First, let me backtrack a little. My last post stated that we were all healthy and I was ready to catch up. The same day I wrote that, we ended up sick... again. Ever since mid-December, Sofie and Jackson have been sick off and on, getting over one cold then catching another. There have only been a handful of days in the past two months where both babies have been 100% healthy, with no cold, fever, diarrhea, antibiotics, or runny nose. Sofie and Jackson have recently gotten over another ear infection. Poor babies seem to have inherited their mommy's ears (I battled ear infections all the way through college).
Before Christmas, both babies had colds and weren't sleeping all that well. I contributed our sleep issues to congestion, teething, pulling up, etc. It never occurred to me that they might have an ear infection since they've never had one before. My mom was here visiting and we both traveled with Sofie and Jackson to Lincoln where we spent the holidays. After a few days and one very wakeful night for Sofie in Lincoln, Sofie and I quickly made our way to urgent care. Diagnosis: ear infection and an infection in the eye (she had red bumps all around her eye and it looked awful). We got her started on antibiotics and eye cream. The next night, Jackson was up all night. The next day I was back at urgent care with him (lesson learned... when one baby is sick, take them BOTH to the doctor to get checked out). Diagnosis: ear infection. The first antibiotic was a nightmare for both babies (Omnicef/Cefdinir)... awful diarrhea and diaper rash. They would gag and puke up the medicine, too, so getting it down was a struggle. We were changing numerous blowout diapers each day and giving too many baths to count. After about a week, they didn't seem to be all that much better, so back to urgent care we went. Diagnosis for both: double ear infections. So we started a new antibiotic (Clarithromycin/Biaxin) and switched to a different type of probiotic (Florastor Kids) which seemed to help the diarrhea. Since this was our first time on antibiotics, I really didn't know that much about the different types of antibiotics doctors use for babies/kids. Had we gone to our regular pediatrician, they would have prescribed a different course of treatment and I think that would have worked much better, but hind sight is 20/20.
So after two and a half weeks of two different antibiotics, the babies were feeling much better. Unfortunately during the time they were sick (and my mom and I were also battling a stomach virus), we had to cancel plans to spend New Year's with my friend Amber and her kids, and cancel our plans to see my cousin Sarah and her adorable family, and also my Aunt Sharon and Uncle Dick. Once the babies were feeling better, my mom and I headed to Kansas City with the kids to spend about 5 days, then back to Lincoln for a few days to finish out our trip. Once we returned home to Jacksonville, the babies caught another cold, which turned into ear infections for both babies again. This time both of them were put on Augmentin and so far, so good. Jackson still has a little runny nose, but otherwise both babies seem to be themselves again and are FINALLY, FINALLY sleeping well for the first time in a very long time!! Now if we can just keep them healthy....
Pictures to follow from our 3.5 week trip to Lincoln and KC!
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