A Sick Westonator

It all started on Saturday night with a cranky baby. He'd had a cough and cold all week but he's had a cold for almost 4 months so I didn't really think anything of it. He started to get more and more crabby as the weekend went on and he eventually stopped eating. Because he will normally eat anything that is offered to him, this was a huge sign to me that something just wasn't right. On Sunday, he managed to take down a whopping 6 oz of formula for the day and he refused to eat solids. On Sunday night, we took his temperature and were shocked to find that it was 102.5!! The poor kid spent most of Sunday night whimpering and moaning and leaking out of every part of his face. His eyes started to get really puffy and kind of reddish/purplish and he started getting a rash on his head and neck. We decided to call the Dr.'s office.

Apparently it was a busy night for the Dr. because the operator told us it would be over an hour before a nurse would be able to call us back!!! So we waited.... and waited... and waited about 90 minutes and then talked with a nurse who told us to bring him in. We decided to stay up with him through the night to make sure he wasn't getting worse and then we waited until the morning to bring him in so we could go in to the clinic during normal care hours. Tom stayed home with Weston on Monday and I met him at the clinic on my lunch break. By that point, Weston had developed a hive-like rash all over his neck, stomach, and legs. His eyes were looking pretty strange and his body temp was still hovering between 101 and 102. The Dr. said his lungs sounded fine which was her main concern and then she put him on an antibiotic just in case the strange eye symptoms were being caused by an infection of some sort. She mentioned she wanted to prevent an eye infection from 'travelling to his brain'. Talk about panic! Why would you say that to a mother!?!? WHY??!! She assured me it was just a precaution. Her explanation for the rash was simply that babies can get hives when they are fighting infections.

Weston seems better this morning, although his hives (or rash or whatever it is) have gotten much worse. His temperature was normal this morning and he is definitely acting more like himself so I think we are past the worst of it. The poor kid still won't eat though, and his little body is covered with red lumps :( Since he had lumps prior to taking the antibiotic, it's hard to determine whether the lumps are getting worse because he is getting more sick or if the lumps are getting worse because he's having an allergic reaction to the antibiotic. I would guess it's an allergic reaction since Tom and I are both allergic to this particular medication (we shared this information with the Dr. but she wanted Weston to take the antibiotic anyway).

So.... he's getting better. I think.