Saturday, January 10, 2009

A First, But One I Would Have Liked to Skip


First of all, I sure didn't mean for there to be such a lag between post #300 and #301. Secondly, I intended my first post of the new year to be positive and uplifting. That will have to wait.

Andrew is pretty sick right now.

He has been teething, as his bottom two teeth have finally poked through. He has handled it really well, making no fuss whatsoever, just being especially drooly. Thursday night while we were at the hockey game he coughed a few times, but it seemed like he was just coughing on all of his drool so we weren't overly concerned. Yesterday morning Andrew seemed like maybe he might be a little congested, but he was still happy and hungry so I didn't think anything about it.

Yesterday afternoon I had duty outside the school at parent pick up and I was able to get a peek at Andrew when his babysitter drove through to pick up a kid. He looked sleepy in the car seat, but managed a small smile. A couple of hours later when I picked him up he seemed sleepy, but also seemed pretty content. A little bit after arriving home I called the babysitter to confirm the time of his last feeding, and because he had coughed again, I asked if he had been doing it throughout the day. She said no. I fed Andrew, but he wasn't nearly as enthusiastic as he normally is and didn't finish the bottle. He went to sleep in the pack-n-play in the family room. About an hour later he woke up really whining and complaining. B checked on him and noticed he was hot. We checked and he had a fever of 101.5 and B said we were leaving to go to the pediatric urgent care. I was really mellow about the whole thing and thought we should make a phone call first to see if that was really necessary. B wanted to race out the door though because Andrew's breathing seemed a little funny. He was very whiny and inconsolable and seemed to be having trouble moving air out. We gave him a little Tylenol and hit the road.

By the time we got to the pediatric urgent care Andrew was a new baby. He was smiling, cooing, and blowing bubbles. When they checked his temperature, which was only 1/2 hour after we left the house, it was 99.5. As soon as the doctor listened to his chest and heard the wheezing he diagnosed bronchialitis and set about getting him on a nebulizer and searching for the cause. Fortunately, Andrew doesn't have RSV. However, the blood test to see whether he is fighting a bacterial or viral infection was inconclusive as his white blood count was borderline. Andrew's chest x-ray also didn't look too bad, so we were sent home with a nebulizer, antibiotics and the breathing medication.
So now we console an unhappy baby, make him miserable with breathing treatments, and wait for him to feel better. I tell you though, I don't think anyone is more traumatized by the whole situation than B. For once he was the panicky one and I was too relaxed about everything.

10 comments:

  1. Anonymous12:50 PM

    Poor little guy :(
    I hope he feels better soon

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  2. Oh being a parent......

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  3. Oh little man! So sorry to have had this first for you guys. You handled it with such grace though...

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  4. Anonymous12:51 PM

    For the record: I did not panic. I simply insisted there was no reason to make a phone call that would eventually have us in the urgent care anyway.

    B

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  5. Anonymous4:31 PM

    record noted!

    I hope Andrew is doing well now! You adopted him right before we adopted our little girl! I remember reading your blog and being a tiny bit jealous that you'd already been matched. Then weeks later we were too!

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  6. Anonymous4:47 PM

    That sounds like Josh when he was a baby. We went through the same thing. We had the machine and the breathing treatments. Quite a lifesaver sometimes to ease his discomfort. He no longer needs the nebulizer and only occasionally needs an inhaler when he exercises. So hopefully it will be the same for Andrew. Best wishes for the baby and his parents (sometimes it is harder on you than him). Take care, remember to try the vicks on his feet.

    Laurie

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  7. That doesn't sound like fun, but I hope he'll be better soon.

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  8. oh what a poor lil guy. Maybe he could send my lil one coping skills w/ teething.


    thinking of you and lil man

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  9. Oh I hope Andrew gets better really soon!!!

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  10. Poor little guy! I hope he is doing better soon.

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