Thursday, May 14, 2009

It's a Mystery

I have never been very good at solving mysteries. This time is no exception. There is something weird going on with my daughter and I just can't figure it out. It all started Tuesday night. She had a weird day at the sitters with short naps. She fell asleep in the car on the way home and then struggled to get to sleep that night.

She finally fell asleep with me holding her hand at 9:30 pm. That is very late for her. She slept through the night, however. Then, Wednesday morning she woke up with a puffy face. I thought it might be from all the crying.

Picture of her puffy face - eye. :(

I took her to the sitters and when I visited at noon, the sitter told me that Abigail had a puffy eye and a fever (99.8 or so). So I took her home. She took a normal afternoon nap (1 hr and 20 minutes) but then was extra fussy until Andrew got home.

We went to Andrew's grandparents for dinner. She did ok but was cranky for part of the time. We got home at 8:00 pm and she was asleep by 8:30 pm.

Then at 12:30 am, I woke up to her screaming. I went to her room and she stopped as soon as she saw me. No dirty diaper, no fever (98.5), no throw-up, no snot, etc. I just changed her mildly wet diaper, gave her motrin and laid her back down. Again at 1:30 am, I woke up to her screaming. I went in and she immediately stopped when she saw me. I checked everything (temp, diaper, etc) and all was fine.

I was so exhausted by this point that I broke one of my cardinal rules of baby sleep and laid down with her in the twin bed in her room. It didn't last long. I quickly realized that neither of us would be able to sleep that way. She was snuggly but restless. She was "asking" to nurse at that point, so I obliged and she went right to sleep after that. (I went back to my own bed).

I heard her cry out a few more times in the night but I waited to see if she'd go back to sleep and she did without much fuss. Again, this morning her temp is normal and there is no sign of any other illness, no runny nose, no tummy trouble. Weird!

I mean, the child just doesn't wake up at night unless there is a problem. She has been like this since she was 9-months old. I suppose it could be a phase but I'm just not sure.

Ok, to sum this all up (this post got long on me).

1) It could be her ears. She could still have a lingering infection. Hmm. Doctor? Seems weird to call the doctor when there are virtually no symptoms to report.
2) Pretty sure it's not her teeth. She has sixteen teeth. The next ones to come in are the 2-year molars and I don't think she's ready for those yet.
3) The only other possible thing that I can think of is that she just going through some sort of separation anxiety, since she seems to instantly calm down and not be in pain if I am around.
4) I suppose she could have had a tummy ache. However, I was in there with her for a while the second time she woke up and she didn't have gas, or a rumbly tummy.

It's all very puzzling and . . . I'm so tired. It doesn't help that I stayed up "late" (for me) painting the downstairs bathroom trim. If I knew then what I know now, I would have just gone to bed.

4 comments:

Jennifer said...

Does she still have a puffy eye/face? The first thing that came to mind when I saw the picture is allergies. I have hayfever and when I was little, that's what my eye would look like (well, let's be honest...it still does! haha). Was she outside in the grass yesterday? Just taking stabs in the dark. Kind of odd about her waking up. Esp. since there are no signs of sick/teeth.

Unknown said...

That's what I wondered too. My allergies have been terrible this past week. Her eye was much better after her afternoon nap, though. I just don't know. I have googled all sorts of mysterious illnesses today, like Fifths Disease, and Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease. It doesn't seem like she has those, though.

I'll check on her at lunch and if I still feel like something is off I'm going to go ahead and call the doc.

Laura said...

Oh man, the internet can be a dangerous tool for diagnosing illnesses. I have used it and really freaked myself out before. :) I also thought it was allergies when I saw her puffy face. Could it possibly be a food allergy?

Unknown said...

Part of the mystery may be solved. On Tuesday night I was mowing the grass right before I can in to settle her down for the night. She nuzzled in my shirt and hugged me for a long time. An allergy to weeds, trees, or some sort of pollen may have been what caused the puffy face!