in

California last month and had two days at Disneyland. As we walked through

the gate on our first day, I realized that 's hand was getting hot.

Luckily it was one of his milder episodes, but it still was not the fun that

it should have been for him. The second day as we were packing up at the

hotel, he was saying " I don't want to go to Disneyland " over and over.

That's what this crazy disease does. My mom did the math and figured that

loses about two and half months out of a year to fevers. And that

doesn't even include the recovery time that it takes for him to really get

his strength and personality back. That's a lot of time.

But it didn't claim his birthday this year, and we had a really good day.

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