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Our bad start to the year continued last night, when Matthew had to visit the doctor in the middle of the night.  He has been restless for the last few nights; I had to go into his room because he was crying on Wednesday night once, and also Thursday night once, which is unusual.  On Wednesday I went in to see if he was alright because he had been coughing for a long time.  On Thursday he was crying and complained of stomach pains, but settled once Id given him some medicine.  Last night, though, I went into him at 10pm when he cried and, even though I was able to calm him down by giving him a drink of water and a roll of tissue paper to wipe his nose with, he didnt go back to sleep again and started crying after another 45 minutes of coughing. 

He complained of stomach ache again, so I offered him the chance of coming into our bed so that he wasnt on his own, which he thought was great as hes never done so before. He couldnt stop laughing while I was trying to read my book, and it seemed to take his mind off his stomach, so I turned off the light and suggested he tried to sleep.  Surprisingly, shortly afterwards I heard him scurry back into his room again and shut the door - he told me today he prefers his own bed.  Unfortunately less than an hour later I was awoken by more crying and he was complaining of stomach ache again. 

After trying various things such as another drink of water and cough medicine, Matthews stomach was no better so I phoned Louise for advice (Louise was working) and she suggested I phone the out of hours doctor.  The doctor was initially quite reassuring, but said that I would have to take Matthew to the out of hours clinic at the hospital because he should be checked and they couldnt send anyone out.  Unfortunately, Daniel was sleeping peacefully and with Louise in work this would mean waking him up as he would have to come along - I had also been feeling nauseous the day before and been off work, so wasnt on my best form for middle of the night driving.  Louises work came to the rescue and allowed her to finish at 1.40am (unpaid), so I could stay home with Daniel while Louise took Matthew to the hospital.  Whatever happened to the on-call service? When I was young, Im sure a doctor came to see me in the night and my parents didnt have to drive to hospital!  Not only that, I didnt have a little brother sleeping nor one parent working in the night! 

Anyway, I digress.  At the hospital, the doctor did a thorough examination of Matthew, and diagnosed the cause of his stomach pain as a throat infection which had become inflamed and spread down his throat to his stomach.  He prescribed some antibiotics, and told Matthew to rest for 24 hours.  Matthews appendix, kidneys and chest were also checked, and his oxygen levels were tested, which helped to rule out anything more serious.  The doctor also ruled out mumps, which is something we were concerned about because we notice one of his glands was noticeably swollen.  He was very good with Matthew and chatted about Spiderman, and commented about Matthews Angry Birds slippers, wishing they were sold in adult sizes!

It has been challenging getting Matthew to rest today.  Hes never had to spend the day in bed due to illness (at least not since he was a baby), and weve had to entice him into staying in his room by putting the kitchen TV in there temporarily.  Fortunately hes also had his new Leap Pad this week, paid for by Louises work colleagues to replace the one that was stolen, and I was able to download a few games for it to keep him occupied.  Hes enjoying the antibiotics, so we dont have to force them down him, which is good. 

NB: after posting about Matthews cuddly toys last week I discovered that little blue bear was back in his room last night when I went in to see him!