Friday, February 24, 2012

Ear Infections

Well, since my last post, LG has had her 3rd ear infection in a row. Poor little kid. This last time, the daycare called me to say she had just woken from her nap with a fever of 101 and I had to go get her. I picked her up and promptly drove straight to the walk-in clinic. She was given a new stronger kind of anti-biotics and we went home to wait for the baby tylenol to start to kick in.

It's been a little over a week and a half since then and the ear infection has cleared up. So far there are no signs of another one coming in. Thank goodness!

Since we were dealing with ear infection #3, I called my family dr to let her know what had been going on. She informed me that there is a link between soother use and recurrent infections. They (the medical establishment) don't know exactly why there is a link, but the research shows a link. So, we quit the soother cold turkey that day. It took a couple of days, but LG is now going to sleep without her soother without a fuss. LG only got the soother at nap time and bedtime so she wasn't a full on soother addict like some kids out there. I'm sure that's why it was a pretty quick transition to sleeping soother free.

It is scary when your kid is sick. When the fever keeps spiking and you've already given all the meds that the she can take and you just have to wait for it to kick in. You feel scared and helpless. I hate that feeling. I know that with her in daycare it is inevitable that she will end up sick, but I hope she gets a break for a while.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Back to work

Wow, that was quite a break between posts! Life has been hectic and I was busy enjoying my baby girl while I had time at home with her. I am in Canada, and am very fortunate that new mother's are allowed to take a full year off with the guarantee of our jobs back at the end of the leave. There is also employment insurance from the government that pays a small amount each month that does help with the finances. For some lucky women, their companies even top up their EI so that they get full salaries for the entire year. My company does not fall into that category.

It was tight, but we made ends meet for the year that I had off. I am so incredibly happy that I was able to spend that year with Little G. It was such an awesome experience to see her grow, change and learn in front of my eyes.

When the end of my maternity was approaching we enrolled LG in daycare. She started transitioning from being home all day to attending daycare part time, 3 weeks before I went back to work.

3 days in she was sick... runny nose, explosive diarrhea, fever. I felt so bad for her and pretty helpless at the same time. She had a tooth coming in and I had just started introducing Homogenized Milk into her diet so I thought that perhaps some of her symptoms could be explained by those things. But, by the weekend her fever just kept climbing and climbing despite the infant tylenol/advil and sponge baths I was giving her. When it hit 104 we went to the walk in clinic. She had her first ear infection. She was given 10 days of antibiotics to clear it up. 12 days later we found out that she still had her ear infection and now her temp was 105. Round two of 10 days of antibiotics now seems to have finally done the trick. Oh, and I think teething was playing a role in the fever because when I checked her mouth yesterday, not only had the bottom right side incisor come through, all 4 of her 1 year molars were poking through as well. Poor kid.

So, that was the start of daycare, she is there full-time now and loves it. I've been back to work for a week and a half and feel like I have never left. The first day of dropping LG at daycare was tough for me, but I have to admit it's nice being back at work surrounded by adults, having adult conversations. I really missed that. But, at 3pm everyday I look at the picture of her on my desk and start to count down the minutes until I can go pick her up.

I seriously love that kid.