17 Weeks Old

This week has definitely been an eventful one. After our follow up last Friday, Max started to feel worse over the weekend and was coughing a lot. We took him to daycare on Monday, thinking that he wasn’t so bad, but then things seemed to get worse. So, on Tuesday morning, I called the nurse and talked through things with her. I told her that he was still not running any fever, but he was coughing A LOT and was having trouble keeping food down at times. I knew it hurt too, because every time he would cough, he would let out a little wimper of pain. She said to go ahead and bring him in, so I did. The doctor took one look at him breathing and said that he had RSV. They did a test to confirm and it came back positive.  They told me that we would have to do some breathing treatments at home and we did one in the office with the doctor and nurse. Wasn’t so bad. Max didn’t like it, but she said it was actually better if they screamed because that way they are taking in more medicine into their lungs. After that, she told me that she wanted me to take him to the emergency room right away to get a chest x-ray. She said that a lot of times in babies, RSV can develop into pneumonia and she wanted to make sure that things were clear in his lungs. She said that depending on what the x-ray showed, they may admit us to watch him overnight or even for a few days. At this point, I was freaking out a bit. I didn’t lose it until I had to call Eric. I told him what was going on and asked him to meet us at the ER. So, we all met there and ended up waiting for an hour to get back. I’ll tell you one thing, Max loves the ER and all of the attention he gets. He was flirting with all of the nurses and doctors...they probably were thinking, this baby isn’t sick! :-) Finally, we got back and they took us to the x-ray room. I was wondering how they were going to get my baby to lie still for the x-ray and soon, my question was answered. They put sand bags on him. It was really kind of cute and he did great! He got a little fussy at one point, but nothing major. He laid there and let the technicians to what they needed to do. The doctor came in after that and we looked at the x-ray together. She said there was just a little bit of fluffiness there, but looking at him and seeing his good spirits and then the fact that he was still nursing and able to stay latched on, she said were good signs. She didn’t feel that he needed to be admitted and just talked to us about what to watch for. We had a follow up the next day with our doctor and I could already tell that Max was feeling a little bit better. So, we have been doing pretty regular breathing treatments most of the week. He doesn’t like them too much, but usually will give in about half way through the treatment. I think it is more of the fact that we have to hold his arms down that he doesn’t like. And the mist doesn’t taste all that great. It’s and albuterol mist that he gets. Basically, what would be inside of an asthma inhaler and we just hold a mask over his face so that he can breathe it in. Maybe I’ll wait to post this and we can get a picture of a treatment. Like I said, I think he is getting used to them an tolerating them a little better. The medicine does tend to make him a little jittery afterwards, but if I nurse him right away, then he is fine. Eric was off Thursday and Friday and stayed home with him. He is a lot better today. He is hardly coughing at all and the congestion that it seems he’s had since birth is finally going away. The doctor also said to keep him upright as much as possible and that will help all of the drainage go down instead of him spitting it out. So, he has been sleeping in his swing, in our room. I was going to have tonight be the last night for that, but he woke up awhile ago and seemed uncomfortable, so I put him in his bed propped up a little. We’ll see how that goes, but so far, so good!
I think we are also starting to get the cradle cap under control. The olive oil suggestions worked great! I did a little more research and what we have been doing is greasing him up with olive oil about an hour before bath time. Then, with a soft toothbrush, brushing swirls on his head to get all of those flakes out and then we wash his hair. I hope just a few more times of this and we will have it to a manageable point.
So, things are on the up and up. We even went out to dinner with Ed and Theresa tonight and Max was great. While we were waiting for a table, he got a little fussy in his seat, so I took him out and he just sat on my lap the whole time. He was great! I’m hoping that this is the last of the winter yuckiness. I can’t wait for the weather to warm up and Max to start feeling better. So, that has been our week. We go for our 4 month checkup on Tuesday morning, so we’ll get to see how much he’s grown...I can tell you it’s been a lot! Until next week...

