Little Sickie

Ever since Bry caught his first cold, he's had a perpetual runny nose. We just chalked it up to the combination of daycare, crummy weather, and an immature immune system. Three weeks later, he added a cough on top of his runny nose. Quick trip to the pediatrician, who confirmed that we were indeed neurotic parents giving too much concern to the sniffles. He had a mild ear infection, but only enough to warrant an "in case" prescription for antibiotics. In other words, we had it "in case" he started to get more irritable, pulled at his ears more, got feverish, etc. We never filled it. In all likelihood, the doc gave it to us "in case" we were to accuse him of not doing anything for our child! Who was sick! But, being responsible and not wanting to promote any antibiotic resistant superbugs, we figured we would save Bry the introduction to amoxicillan until later in life.

One week later, Bry's cough got upgraded to a regular smoker's hack, and well, he just didn't sound good. I convinced Steve to stay home with Bry since I don't get any sick leave. There was only minor eye-rolling on his part and he managed to refrain from telling me, "He's fine!" Steve dragged him back to the pediatrician who, one chest x-ray later, told Steve that Bry had bronchiolitis, a more serious lower respiratory infection. Poor little Bry got sent home with a prescription for albuterol and a baby-sized nebulizer. So we're home for the week while Bry's immune system mounts an attack on the virus. I'm still deciding whether Bry is too young to implement the no TV while you're sick rule. Of course, for him it would be more like the no stacking cups while you're sick rule since he doesn't watch too much TV yet. Except Cops. He really likes those stupid criminals.