Sick Baby

We hit another milestone but one that I would not have minding passing up.  Thursday night, Elijah was sleeping on my lap and he felt a little warmer than usual. He tends to have a higher temperature, just like me so I didn't think much of it. However, when I woke up a little after midnight that evening, and felt for him next to me, he was burning up. I took his temperature and it was 102.5! I changed his diaper so that he was dry and got him back to sleep. Then I did some research and confirmed that 102.5 was high but not dangerous or an emergency. This could wait until morning. After about an hour of laying next to him, watching him breathe, I fell back to sleep. We woke up together at about 7:30 the next morning and his temperature was down to 101.7. Still high but coming down, thank goodness. He was very lethargic and just wanted to snuggle with me, which I was happy to oblige. The doctor's office opened at 9am and I know I was the phone caller that day. They told us to come on in. While we were there, Elijah was measured, (30 inches) and weighed (19 lbs) and his temperature was taken. It was still elevated but seemed to be coming down a bit more. Dr. Debroek (WE LOVE HIM!) came in, pulled out the otoscope and looked his ears. I have an otoscope at home but I could not get him to hold still enough to see anything. Sure enough, Elijah had a pretty severe inner ear infection on the right side and a mild one on the left. The doctor and I discussed protocol and decided that a mild and short term antibiotic would be used for treatment. I am not a fan of antibiotics which is why our wonderful doctor chose a shorter term treatment. I also let him know that I had an appointment with my chiropractor that day to get balanced and said they suggested I bring Elijah in as well. Dr. Debroek was fully supportive of that and sent us on our way. We also rescheduled Elijah's DTAP would was supposed to take place in just a week. We are choosing a very limited vaccine schedule, only DTAP and HIB for now because there have been so many outbreaks of Whooping cough and meningitis these seem to be important ones. However not a good idea to inoculate when ill!

I also stopped by the local holistic store that I use for some harder to find supplements and picked up some garlic oil for Elijah's ear. I alternated that with breast milk (sounds crazy but it works!) to treat the infection directly. Elijah and I also both took colloidal silver. Finally, we also used some essential oils. Deliverance is an oil by Butterfly Express that is comparable to Thieves by Young Living. I put that on his feet with Jojoba oil as well as Myrtle oil on his chest.   By the next morning, Elijah's fever had broken. It did creep back up on a few occasions but never went much above 100 and although he was a little crankier than normal, he was anything but lethargic! His ears seem to not bother him much anymore though he has developed a little bit of a wheeze this morning though it is just about gone already. I think the congestion is making its way south a bit.  But he has been in great spirits and seems close to 100 percent better. My little guy seems to have a killer immune system and didn't let this ear infection or other illness get him down!

Lethargic and resting with Daddy

Poor baby. 

Grandma and Granddad came by to see their sick little fella!

You would never know he was sick to look at him!

"You're funny, Grandma!"

What a trooper!

Daddy had the coziest arms for our sick boy. 

This experience just made me even more grateful that I am able to be home with him full time. I can't imagine having to juggle work and worry about daycare through all of this. My heart goes out to those Mama's that have to do just that.