5 months ... It Ain't for Sissies!

Well, Hayden is 5 1/2 months old, and it's been hell on the whole Meador family. I don't have a lot of pics to upload, b/c we've had a rough go of it lately. I picked this one picture b/c I thought you could kind of see his 2 new bottom teeth. Not so much though.

5 months started out with feeling a little bump on Hayden's gum. A tooth! I was so excited -- what a big boy. The excitement soon turned to being absolutely beat down. That little bump caused Hayden so much anguish! He would run a low grade temperature at night, and his nose started running. I attributed all these symptoms to the dreaded tooth, and tried to power through. Then, at the end of that same week, Hayden started to have some ... goo (yuck) leak out of his little eyes. I, being the medical professional that I am (whatever) diagnosed this as a clogged tear duct. He had this problem when we was a couple of weeks old. The doctor told me to not worry about it. So I didn't. Besides, I was too obsessed with the stinking tooth to care. So I packed him up to daycare. Nonchalantly, I told his teacher, Miss D, that his eye was goopy, but no worries -- let's talk about this tooth (I told you I was proud of it). Well, Miss D reacted like I told her Hayden was bleeding from his eyes and ears. You would think I just announced he had the Ebola virus. She told me, generously, that Hayden could stay for now, but I better call our doctor. Ugh. So, I called the doctor, who called in some drops. Of course, day care called a couple of hours later and Hayden had to be picked up b/c of the leaky eye. Hayden LOVED the drops (right) and the eye cleared right up.

No problem right? WRONG. Mom and Dad started feeling bad on Saturday. Bad turned in to straight up sick on Sunday. Hayden's eye was clear, but he was coughing. Mom was so worried about her illness and Dad's illness and that TOOTH that I ignored the cough. Mom and Dad's illness culminated in fevers and Zpacks. We were better by Thursday. On Wednesday two teeth were visible in Hayden's mouth. I patted myself on the back for diagnosing all of Hayden's problems (teething, DUH) and by healing my sick family (well the antibiotics healed us). My mom had already made the trip to help us in the event that Hayden caught whatever we had. I was even cocky enough to tell Grammy, "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll get to go home on Sunday." Ha. Ha. Ha.

FALSE. Friday afternoon Allyson (now known as Allyson Blow, M.D.) and I were comparing Mommy notes and she mentioned an ear infection. Oh, no, I assured her. Hayden isn't pulling at his ear, he isn't running a temp, he's FINE. No ear infections here. No sooner were the words out of my mouth that I picked up my child and said, "hmmm, he feels warm." Warm = 101.6. Dammit. Seriously. The fever didn't let up on Friday night, or at all on Saturday. The congestion continued. By Sunday, Hayden's fever was as high was 102.8 and he was crying non-stop. The doctor's answering service directed us to Cook's Children's Urgent Care (because, of course all these symptoms developed at 6 pm on Sunday night). Hayden was quickly diagnosed with an ear infection and given antibiotics and ear drops. Poor little guy. Being the sleep champion he is, he was conked out by 9:30 and had to be woken up at 7:30 this morning. There's been a marked improvement now that we have 24 hours of antibiotics in our system. He was still very fussy at bed time tonight, mainly from the lingering congestion, I think (I'm done trying to diagnose these issues myself, it's gotten me into nothing but trouble). The poor little guy just can't breathe through his nose! The good news is he was fever free all day. Needless to say, Grammy didn't leave on Sunday and she's still here (thank God!).

So what have I learned?

• Never, ever doubt Dr. Blow
• I love our daycare very much and there isn't anything I would change about it, but it is a virtual breeding ground for germs. Plus, the petri dishes he goes to school with are the problems, not the facility. I'm obviously kidding, they are darling little children, not petri dishes.
• Ear infections seriously suck. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.
• If a 5 month old could blow his nose, a lot of my problems would be solved.
• Teething is absolutely NOTHING to be excited about. I was so pumped to see those little white nubs make their appearance. Right now I'm kind of hoping he doesn't get anymore (again, I'm kidding....kind of).

Hopefully I'll have a happier child in the coming days and I'll have more pics to share. I hope Hayden's little friends don't abandon him in the wake of his recent illnesses. He promises he'll be able to play when he's no longer contagious!!