Eli has his first ear infection

He felt feverish Monday evening and had a really hard time sleeping.  He’d appear comfortable in my arms, but when I put him in bed he’d toss and turn as if he couldn’t get comfortable.  Once he did fall asleep it would only last about 45 minutes and he’d cry.  As I watched him whimper and squirm in his crib I could tell he was in pain but didn’t know where or what.  We gave him acetaminophen and ibuprofen every six hours (staggered, so he’d get something every three hours). His temperature was around 101.4.

He did not get any better on Tuesday.  Sitting on my lap was the only thing he wanted to do.  We watched four episodes of Sesame Street.  His temp peaked at 102.6.  It was a really rough day. Neither of us had slept for more than 45 minutes at a stretch.  He wouldn’t nap in his crib, but I did get him to sleep for a little over an hour in my arms in my bed.

I called the nurse line and we went over all kinds of illness indicators.  It was decided that as long as Eli was drinking something, he didn’t have to be seen immediately.  But if the fever persisted for 24 hours, then I’d call back.  Eli did not eat breakfast or lunch, but would take the occasional sip of milk.  He finally ate a snack in the afternoon.

Eli perked up a lot when his Daddy came home and he even ate some dinner.  Bedtime was really rough, though.  He was so tired and seemed to want to sleep but couldn’t get comfortable.  He woke up twice, early in the night and then slept through until the morning.

When I got Eli out of his crib he seemed to be in a much happier mood.  I noticed a spot of slightly bloody fluid on his bed sheet and couldn’t figure out what it was from.  I took his temp and it was 100.6.  A fever counts as anything higher than 100.4.  I really debated if I should call the nurse or not.  He technically had a fever for more than 24 hours, but it was significantly lower and he was acting way happier.

I decided to call.  She said that since it was technically a fever that we should come in. I thought this was going to be a waste of our time, but after being stuck in the house all day yesterday I liked the excuse of going out.  And our health care provider (HCP) was available!  We saw her, I told her everything that was wrong and she looked in his ears.  His left ear was just fine, his right ear got an immediate “oh yeah, this is an ear infection”.

There is a membrane over the ear drum.  When you get an ear infection, the infection builds up in the ear on the inside side of this membrane.  All the puss and fluid and gunk pushes on the membrane, similar to a pimple.  It’s this pushing that hurts.  It particularity hurts when you lay down, which is why Eli had such a hard time sleeping.  If the pressure builds up enough, it pops the membrane.  Like popping a pimple, all the puss and stuff drains out.  Sometime in the night, Eli’s membrane perforated (popped).  That explains the little bit of bloody fluid I found.  This is why he was in such a better mood this morning.  The infection is still there, but the pain was gone.

We got a ten day course of antibiotics, and the assurance that his fever should be gone in 2-3 days.  Ear infections are not contagious.  I asked HCP about his lack of ear tugging (the typical sign that a baby has an ear infection).  That’s one of the things the nurse on the phone asked me, and that’s one of the things I watched out for yesterday.  Eli never tugged on his ear.  HCP said that some kids don’t do that.  If Eli turns out to be one of those kids, we’ll have to use the unexplained fever and discomfort while laying down as an ear infection indicator.  I’m hoping we don’t have many more of these, not sleeping is just too hard on me!

Eli’s fever has come back up a little bit and he still isn’t very interested in eating, but his behavior is far closer to normal than it was yesterday.

On a completely unrelated note: Eli’s first appointment with the Early Intervention Speech Specialist Lady (I have no idea what her title is) is Monday.  The appointment will consist of me and the specialist lady filling out a form about Eli, his presence isn’t even required.

I picked Eli up from the gym’s childcare today and the lady asked me “Do you have issues or do we?”.

I paused for a moment, not really sure how to answer that.

Thankfully, before I had a chance to tell her all about my issues, she pointed to Eli’s feet and enunciated “His shoes.  Do you have his shoes or do we?”

Eli and I spent the last day of 2011 at my parent’s house celebrating my dad’s birthday. Eli gave kisses for the first time! He was playing with my brother and then gave him a kiss (first with his pacifier in his mouth, later without it)! This was delightful to watch! Eli has been blowing kisses for a while, but this was the first time he gave a real one. I was a little surprised that my brother was the recipient of Eli’s first kiss. Later that day I reminded Eli who wakes up with him in the middle of the night, and I got a kiss, too! I encouraged him to give Daddy a kiss, but all he got was a lick on the cheek.