16 Weeks Old

16 weeks! We are one week away from being 4 months old! I can’t believe how fast the time is going by. He is getting so big and really starting to show his personality. He is grabbing at so many things and putting so many things into his mouth! He is also staying awake more during the day which is nice because we get to play with him after work and really spend some quality time together.
Last Friday was his last day on antibiotics and we really saw him start to feel better and the congestion cleared up. Then, Mommy got sick. I had a show on Friday night and nearly lost my voice, then i was coughing and hacking up gross stuff all weekend. I only worked 1/2 a day on Monday and on Tuesday woke up feeling really horrible so I stayed home that day as well. Wednesday I was starting to feel better, so I went to work and that night I woke up in the middle of the night with a horrible pain in my right ear. I went to the doctor and yes, I had a full blown ear infection. Thursday night was rough for us as well, Max wasn’t feeling well and he didn’t want to sleep in his bed. I’m not sure what was wrong, but we went to the doctor today for a follow up and he said his ears are cleared up, so that’s not what is hurting him. We are on the look out for any breathing problems he may have. RSV has been going around the daycare and Dr. Powers talked to me about what to look for and when to take him in. He seems to be sneezing a lot tonight and was a little fussy earlier, but after a bottle and some rocking with Mommy, he is sleeping soundly in his bed. Lets just pray that he will stay in his bed all night.
I am really tired and am falling asleep literally as I type this blog. I guess that means it’s time to go to bed! :) Talk to you all next week!

15 Weeks Old

I’m actually having to write this blog entry on Saturday. I had a show on Friday night and got home really late.
This week has been quite eventful for all of us. Last Friday Max started to act like he wasn’t feeling well and things just got worse throughout the weekend. Max was having a hard time keeping anything down when he ate. He was getting dehydrated and his face was really chapped. So , Monday morning I called and got him an appointment to see his doctor. After examining him, Dr. Powers said it looked like he had another ear infection...YUCK!!!!! So, along with this ear infection was a bad cough. I felt so bad for him every time he coughed. So the doctor prescribed a different antibiotic. We kept him home from daycare on Monday, he had a snow day on Tuesday and Eric stayed home with him on Wednesday. I wanted to keep him out of daycare as long as we could so that he could get better. On Thursday, he ended up going just for a few hours. He is much better now. He still has a hint of the cough left, but he is eating more, keeping it down and sleeping more soundly. On Friday, I had a show, but Max got to go to dinner with Daddy and Grandma and Grandpa Ellingson at Outback. Eric said that he was such a happy baby and had a good time. He went to sleep around 9:30 and slept until 5:00 this morning.
He continues to wake up a happy baby and loves to talk talk talk in the morning. He is starting to move around more and more. He is going to roll all of the way over any day now. I honestly think that he could do it now but he hates lying on his stomach so much that he will only go as far as his side. He is also starting to grab onto things. Of course, everything goes in his mouth...mainly his hands. He is such a cute baby and we love him so much!

14 Weeks Old

Ugh...this week has been dragging on and I am so glad that it is time for the weekend so we can all spend some time together. We are planning on having some friends over for chili and games and am sure it will be a great time. Max has been wonderful this week. We borrowed a jumperoo from our neighbor and he has really enjoyed playing in that. He loves when we hold him up like he’s standing, so now he gets to do that and our arms don’t get tired! He is so close to rolling all of the way over on his belly too. I think he can do it, he just won’t because he doesn’t like being on his belly. But, he will roll over onto his side quite a bit. When he is lying on his play mat, he rolls over to watch the tv. We moved things around last weekend and I think he likes the change. He is also starting to grab a lot more. I’m not thrilled with the hair grabbing, but at least he’s not pulling it...yet. He does like to grab his toys that hang down and he grabs his bottle every now and then. He is just doing so many things so fast. He really talks to us a lot too. Especially in the mornings. He wakes up so happy and just a little chatter box. It makes it so hard to take him to daycare. His teachers there even comment about how he loves to be talked to and that he just starts talking right back. I swear the other night I heard him say ‘mom’! It will be interesting to see what his first words are going to be. Eric thinks it will be ‘stupid cat’ because that is what I’m always saying. We are still struggling with the cradle cap, dry skin and the constant congestion. He’s been coughing quite a bit the last few nights and tonight he just didn’t seem like he felt very good at all. We’re going to see how he does the rest of the night and we might take him to the quick care clinic tomorrow morning. On the up side, he has been sleeping really well. He will usually go down around 9:30 and he has been sleeping until 5:00. If he does wake up, it is usually between 2 and 3, but there are long enough stretches that I don’t feel like I’m constantly up, so that is good. I just can’t believe how big he is getting. I absolutely can’t wait for the spring to come so we can get him outside more and go for walks....lord knows that I need the exercise!  I guess that’s about it for this week...enjoy the pictures!