Friday, January 7, 2011

Poor, Poor , Pitiful Thing...

Sweet Baby James is currently Sick Baby James. He's had a little cough for a few days but woke up yesterday sounding raspy. He wasn't running a fever, didn't have a runny nose, and acted like he felt okay, so I didn't think a ton about it. After his afternoon nap was cut short from coughing fits, I got a little more concerned. I got him and took his temperature and it was normal, but I called the doctor's office at about 3:30 just in case. I left a message with the nurse. By four, he was coughing more and sounded and looked like he felt bad. I took his temperature again an it was 99.8. I called back to the doctor's office and asked if I should just bring him in. They said Dr. W had a 5:30 appointment available, so I took him in.

He acted like he felt okay at the doctor's office so I had a moment of "Am I The Crazy Mom?" They checked his temperature (normal - awesome), his pulse, and swabbed his nose for RSV. When Dr. W. came in he said, "Well, James, you definitely have RSV." Double awesome. He listened to his breathing, looked in his ears and eyes, and stirred him up until he was mad and coughing. When he started coughing Dr. W. looked at him and said he sounded more like he had Croup than RSV. SO...we've been diagnosed with and are treating both. We're basically out of commission for at least a week because of spreading germs.

Today he is pitiful. He threw up in his bed last night and we found it when we checked on him at 10:30. We had to strip the bed and his jammies and wipe him down as good as we could. His little eyes are red and puffy underneath. He can't breathe without wheezing. He's snuggly and doesn't want to be put down (I hope he's napping right now...). He's lethargic, not hungry, and not thirsty. I did get him to eat some applesauce and toast this morning so that I could give him a little medicine. (Giving medicine to a baby is TOUGH. I've barely gotten any of his steroid into him - thankfully it's just once a day - but I have to give him his decongestant and Tylenol every 4 hours.)

We're obviously laying low and having a pajama day today (and probably the remainder of the weekend!). After I gave him breakfast I gave him a bath to clean him up after last night's sickness. He splashed a little but wasn't very interested in being in there.

Today's goal: Liquids, liquids, liquids! Fortunately, I only have to make sure he's eaten with his steroid. I'm not sure I'll get him to eat good every four hours! Pray for us!!!

1 comment:

Amy said...

Poor James! Libbi had croup a couple of weeks ago and thankfully it left almost as quickly as it came! As soon as she had a day or two of steroids in her, she was a different child! (besides the fact that they steroids made her kind of crazy....) :)
It scared me, because she sounded SO bad, but the dr. assured me that it sounded MUCH worse than what it was. We did a lot of juice boxes (which we normally don't do) b/c that's all she would drink. She also had a couple of smoothies and milkshakes - which I figured was enough to put something on her stomach so the meds wouldn't make her sick.
Hope James is feeling better soon! Try to get some rest when you can and hopefully he'll be as good as new after the weekend!!