"O where, O where has my baby gone...?"

Before today, when I would hear my other mom friends talk about their children being sick, I always sort of shrugged it off. Even when they said that their happy, go-lucky child was lethargic and not herself, I would think "Hey, doesn't that mean less time chasing after the little munchkin and more downtime? What's wrong with that?" Obviously, I never voiced these thoughts.

Well, today, Anne had her very first fever and now I completely understand what my mom friends felt. While driving to a friend's house this morning, I noticed that Anne had red cheeks and a red nose. I thought she was either hot (in the backseat where air doesn't reach easily) or got a sunburn (even though I didn't notice the "sunburn" 20 minutes ago when I put her in the car seat). When we got to our destination and I took Anne out of the car, she was burning up-she was literally hot to the touch. I hoped that it was just that she was hot in the backseat. Anne was very quiet and not at all playful and I hoped that it was because we were outside and it was hot and humid. An hour later when we drove home, and both of us were secretly worried she was sick, we kept noticing little things that made us think she was sick. We took her temperature when we got home and it was 104!!! My poor baby!!! Tylenol and a cold bath later and she was feeling cooler. However, my precious little, playful baby was gone. My baby, who does not cuddle and is very independent did not want to leave either of our sides. She sat in our lap most of the rest of the day and didn't make much of an effort to crawl anywhere. She didn't laugh, she didn't play, she didn't even smile. She just sat around quietly or whined and fussed the rest of the day. It was so heartbreaking to see her like that. I just want my baby back! Our doctor said if she's not better by tomorrow to bring her into the office on Monday. I hope she's back to her old self very, very soon. I miss her and I'm not at all enjoying my "downtime".