Attention mommies: Perhaps you've been in this same situation, if not, I hope you're never in this situation, but truth be told I think it happens.
I called this morning to make an appointment for Jonathan at his primary doctor. For a few weeks now he's had cold like symptoms which I assumed was just that, a cold. Jonathan hasn't acted out of sorts by any means. He's still sleeping, eating, playing, urinating, acting like his normal self with the exception of the runny/stuff nose and cough. No fevers had been had. The one odd feature, and main reason for my call, was his consistent pattern of waking up between 1230a-230a having a 30 minute coughing session. It has been pretty scary - his breathing gets labored, his face turns red, and he coughs, coughs, and coughs. Finally, I think exhaustion sets in and finally he falls asleep again.
On to the appointment...
Diagnosis...
Middle Ear Infection! Seriously? I was expecting the normal, "nope, everything looks fine, it's just viral, nothing we can do, keep an eye on it and call if he gets worse" but a middle ear infection had not entered my mind. As a mother, I felt horrible. How could I have not known his ear was hurting? He didn't show the typical ear tugging sign. All those times I thought he was just being difficult, cantankerous, and stubborn he could have very easily been in pain! OY I guess if anything this just goes to show that calling the doctors office is never a bad thing because you never know, especially when their not verbal.
Oh, so Jonathan's on amoxicillan 2x daily for 10 days and we'll reevaluate at his 2 year well child in November unless his symptoms are still present. I hope (for myself and Jonathan too) that his coughing spells come to an end pretty darn soon!
I've learned Holly that when a child is concerned you should just call the doctor if for nothing else then the peace of mind that everything is fine. Once we had the second, even being a "seasoned" mother I still bit the bullet and called for anything I felt I wanted reassurance on. Sometimes things are worse than you think. When Wes had RSV I called 2 times before he finally ended up with a fever. They told me that it sounded like a simple cold to them or newborn congestion and blew it off. They didn't want to see him until he got the fever and then they told me to go straight to the ER. So, learn from me that you should never put anything off even if you think it's just a simple cold.
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