Leah’s Ears

Just before Thanksgiving, we moved Leah from the crib to a twin bed. She’d been waking in the night and one of us would end up rocking her for an hour (or more). It’s hard to sleep in a rocking chair. So, we decided to move her to the twin ….. my thinking was she’d either sleep a little better…or, if she didn’t, I could at least just climb into bed next to her & doze off. The transition to the twin went well initially. In fact, she actually slept better for a few nights and I started to think that she was just cramped in the crib.

Around this time, she caught a cold. But, she still slept alright. Until the week after Thanksgiving. She started sleeping poorly and one night, when she just wouldn’t fall back to sleep and was super fussy, I gave her Motrin. She crashed within 15 minutes. Obviously something hurt and even though she had no fever, I took her to see Dr. Jill the next day (December 3rd). She had a double ear infection. Jill said “wow….she’s not complaining?” Nope. Other than the sleep issues, she was fine. She was happy during the daytime hours. Her ears drums were “bulging”. No wonder her sleep had gotten so terrible.

She was on an antibiotic for a couple of days, then developed a fever and a rash (which was only there for an hour or so). I took her back to the doctor that Saturday and they changed her antibiotic.

Then, the day after Christmas she developed a fever again. We were leaving the next day for Atlanta, so I didn’t want to take any chances. I took her to the After Hours Pediatric place. Her ears weren’t terrible, but there was still fluid and it was cloudy. It’s supposed to be clear. So, back on an antibiotic.

After the Atlanta trip, I took her in for a recheck to make sure she was clear. She still had fluid, but no infection. That lasted a week. We went back exactly 1 week later and got antibiotics again. By this point, I was sure we’d end up going to see an ENT and ending up with tubes.

(All this time, her sleep was awful.)

Leah kept running a low grade fever, even on the antibiotic. And, I was heading out of town on a business trip…unsure if Butch would have the intuition to know if she needed to go back. Dr. Jill changed her antibiotic again for us.

When I got home from my trip, Leah still had a low grade fever!!! (The most it ever hit during most of this time was 100.5 or so…and that was rare. Usually it was below 100.) I took her back to the doctors and she was given an “all clear”. Huh. No fluid. Probably a virus.

On the way home from the doctor’s, she threw up. I hate the smell of that. I think it might be the worst part of parenting. (Well, it’s either vomit or the lack of sleep.) Thankfully, she never threw up again during that illness!

She had until the end of February to totally clear up the ears & have them stay clear......or it was off to see an ENT. Luckily, her ears have been fine. Too bad her sleep hasn't improved!