I'm kidding... I'm such a kidder.
Instead, this week has consisted of way too many doctors visits but I've learned a lot so I must pass along my newfound information:
Today was supposed to be Jacks' 4 month appointment, but remember that cold that Max shared with him? Well he woke up Tuesday- day 14 of the cold- and was worse. Super green boogers, major stuffiness, and gooey eyes, but otherwise a very happy baby man and nothing to complain about really. Well, except that he was eating AROUND the clock all of a sudden-- like every 2-3 hours through the night and eating 6oz bottles when I was at work instead of 4-5 ounces. So naturally I was thinking it was a growth spurt, but I decided to email my 2 sources of mom wisdom "just in case".
Source #1 is my mom- and she is wise mainly because she raised me so perfectly :) Ok, I kid, but I just trust her- she raised 3 of us without any major health debacles, she loves my kids more than I knew was possible, and she's in to taking the healthy route. Her response was to check in with the doctor just in case.
Source #2 is Nurse Laura Hunter from my church who is also co-founder of Moms on Call and the person with the most awesome swaddle that leads to very happy babies. She also has 5 kids, and is a nurse, and therefore knows tons and tons. And she's just wonderful to talk to, shoots straight, and is kind. She responded with 3 nuggets that all moms should know:
Call the doc/ get it check out if:
- cold symptoms last more than 7-10 days
- gets worse for 3 consecutive days
- or if it's just out of sorts for more than 3 days
So I spoke with J's doctor who had us come in and went ahead and moved his 4 month appointment to the same time, so we could do an all in one-- she took a look at him and he was happy and cute as a button- she even said this out loud :) Then she checked out his left ear, clear and all was good. Then she looked at his right ear- had to clean her little tool twice before she could even see what she needed to see and then she said "wow, he has quite the ear infection".
Insert of "worst mom in the world" feeling here-- not only did my kid have an ear infection and I had NO idea because he was so sweet and happy but he also had dirty ears-- I bathe my children and clean their ears at least 6 nights a week, I swear!
Come to find out, gooey eyes is a sign of an ear infection, which is why they wanted to see us. Also, if a cold is a cold (which is was) and then gets worse again, then it's usually something more, because once you beat a cold, you should be on the mend-- so that was a sign that fluids had settled in there. And then lastly, remember his growth spurt? Not so much-- instead it was very relieving for him to suck/ eat, unlike Max who when he had an ear infection refused to eat-- it could go either way- so if eating is "off" or different then this could be a sign/ symptom as well.
So Jack is on his first round of antibiotics and we're hoping to be mending although nights are still kind of rough- not screaming in pain, but he can't get settled or stay asleep-- he tosses his head back and forth, and the usually succumbs to being awake until I feed him, which opens his ears back up, lets him sleep for about 30 minutes, and then it starts again. This mommy is tired, but relieved to know what's going on. (Side note: have you noticed that once you take your baby to the doc and get them diagnosed that is feels like they should instantly be better since you know what the problem is-- but it doesn't work that way. Instead, you actually have to wait for the medicine to kick in and do it's thing- imagine that.)
Then on Wednesday the whole family traveled to the pediatrician office again for flu shots- we've never done flu shots before and I'm not a fan of vaccines but our J was premature, and I'm not even going to entertain the thought of him getting the flu, especially after Max and I suffered for many weeks last year while I was pregnant and Chad was out of town. I'm not even going to link to those blogs posts from last winter because I want to forget that even happened. But I'll just say that the medicine that they gave my very sick, very feverish 18 month old was known to cause hallucination.
Well, I learned some things about flu shots too- Gabe was naturally DREADING getting a shot, but I wasn't going to let him bring germs home from his school to our babies and his mom is pregnant and can't risk getting the germs so it was a must. But when we got to the doctor, they mentioned that him and Max were old enough and healthy enough for the mist instead-- they weren't pregnant (ha!), nursing (haha!), allergic to eggs, or going to be around anyone with a compromised immune system (like someone having chemo) for the next 5-10 days. I pulled up the CDC info on my phone, got the scoop, and decided that was the way to go for them- same results, but pain free. But unfortunately, I was not as lucky- due to nursing, I had to have the shot. But I didn't even feel it when it happened, but today is another story....
Here is the info on the flu-shots that I read beforehand-- obviously everyone has to decide for themselves and for their family:
And of course my big question was just if one was better than the other and this led me to believe that the mist which was pain free for the boys was just as good and potentially better! Great news: http://pediatrics.about.com/od/flushots/a/808_mistorshot.htm
Now because none of us have had this before, we actually have to get a second dose in the next 1-2 months, but that's only for this year. And honestly, like I mentioned I'm not super into vaccines and Chad is really against them, so we probably won't do it every year- just years with compromised immune systems-- like pregnancy, a premature baby, or some other unforeseen health problem among our people.
And lastly, for the 3rd doctor appointment this week, I went this morning to my Ob to make sure we don't get anymore Bowman babies quite yet, and realized that early morning appointments are THE PITS if you've been up all night with your baby and if you have to drive in 80 minutes of traffic for a 7 minute appointment. But luckily, I did get to see my most favorite mid-wife one last time before she gets hitched... and ideally one last time for about 18 months, so we can get some sleep before we ask God to bless us once again with another precious little life.
That is all for my nuggets of wisdom, and I hope to not visit another doctor for quite some time, Lord willing, and I hope I don't have any information like this that I can share with you for a while as well!
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