Molars: How I Detest Thee

A few days ago I noticed that Zach was really chewing on his fingers again which generally means more teeth are about to break through his gums. I hadn’t noticed any of the generally obvious white bumps under his gums so I stuck a finger in there to feel around a bit. When I did, I got a nice little surprise…he bit the hell out of my finger. It was actually sore for a couple of days. I also found out that he is in the process of cutting all four of his one-year molars all at once. One of the top ones has partially broken through, but the others are all just under the gums waiting for the right moment to pop out.

Up until now, Zach has done really well with teething. He has never gotten too fussy and only had problems sleeping a couple of times. This time is totally different. I sent an e-mail to warn his day care provider of the situation yesterday because I had forgotten to tell her about it when I dropped him off. She said it was no big deal, although he didn’t nap very well yesterday.

Apparently, today was a different story. I got an e-mail early this afternoon asking me to please remember to bring Tylenol tomorrow as he was having a pretty rough time of it. I wrote back, assuring her that I would bring it and asked if he was any better. She said he had been up crying all afternoon and his gums were swollen. As I was leaving work, she called to ask if I was on my way because he wouldn’t stop crying.

When I got there to pick him up he looked absolutely pitiful. His gums, as well as his cheeks were swollen. He had drool dripping out of his mouth and looked like a zombie. He had only slept for a total of 13 minutes. He immediately snuggled up to me. As soon as we got home, I doped him up with some Baby Orajel and Ibuprofen and he fell asleep about 10 seconds later. I’m pretty sure that I’m in for a great night tonight.

Why didn’t anybody warn me that this was going to happen? Damn molars!