While at my parent’s house, my family made a bunch of bags to keep in our cars and give to the homeless as we see them. I got the idea from my friend Sarah who got the idea from this blog.  We filled 21 bags for about $170! I have a bunch in my car and am looking forward to an opportunity to bless someone with them.

We decided not to go out last night.  I’m still having first trimester pregnancy funk and it was Andy’s first day back in the clinical world, so we took it easy.  Unfortunately, Eli woke up coughing so bad he threw up.  And then I threw up, too.  It’s easier to kneel over a toilet on New Year’s Eve when it’s the result of overindulgence at a party, than the result of a fetus that doesn’t know morning sickness is suppose to be confined to the first trimester.

Andy let me sleep in this morning, and he got up with Eli.  Which means Eli started 2012 with a chocolate chip cookie and a banana dipped in peanut butter.  He says that this year is going to be awesome!

At Eli’s 12 month well-baby visit our health care provider asked if he was talking yet. He wasn’t and we weren’t worried. At his 15 month well-baby visit she asked us how many words he was saying and we reported back just one – banana. We weren’t worried yet but decided that if he wasn’t talking by 18 months that we’d come back in and see what’s going on.

Since then I’ve paid close attention to what Eli says. Banana is the only word he consistently says, and says correctly (by that I mean he says in it in the proper context). He has said “Mama” and “Dada” correctly, but only rarely. I’d guess about once a week, maybe less than that. Those syllables are used in his babbling, but not as words directed to us. One time he opened up the Belly Button Book to the page where the hippopotamus says “Belly Button” and Eli said, clear as day, “Belly Button!” Andy swears that one time, as he was feeding Eli lasagna, Eli said “Lasagna.” But these are all one-time things and don’t really count. He should have a vocabulary of six words right now. Many of his friends say about 20 words.

Eli can understand just about everything I say. If I ask him where his shoes are, he’ll bring them to me. If I say that it’s time to go, he’ll walk to the stairs. He can point to many of his body parts (hair, ears, eyes, teeth, belly button, feet) and to mine (where is Mama’s hair?). He consistently and correctly uses five baby signs (hungry, thirsty, all done, milk, more). When he’s in a good mood, he’ll sing with Andy, and can repeat back “lalalala”, “mamamama,” “dadadada,” “memememe,” and many other sounds. I’m not worried about his hearing, motor skills, comprehension or intellect. But he still only says one word.

Eli won’t be 18 months old until the middle of January, but Andy wanted to go to this visit with us and isn’t available in January, so we scheduled a visit with our health care provider (here after referred to as HCP) this morning. We told her all about what Eli can and can’t do. She interacted with him a little bit.

HCP said there were two treatment routes we could go. The local public schools have a state funded Early Intervention Program for situations like this. Someone comes to our house, we talk, they evaluate Eli and give us homework. They come back as needed. Or we could see a speech therapist at Mayo. Same thing about evaluating Eli, giving us homework and we come back as needed. I asked which was better, the program or a speech therapist. HCP said they were both very good options, it was a matter of which we’d prefer. She said she’d give us a referral to audiology if we were concerned about his hearing, but she didn’t think there was a problem there and I agree.

Andy and I decided we’re going to use the Early Intervention Program. If we don’t see improvement in a month or two then we’ll see an audiologist, get the all clear from them, and then see a speech therapist.

This is not the way I expected the appointment to end. I expected HCP to tell me there wasn’t a problem yet and that we should just wait and see over the next few months. I expected her to tell me we’d revisit this at his 2 year well baby visit. I was prepared to tell her six months was too long for me and how about I come back in three months to see how he’s doing. She never said anything like that. I explained my concerns and she offered treatment options. However, she did tell me that she doesn’t think this will be a problem for his future. She was confident that by the time he is three years old he’ll be talking just like all his peers and I’ll be asking her how to get him to be quiet. She did not appear concerned at all … but she didn’t offer “wait and see” as an option either.

Andy believes that if this had been a normal “well baby” visit that HCP would have been more likely to offer a “wait and see” option, but since this was appointment was scheduled specifically to address Eli’s lack of talking, that’s why she gave us treatment options. Andy also believes that younger health care providers (as ours is) are more likely to refer patients to a specialist than older providers. He also believes that nurse practitioners (as ours is) are more likely to refer patients than MDs. He doesn’t have a problem with us pursuing treatment options, but he believes that had our situation been just a little different, it still would have been responsible doctoring to just wait and see.

