*Sigh*

Another rough night with Cooper the pooper. He was up every hour from 8:30pm-12am and then every 2 hours thereafter - screaming and screaming. At 2am I finally called the pediatrician on call and the one that called back was the only one of the practice we've never met or dealt with and based on our experience with him we'll be sure to keep it that way LOL. He was absolutely no help whatsoever. He sounded like he was babbling to a buddy while still dreaming, talking in circles about it. According to this guy (who sounded 12 yrs old, by the way), since the strep test was negative he can't have strep and it must be a virus that's traveled to his tummy or in the quiet of the night the throat is still very raw and upsetting and waking him up. This is after I explained that the poor kid is pulling his legs to his tummy, ripping baby farts left and right, reaching for his tummy with his hand, etc. I explained the history of the week with him and Dr.M's conclusions (strep based on appearance of throat and lack of other symptoms and progress since receiving antibiotics) and the new information of the evening (continued lack of solids and acting like it's a tummy thing) and he'd say things like "well viruses take time to work through the system...give him the benadryl/maalox to take the edge off and if he throws up or otherwise seems worse you'll have to take him to the ER". I explained to him that medication was for his throat, not his stomach and asked him (in the nicest way possible) if he was advising me to treat my son's stomach pain with medication intended to numb/coat his throat. LOL Can you just see me now, standing there with Cooper screaming bloody murder in the background while I talk to this doctor on the phone who was trying to tell me that Cooper's usual doctors were wrong about the strep and the issue but that I should give him the medicine for the throat they gave me for him anyway? LOL.

At my wit's end, I gave him the benadryl/maalox stuff at 2:30am and it did help calm him down (after the initial hysterics and battle to get it in him) and he slept for about 2.5 hours - longest stretch of the night - before he was up again. I have no idea what's going on with him but we're trying to really make him eat solid foods today to fill his tummy in case it is a hunger pain thing combined with typical digestive side effects that we know he also is experiencing from the antibiotics (so far probiotics haven't helped this time). When he's awake in the day time he is mostly normal - active, playful, etc...but clingy and grumpy too which is either because he feels crummy or because he is exhausted, or both.

He didn't want to nap today even though we know he desperately needs it (and so do I), and my mom had to take him to the store and walk him in the stroller for an hour to get him to finally fall asleep so I could stay home and nap too without all the screaming. Then again this afternoon he didn't want to nap (stood screaming in the crib in spite of showing all the usual signs of being pooped) so I decided to give him a half dose of that medicine to get him to calm down and thankfully that did work and he has been napping for an hour now.

The boy genius doctor called back to follow up earlier today and he said I can use the stuff to help get him rested up over the next couple of days. I wanted to just laugh and hang up on the guy but it's not his fault either so I just thanked him for following up and said we'd call Dr.M or the office tomorrow if things didn't continue to improve.

I just want this craziness to stop already - I need Cooper to feel better and to sleep better like he had begun to do just before he got sick so that I can sleep better and get/feel better.