Archive for the “Illness” Category
Double Ear Infection
Ugh. When will I ever learn? Note to self: next time you think your daughter has been possessed by evil spirits, try taking her to the doctor. I can’t believe I didn’t make the connection, when we just went down this road in February.
Poor Natalie. I took her to the doctor last Friday after she’d shown clear signs of an ear infection. She’d had a cold around Memorial Day, and then Chris got a sinus infection, so it made sense that an ear infection would follow. We saw Dr. Stephen, who had to clean out a ton of ear wax in order to see the infection. She was extremely gentle and Natalie got through the experience without shedding a singe tear. What a difference from the last time a doctor had to clean her ears. Dr. Stephen prescribed Augmentin and sent us on our way. And just like with Natalie’s last ear infection in February, I got sucked into a false sense of security. Silly me for thinking that antibiotics actually work.
When Natalie was still cranky and not eating by day 4 on the antibiotics, I should have realized that something was wrong. But like last time, I attributed her mood to her age and thought she was just going through a bad phase. If you read my two posts (one from February and one last week) side-by side, it’s amazing how similar they are—same issues were happening with Natalie. I even used some of the same phrasing.
After being cranky all week, last night Natalie woke up 30 minutes after she went to bed, screaming and tugging at her ear. So, I took her back to the doctor this morning. After clearing away yet more wax, the doctor confirmed that not only was last week’s infected ear not any better, but her other ear is now infected as well. She prescribed a different antibiotic, one which I really hope will work. But if Natalie’s not better soon, I’ll take her back without hesitation. Anyone else have a sense of déjà vu? This post is almost exactly like this one that I wrote a few months ago. Hopefully this time I’ve learned my lesson and Natalie will never have to go through this again. I feel so guilty that yet again I thought Natalie was acting out when she was really just in pain.
On a lighter note, Natalie has picked the same sticker from the doctor’s office two weeks in a row. I gave her choices of stickers with different animals on them, which she rejected. Both times she rifled through the sticker basket until she found a sticker with a picture of Skinner from Ratatouille on it:
I wonder why she likes this image?!?
I promise I’ll post some pictures of Natalie soon!
The end of our illness-free streak…
Our longest (post-daycare) illness-free streak ended last Thursday. Natalie, who hadn’t been sick since the beginning of April when she had croup, had a mysterious fever with no other symptoms for 4 days. We had a trip to the Poconos planned for Memorial Day weekend, so I took Natalie to the doctor Friday morning before we left. We saw Dr. Pierson, who must have been a founding member of the large practice. Natalie was petrified of his white hair and hairy ears and became hysterical before he even got near her. No ear infection, no strep throat, so Doc declared the fever to be viral. Despite the temperature, she was in a good mood for the holiday weekend (more about that in the next post).
Unfortunately, when we got home the fever turned into coughing, sneezing, extreme clinginess, and hardcore crankiness. She had little appetite and trouble sleeping. Today she’s in a better mood and eating a little, but still having explosive-snot sneezes that make her cry. Right now I’m the only healthy one in family—Chris caught the bug and is home sick with fever, aches, and nausea. Luckily, Natalie’s napping now, so I finally have time to blog! I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I can stay healthy…
Updates…
Lindsay, ask and you shall receive…I’ve been meaning to do a daycare update, and I’ll throw in a croup update as well!
Daycare
Natalie has been slowly and steadily adjusting to daycare. Yesterday was the first day she didn’t cry during the drop-off, which Chris and I were absolutely thrilled about. Even though it was extremely difficult to leave her each day as she cried, we knew from frequent check-ins with her teachers that the drop-off wasn’t a good indicator of how Natalie’s overall day was. Gaging from the pick-ups, I could tell that she’s been getting more and more comfortable. For the first few weeks, when I came to pick her up, she would get hysterical if I put her down—even just to put her coat on. Then she would tolerate holding my hand as we walked to her cubby to get her stuff. And in the last couple of weeks, she continues to play as I gather her things.
A few weeks ago, her teachers reported that she was starting to play with the other kids, rather than hang out with the adults all the time. She takes a nap every time she’s there without any problems. Some days she eats better than others, but since she does that at home too, I don’t think it’s indicative of any daycare adjustment problems. I think Grandma’s brilliant idea to have Natalie look at pictures of her school when she’s not there has helped with the adjustment a lot. The other day she was looking at the pictures and giving kisses to all her teachers. Natalie is still not talking much (if at all) at school, which make me sad since she’s speaking so well (she’s learning new words at a rate of about 1 – 3 per day) at home. But I suspect that she will start talking at school in the next couple of weeks.
Croup
As Natalie’s doctor predicted, the croup lasted about 5 days. Thank goodness for me, she’s sleeping better on her own again. Unfortunately, she still has a cough sometimes at night. Last night, in fact, she woke up a couple of hours after she went to sleep and was coughing and gagging on phlegm for a while before she could go back to sleep. Holding her upright seemed to help, so I was rocking her sitting up in the glider, but she (like most people) wants to sleep laying down. Every time she leaned back, even to a 45-degree angle, she started coughing again. Then she’d sit up and start crying, we suspect, because she was so tired and just wanted to go back to sleep. Then Chris remembered that she was coughing a lot in the car on the way home from daycare. The car was really hot, and she stopped coughing when he rolled down the windows. We opened the window in Natalie’s room and sure enough, as soon as the temperature went down a few degrees, the coughing stopped.
She went back to sleep and slept without coughing in her own bed until about 4 am, when the whole thing started again. I brought her into our bed, where she coughed and gagged in her sleep for about an hour until she spit-up all over my arm. Then she fell into a really peaceful sleep and didn’t cough again. The doctor warned us that the cough may hang on for a few weeks, but maybe she also has allergies? If it doesn’t clear up completely soon, I guess we’ll take her back to the doctors.
Here’s a couple of pictures to balance out all the tedious words in this post!
Natalie coloring:
She wrote those letters herself! Just kidding!!
Wearing her too-big-for-her rain boots and rifling around in the cupboards:
