On Tuesday Braiden had his 6 month immunizations. He did great. Didn't even cry when he got his shots! Later that night, Braiden started to run a fever. This is not unusual as he has ran a fever after all of his immunizations. However, this time the fever was much higher than it usually is. I called the on call doctor, and they just said to give him Tylenol, check his temp. in an hour, and if it's gone down, he's okay. He did okay through the night, but he woke up fussy a few times. On Wednesday, the fever persisted and we continued with Tylenol. By Thursday night Braiden had a temp. of 102.3 and seemed extremely uncomfortable. He also had a very congested cough. I again called the on call doctor, I know, paranoid mother, but it's my baby! Again, they told me to give Tylenol and have him seem on Friday morning by his pediatrician. So, on Friday morning, we went in to see the pediatrician. Braiden had lost 3 ounces, he hasn't lost a single ounce since being born : ( The doctor listened to him and decided he needed a nebulizer treatment because she heard wheezing. She checked his ears, which looked a little pink, but weren't completely infected. She decided to send him home on the nebulizer, given every 4 hours, Augmentin to treat his ears, so they don't get any worse, and Zyrtec for the congestion and cough. She wanted to treat him aggressively in hopes that what he had did not develop into RSV. We went home and started all of the medications. Braiden had a very tough day and seemed uncomfortable all day. By night time, he was still running a fever. Now, he decided he didn't want to take his bottle, no matter what I put in it, formula, water, or pedialyte. I got nervous and Dave and I decided it might be best to take him to the ER. We took him at 8pm and did not return home until 2am! While at the ER, they suctioned Braiden's nose to check for RSV and did Chest x-rays to check for pneumonia. After the results were in, we learned that Braiden did in fact have RSV- Respiratory Syncytial Virus. This is an illness that affects infants, especially preemies. If it's not caught soon enough it can be extremely dangerous. The chest x-rays came back clear, which was very good news. We were sent home and asked to continue with the same treatments Braiden's pediatrician gave us. After not sleeping since Tuesday, Braiden is finally napping during the day peacefully! Thank goodness. The poor baby is so worn out. On Saturday night, Braiden finally slept from 9pm-3am. Woke at 3am for a nebulizer treatment and went back to bed until 8:15am! When he got up, he wasn't running a fever, guzzled a 6 oz bottle and even showed an interest in playing on the floor with his toys! Our baby is finally feeling better. Thank the lord.
I have to mention, through all of this, Braiden never cried, not even at the ER! He is such a tough little boy. We are so very blessed! Here are a few pictures of our precious angel.
Our poor baby resting (the only way he can sleep is propped up by a body pillow)
Our big boy taking his nebulizer without any fuss
Sunday morning... Finally starting to be himself!
