I remember when I was a little girl, my parents would get so upset every time I would catch a cold. They’d constantly remind (more like badger) me to dress warmly and make sure I’d wear my hat and gloves in the winter. Somehow, I’d still end up with a cold. As I got older, into my teenage years, I would try and hide the fact that I was sick but my dad could always tell because as he would say “your eyes look heavy”.
Well last week, for the first time I was in my parents shoes. My poor Nikhil got sick, and it just happened to be while we were on vacation!!! Late Wednesday night, he woke up screaming. We tried so hard to console him but nothing seemed to work. The shrieking just got louder and louder for a good half hour. Finally, I was able to calm him down by feeding him but I was so frazzled by the whole experience, I decided to have him sleep in our bed with us. That’s when I noticed his body was becoming extremely hot to the touch. Luckily we had our trusty thermometer. Over the course of an hour, his temperature when up from 36.8 to 38.5 Celsius. On a normal day, I think I would have completely lost it but somehow I kept my composure and got out the Tempra. Within a half-hour, his temperature went down but you could tell he just wasn’t the same happy baby over the next two days.
Nikhil is still congested and coughing, but he’s laughing and playing a lot more. My heart broke into pieces to see my little baby sick and not knowing how to console him. I think what made the situation worse was that we were in the US (and a 12-hour drive from home). We have medical insurance and all, but just being in a country where you don’t know what the medical system is like is very scary. Luckily, his fever didn’t stick around and we didn’t have to take him to the doctor while we were down there and because we drove, we were able to cut our trip short. To all the parents out there whose child has been sick, my heart goes out to you. I know it’s wishful thinking, but I hope dealing with a sick child gets easier.
This picture was taken at the Baltimore Aquarium.
Nikhil absolutely loved seeing all the fishes, sharks, frogs, turtles and lizards.
