third time's the charm

On Friday the daycare told me that Britton was pulling on her right ear. I figured that she's exploring her ear, just learning of its existence or the fact that it is attached to her head, or that some teething pain has made it hurt. Surely it couldn't be another ear infection. Well, it was. And don't call me Shirley. Saturday morning I took her to the doctor's and low and behold, an ear infection in her right ear. I started her on a new antibiotic, and Britton spent the day being clingy and unhappy and so very not herself. Sunday night the dam broke. I couldn't put Britton down to bed without her screaming. She clawed at her ear like it was on fire. Her stomach was rock-hard from the gastrointestinal side effects of the new medication. The only way Britton would go to sleep was on me. But I couldn't fall let her fall asleep, and me as well, in the rocking chair as she is capable of rolling over. So come midnight, with no relief in sight, I gave in and let her fall asleep on me. And I didn't try to put her in her crib. To do so would have been futile, as she would touch the crib mattress and scream. I snuck into the guest room, and laid on the bed with pillows surrounding me, and slept with my daughter on my chest. And we woke up every hour, and finally at 4:30 a.m. I laid this tired baby in her crib and she gave in and slept.

The entire night was a flash-back to those grueling colic nights, and I was instantly panicking at the memories. My post-partum issues, still not completely resolved (and may never be without a lobotomy) instantly flared into the constant thought, "She is going to cry all night. She will cry all night every night. I will never sleep again." Admittedly, this is a place I cannot go back to and escape unscathed.

So the hub stayed home with her Monday morning and called the doctor's office to get another appointment. I met them there, and come to find out the ear infection was now in both ears, and her right ear drum was red and bulging. The oral antibiotics are no longer working. Britton had to get two shots of antibiotics in her thighs. Now, the nurse mentioned that the shots had lidocaine in them to help with the pain. I noticed that this news made the hub antsy and I asked him why. He said that if they have lidocaine, it hurts. And it did. Luckily the hub was willing to be the one to hold Britton down as I was in the corner blocking my eyes. We had to go back today for another round of shots. And tomorrow Britton has another appointment to check on her ears, in case she needs a third round of shots.

This is THREE ear infections in a month and a half. Suffice it to say, she has a consultation regarding tubes on March 29th with an ENT.


Friday, before the storm...




Tuesday, happy despite the raging bacteria farm in her middle ear canals...