Survival of the Fittest

Wow. So far I have been through croup with Eli and a multitude of 'colds' ranging from flu to bronchitis with Lehr in the last 6 months. If I make it out of this winter without contracting any of these viruses (successful so far!), I think I might have some mutant, super genes. Lehr just got over bronchitis and now Eli has his first ear infection. I was SOO optimistic in my hopes of him surviving his first two or three years without one, but a nurse at the CVS minute-clinic confirmed it today.

Before I left for the weekend, Eli had a slight fever on and off (mostly off), and he's had mild congestion (nose and cough) since then, but since I can see one of his front teeth poking through, I chalked it up to teething. He's been in a relatively good mood and has had no problem sleeping, after all. Lehr monitored his temp all weekend and noticed that he was in a really good mood both days. Last night, however, he woke up two or three times around midnight crying for no reason. We're not even sure if he was awake, but each of these episodes lasted a little longer than five minutes (it's quite rare for Eli to wake up crying during the night). I took his temp this morning and even though he was only at 98.8, I decided to call the doc and try to get Eli an appointment to make sure something 'bad' wasn't happening. His cough was back today and the nose, albeit clear, was like a mucus faucet. No appointments available, so off to the clinic we went. The left ear showed inflammation, so Eli will start some antibiotics tonight. I'm all in favor of doing what works to clear up an infection, but due to Lehr's long list of illnesses following a year or so on and off antibiotics, the less Eli has to take, the better!