Sicky Little Guy

Well, welcome to what seems to be the longest post ever. I hate being back here talking about a sick little guy, but so seems to be our life. It was all good for what felt like so long.

If you remember (you will if you've been reading along for a while), our little guy went through loads of sickness from about five months old (March 2012) until we pulled him from our first daycare almost  9 months later (December 2012).

First time really sick - RSV in March 2012

From RSV six times, seven ear infections (resulting in tubes), sinus infection twice,  hand foot & mouth and croup. We went to specialists to try and figure out why he was getting so sick and none of them had a clue. He was put on many different preventative meds but none of them seemed to prevent the inevitable future of him getting sick once again. We ultimately purchased a nebulizer since he was constantly needing to use it for breathing treatments. He wasn't sleeping, we weren't sleeping, we were stressed and missing work all the time because he couldn't be at daycare while sick or if he had even a slight fever.

If you spot this junk running out of your kiddo's ear, it isn't good.

It was the beginning of December 2012 on the tail-end of a bad bout of RSV (like I'm talking three week-long bout) that we decided we were just going to pull him from daycare. It seemed every time we would get him better and back to healthy, he would spend a day or so back in daycare and was immediately sick again. 

We didn't have a plan, but fortunately had amazing family and friends to help us figure out care for our guy until we did. I started interviewing nannies and we found an amazing one who started with us in January 2013. From the time we pulled him from daycare until the day our nanny left us (more about that here), little man was not sick once. Not one time, I tell you. And it was amazing. I never knew how life could be with a healthy baby and it was everything I imagined it would be.

Flash forward to now and our little dude is back at a different daycare. Lo and behold, what happens? Not less than three weeks after being back in daycare (middle of September 2013) and our boy was sick once again. This time with Croup and a pretty bad case of it.  Mind you, with neither daycare have we "skimped" and opted for a cheap solution - we have really tried to only leave our boy in some of the best daycare centers in Omaha. Obviously nothing helps the fact that some kids are just more susceptible to getting sick than others. But nothing changes the fact that ALL kids are going to get sick - the different levels of how sick they get is the variable.

This sickness started with him getting a slight fever and having runny nose and watery eyes for a couple days. We chalked it up to sinus/allergies since our pedi thinks our guy may have allergies like his daddy and at this same time the hubs was sneezing pretty bad as well. Then his fever got worse and he was coughing that barking/seal-like cough (a dead giveaway since we had heard this exact painful cough before) - this was Thursday night, so Nick brought him into the clinic on Friday. Diagnosis: Croup.

He was given a steroid and we were told to continue giving him breathing treatments to try and clear him up. He was pretty bad Friday and Saturday but seemed to be getting better Saturday night (slept through the night!) and seemed completely normal on Sunday morning. Then Sunday he took a turn for the worse. Woke up from his nap shaking and had broke another fever - like 103 degree fever.  He was whiny and crying and if we know anything about our guy it's that even when he is sick he's in a pretty good mood and still so sweet, so this was off for him. He continued to get worse and I was on the phone with the after hours nurse trying to determine what we needed to do. She gave us the option of going to the Children's ER or waiting it out. We decided to wait it out but that only lasted an hour when we determined he wasn't going to be able to sleep, was very uncomfortable and the fever wasn't going down despite our different attempts. With all that you hear about not ignoring high fevers and the fact that he had a fever over four days into the sickness (which generally isn't good), we knew we needed to head in.

No one wants to be at an ER with their child at 10pm, but I can tell you I found comfort in it once again, because at least you get answers, and generally help (in the form of stronger meds) to help your baby. They gave us a stronger breathing treatment and treated his fever and we were off to fend for ourselves. Fortunately, little man fell asleep on the way home and I opted to sleep on his floor that night just to be sure his fever didn't get worse.

Two days later, he was back to himself. Thankfully.

Until this past weekend, when he got Croup yet again. Even more fortunately, it was such a light bout and we seemed to catch it early, so he did have to miss daycare on Friday and Monday, but it wasn't near the capacity that it was last time.

From the moment we heard that first barking, seal-like cough early Friday morning and through the weekend, we have been talking about what we are going to do. Do we go back to the search for a nanny? With Nick starting a new job here at the end of the month, neither of us can continue to miss more work. When will his immune system start building up, so he can fight off illness better? There are just so many questions.

Some of my tips when dealing with a sick baby:

• Trust your instincts. There are times you will feel like a fool because it may feel like you are calling for what the nurse makes out to be the smallest thing, but remember that is their job and they hear these different diagnoses every day. As a first-time mom, you need that reassurance. 
• Keep up with the doc's instructions, even if it feels like they are better. There were times that C would seem to be getting better, so we wouldn't continue his breathing treatments or other instructions as long as the doctor had told us to thinking he was better. Then he would take a turn for the worse. SO, just listen to what they say and continue doing what they recommend to make sure your baby is fully recovered.
• Get a second opinion. After going through so many doctor's visits and seeing little man sick all of the time, we sought help from someone else. Not that we didn't believe in our doc, but you never know. And we wanted to make sure we were fully in the know on what was going on or better yet to see if they had any other ideas as to why our little guy was always getting so sick.
• Overdoing the cuddles during this time are ok.  When your baby is sick, all you want to do is snuggle and chill with them until they feel better. My opinion...do it!  You really should put the baby down and go do the laundry, wash the dishes or clean the house, you say? Screw it, enjoy the time with your baby. Sometimes all they need is a warm snuggle from their mama.
• You will feel guilty for working outside the home and having to send your child to daycare. Like all the time. I hate that I have to send my son to a daycare center and that it has resulted in him being so sick, but I also can't change our situation and the fact that I have to work. Do I wish I could be there to cuddle him when he's sick instead of sitting in my office worrying about him. Absolutely. It's just not realistic. And I can't beat myself up for it.

Well, we are going to be over here, just preventing future sickness. If you have any ideas for us, we will take them! Have any of you experienced this kind of craziness?

The preventative Flo-ven inhaler C takes every morning
He also gets Singulaire mixed in with yogurt or his milk at least once a day

You can read more about our experience with baby illness here, here, here, here and here.   

Have a great Tuesday everyone!