Dekker woke up this morning at 5:00. He was wailing. Sometimes he wakes up, fusses for a minute, and falls back to sleep. But he’s been fevering on and off for a couple days now and we hadn’t given him any medicine for quite a while, since he was cool when he went to bed. So we jumped up when he started crying and found him face down in his crib, bawling and miserable and HOT. Brady changed his diaper and tried to give him some milk while I got him some medicine. We left his sleeper open and just sat with him for a few minutes to give him a chance to cool off, but he was just completely exhausted, so back to bed he went.
Like the last couple of days, I woke him up at 1pm from his night. I was feeling like it was time to take him to the doctor. I know a fever often means he’s fighting something off, but it was hanging on a bit longer than I liked. However, as the day went on, Dekker was acting more and more like himself, and the highways were getting worse and worse. I decided to wait until Brady got home from work and we would re-evaluate whether or not we should bring Dekker in to see a doctor. Brady didn’t get home until about 7pm, but against what everyone was saying, he said the highway was ok, so we decided to go in after all.
Turns out that his work van in considerably higher than our Mazda, and all the blowing snow was the height of our headlights. That and not having the benefit or daylight put us at a pretty huge disadvantage. We thought about turning around a few times but pressed on. We figured we could turn our blinkers on and limp home at 20km/hr if need be. Obviously, we are home now. We survived, but I had to add that bit in there since everyone on Facebook got to bitch about the highways all day. Its my turn.
It was a good day for the walk-in! Apparently the weather kept all the sane people home, so we barely waited 5 minutes before getting in. Our doctor was very compassionate, asked lots of questions, listened to the ramblings of a worried mother, talked to Dekker quite a bit, and did his entire exam with Dekker on my lap. Turns out Dekker has what appears to be the beginnings of his very first ear infection 🙁
He didn’t see any puss or anything too ominous just yet. He said he saw some fluid with a bubble in it behind Dekker’s eardrum, but everything it nice and clear still. I know very little about ear infections, but the doctor said that this early, it could continue to turn into the full infection just as easily as it could clear up on its own. He advised us to give Deks pain relief as is needed tonight and tomorrow, and we’ll know by Friday morning what to do. He said Deks would either be in much better spirits, or much worse and feverish. Apparently an ear infection isn’t something that really festers secretly. If he has one, we will likely know about it. So I’m holding onto that, and waiting to see what happens. I had my moment of “How did I, his mother, miss this/let this happen?!” but the doctor said ear infections can be brought on by even a light cold, which Deks has had on off the last week or two, which we attributed to his teething. So whether I read it wrong or not, there was really nothing I could have done to have prevented it from coming, or to encourage one! They decide all on their own.
It sounds terrible, but the one good thing about him feeling so crappy is that he is sooo cuddly right now! Our bedtime cuddles were great and playful and smiley and full of big eye rubs and kisses.
I’m sure this is routine for some people, and maybe you guys are laughing at me for being so worried and frankly, a little ticked. But its new to us! Prayers would be warmly welcomed 🙂
So did I read this right, and see the absence of antibiotics? Way to go walk in doctor! Lots of ear infections are viral, and treating with drugs is useless. Sometimes Indie’s lymph nodes don’t drain well when she has a cold and she complains of pain around the ear, we usually take her to the chiropractor and she comes out feeling better. Hope he wakes up happier today!
You are correct! No antibiotics yet anyway. And he is way happier so far! I’ve been waking him up from his nights after noon the last few days, but this morning he’s waking up on his own and I even heard him playing and jumping on his bed! There’s hope 🙂 good thought with chiro tho!!