3 Words - I Hate Teething!

As many who have read this blog can attest, I try to stay positive. I try to focus on the things that are going well. I try not to use the blog to rant. I try not to dwell on the challenges. But for now, I'm gonna to do just that.

I Hate Teething!

From what I understand, in a child with "normal" development and health, teething can be a challenge. It can cause fevers, congestion, and all kinds of other things. For a kid like Mason, it's all that and more. I'm now not so sure that the last hospitalization was really about Mason being too fat and outgrowing his lungs because history seems to be repeating itself.

For the last week or so, we've had a steady regimen of tylenol, ibuprofen, teething toys, frozen washcloths, teething gel, and whatever else we can think of. Despite all of this, Mason's been in pain and has been waking some at night again. His oxygen need has been up slightly, but that's at least in part due to decreasing the steroids.

Then, we crossed a threshold last night. He woke again around midnight, then 1:30 am, then a good stretch of sleep until 5 am. Bill was kind enough to get up so I could get my last hour of sleep (or so I thought). Mason's oxygen level went down, so Bill tried suctioning his nose, he tried giving him his nebulizer (breathing treatment), and finally, he tried turning up his oxygen (from 3L to 5L). Despite all of that, Mason's oxygen level just wouldn't come up because he was upset and not breathing well. So much for that extra hour of sleep that I was looking for.

After I got up, we were able to get Mason calmed down a bit, enough that his breathing settled out more, and were able to turn down the oxygen again. The trouble continued though, as I was trying to get ready for work, Mason had another idea. Because his teeth were so painful, he wanted to be held. This would work fine if I could move around the house with him, but he still needed to be hooked up to the feeding tube (from 9 at night to 9 in the am), so we're tethered (not to mention the tethering to the oxygen monitor and the oxygen tank). Every time I put him down, he would start grunting, squealing (and not in a good way), or crying and his oxygen level would drop. Doesn't make for an easy time to get ready for work. We continued this pattern for a total of 3 hours - good thing I don't have an official start time for work! Finally, we were able to distract him enough that he could breathe calmly and I reluctantly left for work.

Did I mention I hate teething?