Neither of the kids have been feeling well over the past few days with the coughing and the runny noses. However, yesterday the babysitter called me at 2pm and said, "Tara, you're baby girl has a fever of 101.4. I don't know what you want me to do." I immediately got more info out of her which consisted of Adrianna only ate 4 oz. yesterday from a bottle and she promptly threw it back up. She did eat some baby food but not as much as normal. Her cough was worse yesterday afternoon than it was in the morning, she wasn't sleeping well, etc. As soon as I hung up the phone with her, I called our pediatrician and they had an appointment at 3:45. I left work the minute I got off the phone with his office and flew to get the kids from the babysitter. When I got there, she told me that she did manage to get some Tylenol down Adrianna and (so far) she hadn't thrown it up. After I dropped Brock off at the house with Greg, Adrianna and I drove to the doctor's office. By that time, the Tylenol had kicked in and she was feeling a little better. She was flirting with everybody in the waiting room, she was trying to eat the nurse's stethoscope, she even laughed a few times.
When the doctor came in to see us, we were talking about her symptoms and I mentioned, "Oh Lord. I hope she doesn't have RSV." (For information about RSV, click
here.) Of course I began to panic as he said, "Well, we could test her for it, but she has all of the classic symptoms. I think we should just treat her as if we
know she has it."
Oh. Em. Gee. The only babies that I've ever known to have RSV landed in the hospital. I could not believe what I was hearing. I'm sure he must have seen the look of panic in my eyes because he quickly followed it up with, "I think we caught it early enough that we won't have to admit her. Also, she has plenty of um, fat stores that I don't think she'll lose too much weight either." I was willing to overlook the fact that he called my sweet baby girl chubby since he was optimistic that we could just treat it at home. Of course my next question was, "What do I need to do about Brock?" He quickly informed me that RSV is really only a life-threatening thing for kids under one and that he was sure that if Adrianna has it, then Brock has it too. The only difference is, it will present just like a bad cold for Brock and he should get over it on his own. Luckily both of the kids are scheduled for an appointment with the good doctor at the end of next week so he will be able to check their progress then.
After nearly two hours in the doctor's office, Adrianna left with a diagnosis of RSV that we are doing Albuterol nebulizer breathing treatments for every 4 hours. The doctor also gave us enough of the albuterol treatments and refills that we can also give Brock the treatments if we feel like he needs them. We also have to run the humidifier at night for the next few weeks and keep the head of her bed elevated so she can breathe easier when she is lying down. Turns out, she also has an ear infection in her left ear so she is on an antibiotic for that twice/day. He also gave me a prescription for some cream for the eczema on her belly/chest/arms. I have been putting lotion (Eucerin, Hydrocortizone, & Johnson's) on her non-stop and it hasn't been helping much. Sheesh.
On a more positive note, Adrianna slept all night last night! I think she was so exhausted from not getting any rest from being so sick that once she was able to breathe a little easier, she just crashed. I wish I could say the same for Greg and myself. Iwas up about every 2 hours to check on her to make sure she was still breathing. Thank goodness today is Friday and I can get a little rest this weekend. I hope.
