The Great Ear Infection of 2012

Ok, maybe the title is a bit dramatic but seeing as this is our first bout of sickness EVER it was kind of a big deal.


Let's go back about 3 weeks. I decided to stay home all day one day because my sweet Anderson was a tad fussy. He really is hardly ever fussy (yes, I know how blessed I am to have such a good baby). He also kept putting his hand on his right ear. Hmmmm...


I was suspicious of an ear infection but had read that baby's that young don't have good motor control (if any) and so that wasn't necessarily a sign. So I just watched him all day, took his temp and just held him a lot. That night it took him TWO HOURS to go to sleep! This boy usually takes 15 minutes to fall asleep, if that!


The next morning the fussiness continued but not quite to the level it had been the day before. I called my mom & talked to her about. I called my friend, Lyndsey, and talked to her about it. I call my hubby and talked to him about it. They all said it wouldn't hurt to just call the doctor...


But here's the thing, I was terrified of being wrong. Of them scoffing at me for calling, of them mocking me after they hung up and laughing about "that silly new mom"...In fact, I was going to do a whole post on the conflicting emotions running rampant through my brain that morning when I read my favorite blogger's newest post. *sigh*


Rachel nailed it on the head. Her post on The Ailing Angst was every.single.thing I felt & was going to write about so I didn't write it. I just enjoyed the fact that I was not alone.


Anyways, I called the Doctor's office. Of course the nurse was so sweet but she did think I should come on in & scheduled us an appointment for that afternoon. 


Dread.


So, to the Doctor's office we go. We waited in the germ-crusted-pitri-dish that is a pediatrician's waiting room for 45 minutes. I was cursing myself for exposing my baby to RSV, bronchitis, viruses of all types & other nastiness for a potential ear infection. 


We were called back & put in a room where we waited about 10 more minutes until the Dr. (who was very sweet) came in, looked in his ears & told me, "they look perfect".


I think she could literally see the embarrassment dripping from my face. She reassured me there was "a steep learning curve with this mommy stuff & there was absolutely no way to tell until you look in there." Her kind words of reassurance only made me more embarrassed. I left with a hot face & now I was really cursing myself...


Fast forward to last Wednesday.


I was nursing Anderson when I noticed something disgusting that should not be allowed on sweet, precious babies. Yellow ear wax. GAG!


My mind immediately freaked out with bells & whistles & alarms & flare guns going off in my head. Everything was screaming, "EAR INFECTION! MAYDAY! EAR INFECTION!" 


NO. Just STOP. You've already exposed him once for no reason at all. He's fine. 


But I did call and in an overly-light-hearted-casual voice I told the nurse that my sweet 11 week old baby had ear wax. She said as long as he was acting normal it was probably ok.


"Oh, of course! I just wanted to double check," I replied still flippantly-light-hearted (but still freaking out in my head).


Two days later, Friday, my little boo was a bit fussy but I just thought it was because we were out & about. When my hubby got home from work our sweet boy was all smiles for his daddy & content to just be held by one of us. That is love. Your little baby just needing you.


We went to bed as usual and all drifted off peacefully...until TWO HOURS later...


Anderson was fussing. I nursed him and kept him in the bed with me and we both went back to sleep....until TWO HOURS later...Once again I tried nursing him and in the fog of whatever-sinful-hour-it-happened-to-be I thought he must be having some kind of a growth spurt.


So, as you can concur we were up every TWO HOURS! All night...ask me how good of a mood all 3 of us were in about 7:30 Saturday morning...GRRRRRRR!!


He was so, so fussy. He was even fussy when I held him. I kept saying to my hubby, "I think he might have a fever. I'm going to take his temperature."


Hubby: "No, he's fine, he's just a little fussy."


Repeat that dialogue about 3 times throughout a 3 hour time span.


Finally at 10:00 the fussiness was non-stop & even when I attempted to nurse him he fussed. Something was DEFINITELY up.


I changed his diaper and took his temp. 100.5. I KNEW IT!


I gave him some Tylenol & called my mom to see if I should wait or if I should go ahead & call the Doctor. As we were talking the baby throws up. No, it wasn't "just more spit-up than usual". This was throw-up. I freaked.


I called the Doctor & thankfully we got an appointment for 30 minutes later. We rushed our sweet, little precious down there & on the way I kindly  informed my husband that I was right, the baby did have a fever and I should have taken his temp earlier.


My husband then informed me that I'm about to be 25 and I could have taken it any time I wanted to.


I told him I was trying to listen to him.


He asked why in the world I decided to do that now...


Good question.


We were stressed. And exhausted.


We saw the Doctor & guess what, EAR INFECTION!!!


We went home with a 'script and numbing drops. I promptly went about doctoring my baby. I laid my poor sickling on my lap & attempted to squirt that bright pink medicine in his mouth when he twisted his face all up & promptly spit the pink slime in my face followed by some serious gagging. Rookie mom mistake.


Before that gagging could produce throw up I quickly moved to the changing table. 


Thankfully, Anderson is feeling MUCH better and we have caught up on our sleep. Although our weekend wasn't so great, we did have an exciting Monday! We got to meet some of the Duggars!!


I LOVE the Duggars! I've read both their books & watch their show every Tuesday on TLC!


Here we are with Jill (she is so sweet & so well-spoken) (Anderson thinks she's pretty cool too):

And here we are with Jim Bob (who was very gracious with his time). And no, he's not running for President even though this picture totally looks like it with that sign, haha! (They're campaigning for Santorum)