Ethan's sickie update

Joel took Ethan in on Thursday Feb.26, and the doctor said that we appear to be doing everything we can to help him get better. We're keeping him elevated in his crib, and keeping him upright as much as possible when he's awake; using the saline spray and nasal aspirator to clear out his poor stuffy nose; keeping the humidifier on in his room at night; putting him in the bathroom after a steamy shower during the day; and so on. But he has just been getting progressively worse, no matter what we do. He has been almost regressing, in terms of where he had gotten with his nap/feeding schedule, and he is all of a sudden very clingy and doesn't want to be put down. Over the past weekend, it just got much worse; he coughs all night and periodically throughout the day, is super-congested all the time, has a really hard time eating, and has recently started sleeping non-stop. On Monday, I started noticing he was eating less and sleeping way more. Then, on Tuesday, he was even worse-- by 2:00, he had had slept straight through from 9:30 to 1:30, and had only eaten around 10 ounces (2.5 regular bottles!) over the course of the whole day. Naturally, I flipped out.

I actually ended up taking him to the emergency room on Tuesday 3/3 because he was so sluggish and lethargic, hadn't been eating (was eating less than half what he normally eats), was sleeping almost non-stop, and wouldn't wake up even when he coughed. It really scared me, especially when his daycare people were worried about it too. I had to go in to the ever-colorful emergency room at Memorial Hospital because our insurance doesn't have an urgent care that sees infants. At Memorial, they x-rayed his chest and it was clear of pneumonia, but they were a bit concerned because his cough and congestion has been going on so long. The doctor also thought Ethan seemed a bit dehydrated and weak, and was concerned about the fact that he wasn't eating well. So, I'm staying home YET AGAIN to take care of him. Not that *I* mind-- but my work is a different story. If they weren't already cutting my position, I'm sure that these constant baby-sick-days would pretty much convince them to do it anyway. /:)

Anyway, I just worry about him a lot. I don't want to be one of those first-time moms who is constantly calling 911 when her baby sneezes, but I also don't want to be one of those moms who says "I wish I would have just taken him in to the emergency room..." Now, to find a happy balance! :)