F for Mommy

Ok, so I mentioned the other day how D’s cold got a lot worse this weekend with the bad cough that was making her gag and all that loveliness. Well, yesterday morning it was nearly impossible to wake her up to get ready for daycare at her usual 6:30 hour, and once I was able to roust her the coughing began again in earnest. The poor little thing was hacking and gagging all over the place, and I just felt terrible for her. Each time the coughs would come she’d cling onto my shoulder for dear life as I was holding her. So by the time I got her changed, fed (she could hardly nurse either since her nose was so stuffed up), and dressed, we decided that it would probably be best for her to stay home from daycare seeing how awful she looked. Fortunately it’s pretty easy for R to work from home if needed, so he stayed back with her. Sick day #1 of her life.

I called the doctor’s office and explained how she’s had this cold for months and it ebbs and flows, but now the cough is really bad with the gagging and all. So they wanted to see her this time and R took her in at noon. The prognosis? Sho’ nuf, ear infection in her right ear. Boo. A couple people had told me they thought she had one once they heard about the crying at bedtime we experienced a couple weeks ago, but I thought that couldn’t be it – she never pulled at her ear like it bothered her, she was never out of sorts any other time than bedtime, never had a fever or anything like that. Apparently I was wrong. So we got her going on some amoxicillin starting yesterday for 10 days. You know, the fun pink stuff you shake up and keep in the fridge. I used to love it when I was a kid (yeah i know – weird, duh. but it was pink, thick, and tasted good) and she does too. She happily sucks down the 3mL in the dropper we have to give her twice a day. When I told the lady at daycare this morning that it was an ear infection she said she wasn’t surprised seeing how contagious they are. They are? Dang, I didn’t know that either. Little daycare mongrels.

Oh yeah – I do trust doctors, and I LOVE D’s pediatrician. D gets her immunizations (as horrible it is hearing her cry during the shots) and if medicines are prescribed to make her better (or myself, for that matter), we will be giving them to her. Don’t flame me if you’re against modern medicine and all the evils you’ve heard it causes to the human body, I dig it. And if it will help my baby heal and end her suffering, then she can’t take it soon enough as far as I’m concerned. That said, however, I am not a proponent of just pumping meds in at the first sign of a sniffle; but if whatever’s wrong has been going on long enough with no relief in sight, then give me what I need to make it better.

I felt horrible when I heard that it was an ear infection, though. How long has it been festering in there? Has she really been in pain and we didn’t know it? Were there some signs that we just didn’t recognize and therefore accidentally ignored? R said the doctor couldn’t tell how long it had been in there, so hopefully it hasn’t been too long. Apparently there is a cough reflex in the ear, which is why the bad coughing that started the past couple of days was a sign. Good to know.

So I will chalk this one up as an F in the Mommy category (possibly one of many) – who lets their baby endure an ear infection without even knowing it? Gheesh. Ah well, live and learn!