On Friday I thought I was going to post an exuberant message about how Edward slept through the night for the first time--10 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. As the day wore on though, it became clear that any celebration was probably premature. It's more likely that he stored up on sleep as a way of fighting a little virus he picked up. He slept most of the morning as well, but by noon on Friday I was on the phone to the doctor to ask what to do about a two-month old who is throwing up.

The answer turned out to be replacing his breastmilk diet with an electrolyte solution until he could keep the clear liquid down. Half an ounce every half an hour at first and then gradually increasing as he tolerated it. I called John at work and asked him to go get the drink and come home. He made record time between the office and home with a stop at Walgreens in between to pick up a four-pack of Gerber LiquiLytes. I am so glad John worked so hard to get him to take a bottle. I'm not sure what we would have done if he didn't know how to drink this way. We measured out half an ounce using the syringe that was once Edward's main food delivery method and he sucked it right down. It came back shortly after that, but gradually he was able to tolerate this and we increased the dose through the evening to two ounces. A quick call back to the 24-hour nurse line led to the advice to let him sleep until he woke up on his own through the night. He ended up waking about every three hours for a little more LiquiLyte drink.

Saturday we thought he was tolerating that well enough to alternate between breastfeeding and LiquiLyte each time, but limit the breastfeeding to about 5 minutes so he wouldn't overwhelm his delicate tummy. Well, that sort of worked, but by evening he was retching again and I decided to call back for more nurse advice. When I got through she said that given his age and the fact that this had continued well past 24 hours we should take him to see the doctor. We don't have any Urgent Care sites here, so that meant a trip to the ER. Luckily it was only about 8:30 p.m. when we got there--well before the rowdy late-night college crowd trickles in with various injuries. It did not take long to see the doctor and once we did he listened to all we'd been doing, checked Edward from head to toe and determined that we just needed to continue with the LiquiLytes overnight and then if he tolerated that resume breastfeeding today. Kind of a lot of hassle just to be told to keep doing what you're doing, but it was reassuring. Edward did great through the waiting and the poking and prodding. Of course he was declared adorable by several new people.

Oh, he also got weighed, so on his two-month birthday and three days in advance of his official two-month checkup, which is on Tuesday, I can report that he weighed in 11 lbs. 5 oz. We knew those cheeks and chins must be adding up to something substantial!

So today he's still a little droopy and crabby, happiest when being held, which we are happy to oblige. He's eating pretty well. I might have overdone it at his last feed--need to remember to stop him at about 10-15 minutes. He's still not fully better, but definitely on the road to recovery.

I was surprised at how sad I was watching him be sick on Friday. Even when he was just sleeping, I could tell it was a "sick sleep" and I just felt so bad at not being able to wave a magic wand to make him feel better. It brought back a lot of the same emotion I felt watching Will in the hospital day after day and feeling helpless. On the other hand, since he obviously had to get sick at some point in his young life, I must admit I'm relieved it happened before I went back to work leaving him in day care. Thinking about polluting his little system with the germs of half a dozen other little kids just compounds the guilt. This way I've seen that even safe at home with me the little buggers can get through.