This week has been something hectic in our household! After fighting the respiratory infections of A cold by any other name, I sprayed everything down with Lysol. I changed sheets. I sanitized everything. I thought I had a Clorox and Lysol approved home, then Monday morning struck. I woke up and noticed that Honeybee looked a little flushed. It didn’t look like an eczema flare and I noticed that Honeybee wasn’t her bright and chipper self. I took her downstairs, gave her the morning bath,and once we returned to the nursery, I decided to play my hunch. I took a rectal temperature and found it read 101. Oh no!!! My poor Honeybee! Her only other symptom was a nasal discharge, but I called the pediatrician’s office anyway.
The charge nurse told me to give her the proper fever reducing medication, monitor her fluid intake and outake, make sure she stayed hydrated, and if the fever wasn’t gone completely (not recurring) by Wednesday to bring Honeybee in. So, I called the daycare and let them know we wouldn’t be in. I called worked and made arrangements to telecommute (so thankful for a job and boss who is understanding). I made sure Honeybee had he breakfast, which thankfully she ate with gusto, and laid her down after. She slept for 5 hours. I woke her to check her fever, change her diaper, and make sure she was okay. Aside from the every present nasty nose, she seemed fine. I gave her a good sized lunch and she immediately went back to sleep. Again, she slept for 5 hours. I was certain she would throw off her bed time schedule. She didn’t. She slept all night long. We repeated this action for the next day with no fever and on Wednesday, she was fine. So, she went to the daycare. The only complaint they had was the runny nose, but even it had turned clear. No fever. No crankiness. Smiling and happy. On Wednesday night, my mother in law came over to watch Honeybee on Thursday and Friday as is our current custom.
While I was at work on Thursday, I received a call from her. She informed me that Honeybee had a cough that sounded very bad and she thought she needed to go to the doctor. In the background I heard Honeybee and agreed the cough sounded awful. I contacted the doctor only to find no opening until the next morning. I agreed to take it and, after going home to Honeybee was sad to see how uncomfortable she was.
As a matter of fact, she didn’t sleep very well at all that evening. You could tell she was very, very tired, but she couldn’t sleep because the cough was so bad. The all natural cough syrup we were using wasn’t working and a next shocking symptom was the vomiting. She kept throwing up everything she was eating on account of the cough. So not only was the cold miserable, but she was hungry as well. It was an awful night for her.
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| Photo credit: Dreisner.com |
The next morning, we all but rushed out the house into the doctor’s office. The first thing the nurse did when we arrived was check Honeybee’s fever. The temporal reading showed 100. My poor Honey
bee! The nurse wanted to confirm that was actually her temp and next took a rectal temperature. It was 101.2! The nurse immediately took the other vitals from our daughter and then performed nasal swabs for flu and RSV. Ten minutes later, our daughter had a positive test for RSV. Her ear infections still remained. The medicine had not repaired them.
My heart dropped. My poor, poor baby. I know enough about RSV to know that it is a nasty virus and highly contagious. I also know that it can be particularly nasty for preemies like our Honeybee. Deeper still was the knowledge that Honeybee very well could have caught her virus from the evil nastiness from me while I was fighting my cold. The ear infections explained why it was so hard for her to lie down in addition to the cough. The fluid in her ears must have been so painful.
I was SO sorry for her and immediately wished I could take it from her. The doctor came in and did an additional examination. Afterwards, Honeybee received a breathing treatment in the office and a nebulizer came home with us. I was teary eyed as I watched her receive the treatment, but glad to see all the mucus finally starting to run out ( and there was tons of it). The coughing stopped and Honeybee’s breathing sounded a lot better. The pictures she struck while connected to that machine reminded me of her brother when he was fighting breathing problems as an infant. I hated seeing it again.
When we got Honeybee home, she slept for a very long time. Tonight, she is resting after fighting sleep for several hours. She’s been much better today–full of smiles and spunk. She has had two breathing treatments. She’s still taking the meds for her ear infection and had to take Motrin earlier for her fever that has returned. Hopefully, she will feel much better in the morning, but I’ll definitely be giving her extra love until she does.
-WinterMommy
