That first night in the hotel ended up being pretty scary. Before going to bed, Meo was happy as a clam. But an hour after going to bed, he woke up screaming. I was surprised because he never screams like that. I was able to nurse him back the first time, but half hour later he was up again screaming. I could only calm him down by walking him around and holding him upright. After that, he wouldn't nurse on his side anymore and was seemed to be struggling whenever he was on his back. I was beginning to get really nervous so I woke Robbie up and told him we needed to do something to help him. Once I took a second to clear my head and think about his symptoms, I realized his ears were probably bothering him, and that's why he needed to be upright. Robbie called our on-call pediatrician to verify our suspicions and ask what we should do. They told us we needed to get him to a doctor first thing in the morning.The poor baby was so tired that he easily fell asleep every time one of us walked him around the room. Once he was a sleep, I would lay him down on a pillow so he was inclined, otherwise he would wake up immediately screaming. We took turns putting him back to sleep about every hour that night...at one point he even fell asleep on Robbie's chest. It was a rough night for all of us. By around 5:30, we were all up and ready to figure out where we needed to bring Meo.
We were hoping to bring him to an urgent care facility so that it wouldn't be so expensive. Unfortunately, we had trouble finding one, and the hotel staff was very unhelpful. They directed us to an urgent care facility that they did not know the name of, only the address. So we got poor Meo in his car seat and took a taxi there only to find a sketchy real estate office. So we asked the cab driver to take us to Saint Francis Hospital, which was the closest hospital. For some reason he took us to a completely different hospital and didn't even know if they had an ER. We weren't too happy with that guy either! But we saw that there was an ER and got out.
Fortunately, things started looking up from there. There was no one else in the ER and the nurses were extremely nice. They took as right in and took great care of us. Meo's ears were both very red, one side more than the other. He also had a lowgrade fever and cold symptoms.
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| Nursing Meo in the ER |
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| Poor, sick baby |
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| Sick Meo |
We weren't sure if we had a refrigerator in our hotel or not, so rather than give us a prescription for antibiotics for Mattimeo, they recommended we give him a one time shot of antibiotics. They said the shot would be very effective and he would start feeling better quickly, but it would hurt a lot which is why they don't usually offer that route for babies. They added a numbing agent though so that it wouldn't hurt so bad. Another good thing about the shot is that he would be less likely to develop a yeast infection/thrush from the antibiotics. So we gave him the shot, and although he did cry when he got it, it wasn't any worse than vaccinations he has had in the past, and he nursed himself to sleep right after. They had us stay in the hospital bed for half an hour to make sure he didn't have any reaction to the shot, and Meo just happily slept the whole time we were there.
After Meo had his nap, we already started to notice a big difference. We alternated giving him baby Tylenol and Motrin for that day and night, and besides a runny nose and cough he was back to his normal chipper self. We went back to the hotel then caught a street car to meet Paul at the Ferry Building. This was Meo's first time in a street car/bus, and he enjoyed it.
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| Meo's first bus/street car ride |
When we met Paul, we walked around the Ferry Building and the Farmer's Market that was happening just outside before settling down for lunch. Paul directed us to the Cowgirl Creamery, were I got delicious mac and cheese to share with Meo and Robbie got a yummy grilled cheese sandwhich.
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| The Ferry Building |
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| Walking to the Farmers' Market |
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| Lunch time! |
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| Feeding Meo mac and cheese |
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| Robbie and Paul eating lunch |
Next we hopped onto a Ferry to Sausalito. This was Meo's very first time on any kind of boat, and I think he enjoyed it! The ride was a little under an hour long and we got to see both the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges as well as Alcatraz (the "inescapable" prison) and some pretty islands.
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| Our Ferry |
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| Robbie on the ferry |
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| Paul, Meo and I on the ferry |
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| Bay Bridge |
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| San Francisco |
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| Port of San Francisco |
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| House on an island cliff |
Once in Sausalito, our main objective was to make it over to Muir Woods, a federal park dedicated to preserving redwood trees. So we walked over to a bus stop where Meo found entertainment in taking out dead leaves from a pot and "cross pollinating" them into another nearby pot, and patting a local dog.
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| Reaching Sausalito |
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| Sausalito |
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| Sausalito |
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| Sausalito |
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| Sausalito |
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| Sausalito |
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| Sausalito |
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| Pulling out dead leaves on his tippy-toes |
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| Robbie trying to keep Meo out of the street |
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| Friendly local dog |
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| Going to sit under the dog |
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| Trying to climb up on the dog |
Unfortunately, Paul and Robbie were confused about the bus schedule, and there wasn't actually a bus going to come to the stop we had been waiting at. So we ended up taking a taxi to the Muir Woods shuttle. We didn't have a car seat for Meo, so that was a little nerve wracking.
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| Meo and I in a taxi |
Finally, we made it to Muir Woods. The main reason I wanted to come with Robbie was to see the ancient redwood trees that only grow in this climate. Redwood trees are among the oldest trees in the world, and they are the tallest. To walk among them is to go back in time to a world where these tree sentinels ruled the earth. They are truly magnificent to behold.
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| Meo and I entering Muir Woods |
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| Looking way, way up! |
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| Robbie and Paul |
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| A buck we saw eating |
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| Meo and I |
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| New growth |
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| New Growth |
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| Paul and Robbie |
We were only able to stay in the forest for a couple hours. I wish we could have stayed all day! But because we had to go to the ER in the morning and because we had to get back before Meo got over-tired, we didn't get to spend as much time as we would have liked to there. But it was a wonderful couple hours, and we even let Meo run around among the wise old trees. He thought that was the best thing ever.
I am so glad that I got to see the redwood trees; its impossible to truly capture their magnificence in photos. I wish that there hadn't been so many people there because they were so loud and kind of took away from the peaceful tranquility of the forest. It would really be something to walk among those trees alone, without the boardwalks. But I am just happy that these trees are protected and still have a place in our industrial future world.
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| Paul in a redwood |
Despite our effort to catch an earlier ferry, we ended up leaving on a later ferry. Meo was really tired, but was distracted from his sleepiness with food and lots of books and silly songs. We got to see the bay at sunset which was a bonus.
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| Golden Gate Bridge |
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| Golden Gate Bridge |
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| Alcatraz |
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| Alcatraz |
That night, after a very long and busy day (it actually felt like it had been two days by the time we got home; we could hardly believe be began the day at the ER), we had to switch rooms. But it was worth it because we got a nicer room with a huge, cozy king sized bed! That night, Meo and I slept very peacefully. No crying at all! I was so glad he got better so quickly and was able to enjoy his first day in San Francisco.
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| Sleeping in our big bed |
So glad Meo got well so fast.. hes a trooper. great start to your tour, mac and cheese!! great freind, the redwoods are breathtaking!! ok that bed looks way to confortable :O))))
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