Since we were there, HCP asked us about the other areas of Eli’s life. We filled out another development review sheet. This one was a little different from the ones we’ve done at other visits but still pretty limiting, so we continue to take it with a grain of salt. This review reported that Eli has the gross motor skills of a 2 ½ year old, the self-help skills and fine motor skills of a 2 year old, and the social skills of an 18 month old. And he’s only 17.32 months old! The review sheet had his language skills at 12 months, but I don’t think that’s accurate. His babbles are much more intricate than that of a 12 month old. He changes the pitch of his babble when he’s asking for something (like we change the pitch at the end of question). He certainly communicates far better than the average 12 month old, but the review is focused on language, not communication. I’m really glad we’ve decided to do something about this now. He might just need a month or two to figure out how much easier communicating is when you talk, but I feel better about the situation knowing that I’m doing everything I can to help him.

Eli’s growth is awesome, all of his numbers are just where we want them to be!

17.32 months:
Weight: 10.88 kg (24 lbs), 28th percentile
Length: 80 cm (2 ft, 7.5 in), 35th percentile
Head Circumference: 47 cm (18.5 in), 31st percentile

Eli “helping” me with the roasting pan.

I’m 12 weeks along today. All done with the first trimester, and all done with the first trimester related exhaustion & nausea! I appreciate that this baby is punctual, I’ve had enough of the exhaustion. It’s tiring enough caring for a toddler, doing it while chronically exhausted was very difficult. My weight is still down 2.4 lbs, but I suspect most of that is muscle, I haven’t been to the gym in over two months.

I’m hosting the big Christmas celebration for both sides of my family tomorrow. As of last week my plan was to have them put up the tree when they arrived at my house and then we’d order pizza. I’m so glad I’m feeling better so I can do this properly! I planned the menu so that I could do as much work as possible today, just in case I woke up Saturday without any energy. I worked really hard today, and I’m feeling it, but it all got done! It feels really nice to have nearly everything done the night before. The turkey is in the roasting pan in the fridge, already seasoned. The cornbread stuffing is all mixed and ready to go, just waiting to be put in the crock pot tomorrow morning. The Orange Balsamic Cranberry Sauce is done and looks amazing! There wasn’t any prep work to do with the sweet potatoes, but I did make some cinnamon butter to put on them. My veggie dish is Roasted Green Beans with Onions and Garlic Cloves. Everything in that dish has been cleaned, trimmed, pealed, cut, etc and is all ready for the oven. Dessert is a chocolate raspberry trifle! The brownies that go in it are cooling on the stove, the rest I’ll have to assemble tomorrow.

I did most of my Christmas shopping online this year, ordering presents as soon as I knew what I wanted to give people. I like to shop in person, but I didn’t want to wait until I felt better and then run out of time. As the gifts arrived in the mail I didn’t open any of the boxes, just in case I didn’t have the energy to wrap them. Thankfully, this wasn’t the case. Exactly one week ago I realized it was dinner time and I wasn’t falling asleep at the table! After we put Eli to bed, Andy and I cleared a spot for the tree in the living room and put it up. The next day I wrapped all the gifts that were waiting and did my one in-person shopping trip. I also managed to mail all my Christmas cards in time!

The return of my normal self did not come a moment too soon. If this baby had spent just one additional day making me exhausted, SOMETHING for Christmas wouldn’t have gotten done. I really appreciate his/her timing!

Once I put Eli to sleep I’m going to make a French Toast Casserole for tomorrow morning. Then I might just sit around and enjoy being on top of my duties for the first time in two months!

Today was our first visit with a Nurse Midwife for Pumpkin. Everything went great! No problems or concerns about anything. Here are some ultrasound pictures.

This one the baby is lounging back on his/her placenta pillow:

The baby was measured three times, 11w4d, 11w4d and 11w5d. It’s normal for a baby to measure up to 5 days difference from it’s age (11w0d). I hope, between this baby measuring a tad big and my history of giving birth 10 days early, that I have this baby in June rather than July. The Midwife team has invited OB residents to observe and learn what they do starting in July. And residents look like this in July:

Last night Eli went down per usual with Mom around 7 pm. At 10:30 pm he awoke, crying. I went in and he was pointing to his mouth, meaning that he was hungry. I brought him a bottle of milk, but this wasn’t good enough; he wanted it warmed up. One warm bottle latter he pointed to his mouth and said “banana”. I brought him a banana and he told me it wasn’t good enough; when I said “peanut butter” he enthusiastically indicated that this is what he wanted. After eating half a banana with peanut butter on it, then snuggling with Daddy, he was finally happy and ready to go back to sleep.

I know that every mother thinks her child is the most beautiful child ever. But mine actually IS!

Here are the pictures from our most recent photo shoot: http://blissphotography.zenfolio.com/eliandfamily2011

November 27, 2011.