Oh, peace and quiet, you are fleeting things.
The euphoria of my baby’s first birthday party last weekend was short-lived. The Monday after the party, I found my son with a smattering of green crust glued to his nose.
Off to the doctor he went, where he was diagnosed with his fourth ear infection in five months. He was prescribed with an antibiotic and was resting comfortably for the remainder of the day in grandpa’s care.
But that solace also would be temporary. On Thursday, Peanut had his one-year checkup and, to my chagrin, I quickly learned that he needed to get five pokes at this visit — two vaccinations in each thigh and a quick poke in a big toe for a lead blood test.
Needless to say, he was less than thrilled upon leaving the doctor’s office and that night and the following day were agonizing for me as he struggled to walk from the pain in his legs.
But the worst was yet to come.
On Saturday, Peanut was whiny and temperamental. He slept more than two hours for his nap, where normally he would sleep 45 minutes. His breathing became labored and shallow and when I started to detect a wheezing noise, my mommy senses were tingling. After a call to the after-hours nurse hotline, we were directed to the emergency room.
There, we learned that our baby tested positive for RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, the most common germ that causes lung and airway infections in infants and young children. This “super cold” is very common in daycare centers and, although it usually presents in mild cold-like symptoms, it can be more serious in vulnerable population like infants and toddlers.
I thought of my husband and I as being over-precautious, but I soon realized the seriousness of this virus in a person so young: the doctor took a chest X-ray to check for pneumonia and took nasal swabs to test for RSV and pneumonia. Once the diagnosis was confirmed, he had to undergo three seven-minute breathing treatments and take an oral steroid before the doctor felt comfortable enough with his breathing that we could take him home.
Now he has an inhaler administered up to every four hours and still is on an antibiotic for the existing ear infection. Couple that with the bruises on his legs from his injections and I have a poor, little one who has been through the wringer this week.
I wish I could take the pain away for him and fight this virus, which could linger up to six weeks in his tiny body. But the mother’s curse is that she can’t take these hurts away for her child. It is a lesson I will have to learn over and over — and one I don’t think I’ll ever be able to accept.
— Sarah Leach is assistant managing editor at The Holland Sentinel. Contact her at (616) 638-5962 or sarah.leach@hollandsentinel.com.
The euphoria of my baby’s first birthday party last weekend was short-lived. The Monday after the party, I found my son with a smattering of green crust glued to his nose.
Off to the doctor he went, where he was diagnosed with his fourth ear infection in five months. He was prescribed with an antibiotic and was resting comfortably for the remainder of the day in grandpa’s care.
But that solace also would be temporary. On Thursday, Peanut had his one-year checkup and, to my chagrin, I quickly learned that he needed to get five pokes at this visit — two vaccinations in each thigh and a quick poke in a big toe for a lead blood test.
Needless to say, he was less than thrilled upon leaving the doctor’s office and that night and the following day were agonizing for me as he struggled to walk from the pain in his legs.
But the worst was yet to come.
On Saturday, Peanut was whiny and temperamental. He slept more than two hours for his nap, where normally he would sleep 45 minutes. His breathing became labored and shallow and when I started to detect a wheezing noise, my mommy senses were tingling. After a call to the after-hours nurse hotline, we were directed to the emergency room.
There, we learned that our baby tested positive for RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, the most common germ that causes lung and airway infections in infants and young children. This “super cold” is very common in daycare centers and, although it usually presents in mild cold-like symptoms, it can be more serious in vulnerable population like infants and toddlers.
I thought of my husband and I as being over-precautious, but I soon realized the seriousness of this virus in a person so young: the doctor took a chest X-ray to check for pneumonia and took nasal swabs to test for RSV and pneumonia. Once the diagnosis was confirmed, he had to undergo three seven-minute breathing treatments and take an oral steroid before the doctor felt comfortable enough with his breathing that we could take him home.
Now he has an inhaler administered up to every four hours and still is on an antibiotic for the existing ear infection. Couple that with the bruises on his legs from his injections and I have a poor, little one who has been through the wringer this week.
I wish I could take the pain away for him and fight this virus, which could linger up to six weeks in his tiny body. But the mother’s curse is that she can’t take these hurts away for her child. It is a lesson I will have to learn over and over — and one I don’t think I’ll ever be able to accept.
— Sarah Leach is assistant managing editor at The Holland Sentinel. Contact her at (616) 638-5962 or sarah.leach@hollandsentinel.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment