WWB - wimpy white boy

Well - I am sure you all were thinking that things must be going well because Carrie hasn't posted in a while.... WRONG-O! I believe I told you that Pacey had a double ear infection a couple of weeks ago??? if not, she did... after her fifths disease rash showed up so did some cold symptoms (on Friday the 9th) by Monday morning she was complaining that both ears were hurting so off to the doctor we go... double ear infection, antibiotics... 2 days later on Wednesday, Elliott started with some congestion, we foolishly assumed that he had just caught Pacey's cold. Thursday morning I called the doctor's office and spoke to the nurse... told her what had been going on and that I needed a refresher course in how to manage a sick infant... she gave me some pointers and we both agreed that he did not need to be seen at that point. However, if his symptoms worsened or his cough changed we would need to bring him in... fast forward to Saturday morning... bad cough and hard time sleeping, so we took him to Nighttime Pediatrics, they did a test (swabbed his nose) and reported back that it was RSV... I knew that RSV could be serious but wasn't exactly sure of what it was... the doc explained that in children over a year old, RSV looks like a bad cold but in infants, it could quickly progress to pneumonia or bronchitis... FANTASTIC!!!!! He also said that I could look it up online but not to google it because I would be scared by the results... he suggested that I go to WebMD so I did. See for yourself... http://children.webmd.com/tc/respiratory-syncytial-virus-rsv-infection-topic-overview The doctor told us that since Elliott was on day 4 of symptoms and looked as good as he did, that he would likely be fine but to keep an eye on his breathing (GREAT!) and rush him to the ER if he turns blue (FANTASTIC!) ... so needless to say, I did not sleep much that night up every hour with the baby... OH I FORGOT TO MENTION - that Eric was zero help because his back went out and he was doped up on muscle relaxers... sigh...

Sunday I called our on call pediatrician because Elliott sounded a little wheezy, she said to follow up with our regular doctor on Monday - Duh! So, Monday we took Elliott in - by now, Eric is awake and off work for the MLK holiday. Dr. Ginsburg said that RSV is typically a 10 day virus and from here on out he should be getting better, if not come back... I asked her if he was having all of these issues because he was a boy because Pacey was born 2 weeks earlier than he was and never had any of his issues... I asked if girls were just stronger than boys... her response was that in the NICU the black baby girls are the strongest and the white boys are the weakest... and that the NICU nurses refer to the them as the wimpy white boys!

Well, he continued to be miserably sick for the rest of the week... occasional low grade fever, severe congestion, cough, projectile vomiting, etc... Friday I took him back because I did not want to go into the weekend without seeing our doctor... he certainly was on the mend but sounded so hoarse when he cried or "talked" but he checked out ok...

This weekend he definitely seems better - woke up happy the past 2 days - this has NEVER happened before, always wakes up crying... maybe the 5 month mark will be his turn around... lets hope so!