The Day Keeps Getting Worse

Last night we called Poison Control for the first time...don't worry, Maelin is fine but I gave us all a scare. The benadryl and ibuprofen look the same. They're both clear, liquids and in plastic bottles. You're not supposed to give babies benadryl at all, but I give her a tiny bit when she has a cold so she can sleep.

Last night, I gave her her normal amount of ibuprofen because she's teething and seems to be really uncomfortable. Then I opened the baby advil bottle...and thought, what? Didn't I just give her this??? Oh my gosh...it was the benadryl that I gave her...not the advil. I gave her a pretty big dose of benadryl without meaning to...

I called Sherry who is a nurse who said the amount I gave her shouldn't cause any problems but I should watch her carefully. How do you do that when she's sleeping? This was all at 9pm. So then I called Poison Control and the lady was very sweet...she figured out Maelin's weight and the amount I gave her and said it was no big deal at all. Basically there's a formula they use to figure out how bad idiot parents have hurt their kids and they don't worry till the kid is at a 10 or more and Maelin was at a 5.1. She said just put her to bed and she'll be fine.

Whew.....

So after me feeling horrible about how I could have really hurt baby Maelin, we put her to sleep. She was acting fine...We decided not to give her the advil because we figured her system had enough drugs for a while. Turned out, that was a big mistake.

3am...waaaaaaaaahhhhhhh! I open my eyes and poor baby is screaming. I stumble out of bed and grab her and she's whimpering and seems really uncomfortable. I nurse her, rock her, walk her up and down the hall, take her into bed with me...everything I can possibly think of.

5:30am. Baby is still awake and crying. Maelin is usually so good, something has to be wrong. I'm crying at this point, Kevin is up and trying to help but we've tried everything we can and Maelin just wouldn't go back to sleep. Kevin gets the proper dose of advil and gives it to her. 20 minutes later...baby is fast asleep.

6am. Alarm goes off. I let baby sleep on me for another 45 minutes while I sit and debate whether or not I should go to work today. I don't have sub plans written so I'd have to go in for a bit this morning anyway to write them and baby was going to Grandma Jean's house today so that's better than sending her to daycare if she's tired. I decide to go into work and take the afternoon off if Maelin isn't feeling better.

9am. I'm at work and I call Jean...Maelin is taking a nap and seems fine. Good...I breathe a sigh of relief and tell my kids how tired I am so they'll be good. They all promise to do their best today.

11am. I have a ton of work to catch up on but I run into the supply closet to quickly pump and...Kevin forgot to pack the pump stuff. He was so tired, he just spaced it. Now I can't pump. Not good. So I call Kevin. He's exhausted too but he's going to leave work, go home and get the stuff and bring it up to me so I can pump during lunch.

Now when do I eat lunch? Maybe while the kids are doing their math...

On days like these, being a teacher is the hardest job in the world. I have no flexibility to eat lunch at a different time, or to run home quickly or leave 10 minutes early to get to the doctor before they close or even to go to the bathroom. I have to keep "up" for my kids even though I've been up since 3am and I'm so exhausted, I forgot to brush my hair this morning.

Keep your fingers crossed that this the worse the day will get...