When Nora was around 6-7 months old, she had a bad cold with some wheezing and was diagnosed with “probable RSV.” Aside from some loud breathing and a hacking cough, it never seemed to be much of a big deal. But little did we know at the time what havoc that stupid RSV would wreak on us for months and months to come.

As you might be able to tell by now, it’s been a rough week, what with starting out with another ear infection and all.

What started out as a runny nose and a sporadic cough with her ear infection on Monday has slowly and surely turned into a full-blown, nasty cold with constant runny nose, a really painful-sounding cough, and… some loud wheezing.

I had thoughts that Nora might be developing bronchitis or something, but figured that the antibiotic she’s on for her ear infection would also wipe out anything else that could actually be treated. Still, I called the doctor’s office this afternoon to talk to a nurse, just to be safe. She put me on hold to grab Nora’s chart, and as soon as she came back, she said that given Nora’s history with RSV/bronchiolitis, they wanted to see her.

We got the last appointment of the day–4:30–so you can imagine that by that hour, the doctor was running behind. Very behind. So we waited a good half hour before we were even seen by a doctor–which was a med student first, then the actual pediatrician. Because the pediatrician was teaching the med student, she started making observations aloud as soon as she entered the room. Nora was in nothing but her diaper, so she was able to conclude right away–without even listening–that Nora was wheezing and working harder than normal to breathe. She noted that she could see retractions in her belly and ribs, which–as you might suspect–are not a good thing.

Michael and I went from feeling like we’d probably walk out of there with nothing but a “she has a bad cold” diagnosis to being talked to about how, if it gets any worse, Nora is probably going to end up in the hospital. The doctor didn’t seem to think it will actually come to that, but she was worried enough to make us try an albuterol breathing treatment right there in the office. I had done this once before with Nora after her initial diagnosis of RSV in the spring, and it sucked, but nothing could have prepared me for the alligator wrestling that this involved today.

Nora hated it. Just hated it. Have you ever tried to hold a mask up to a 16-month-old’s face while air is blasting out of it? We had to pin her arms down, legs down, and squeeze her against me to just TRY to get this thing up near her face. We tried to read to her, we sang songs, but she screamed bloody murder the entire time. She actually bit the mask repeatedly. And, if you haven’t had the pleasure of doing this, please note that the treatments last TEN MINUTES, which might as well have been ten years for how slowly time passed in those moments.

Unfortunately, when all was said and done, it didn’t even seem to help–which means that Nora’s bronchiolitis (which is swelling of the lung’s passageways, by the way) is most likely caused by a virus, not underlying asthma. That’s actually great news, so don’t think I’m complaining about that.

Even so, we walked out of there with three prescriptions–for an albuterol inhaler + a spacer (child-size mask) for breathing treatments + steroids. All to help try to open up the tiny passageways in her lungs. The sad part is that, because she doesn’t appear to have asthmatic tendencies, these things probably won’t help at all–but given the severity of her wheezing, the doctor wanted us to utilize every available tool that could even possibly work.

We were given strict instructions to call the doctor’s office every day for the next five days to provide an update. In the end, we were at the doctor’s office for more than an hour and a half. Wow.

The good news is that our little wheezer still seems to be in pretty great spirits. She was thrilled with the Blue’s Clues sticker she got to play with on the entire ride home from the pediatrician’s office. She’s been tired (sleep isn’t very restful when you’re coughing all night) and glassy-eyed, but she’s smiling and laughing and running like usual. Due to the every-four-hours breathing treatments, she still gets to stay home with us tomorrow, but at least we don’t have a depressed little sicky on our hands.

I, on the other hand, am traumatized and counting down the days until spring.

…of my baby getting ear infections.

I didn’t post about it amidst the hustle and bustle of Christmas, but a few days prior to the holiday, Nora was diagnosed with another ear infection. We suspected she might have one, but weren’t positive. I called the pediatrician’s office and debated aloud on the phone for several minutes before she convinced me that yes, it could be an ear infection, and no, we wouldn’t be wasting their time if it turned out to be nothing.

So, on my last day of work prior to a 5-day Christmas weekend, I left the office an hour early to run Nora to the totally empty pediatrician’s office for their last appointment of the day. And it was confirmed: Nora had an ear infection for Christmas, for the second year in a row.

Ten days of antibiotics later, she was seemingly fine. Unfortunately, that didn’t last long.

We had a pediatrician’s appointment scheduled for today, for a recheck of the ear–to make sure the Christmas ear infection had cleared up properly. But yesterday, we began to notice our girl feeling a bit under the weather again. A little more quiet than usual. A little more clingy. Constantly rubbing her right ear. Slightly feverish. The tell-tale sign came when I put her to bed at 7:00 p.m., and she woke up screaming at 8:30. Under normal circumstances, that’s just not how Nora rolls.

So the appointment to recheck her left ear turned into a diagnosis of infection in her right ear. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Our pediatrician mentioned the possibility of getting tubes put in her ears back in October. At the time, we weren’t feeling ready to make that jump, which was fine, since the doctor said she would give Nora a pass for one more ear infection between then and March–more than that, and she’d want to talk tubes. Well, guess what? She’s now had two, and we’re only in January.

For those who are curious, her history looks like this:

• Baby’s 1st ear infection – December 27, 2010 – treated with amoxicillin
• Ear infection – April 2011 – treated with amoxicillin
• Ear infection – September 2011 – surprise diagnosis at well baby appt – left untreated
• Ear infection – Oct. 10, 2011 – treated with amoxicillin
• Double ear infection – Oct. 26, 2011 – unsure if it’s same infection as 10/10 that never went away, or a new one – treated with omnicef
• Ear infection (left ear) – Dec. 22, 2011 – treated with amoxicillin
• Ear infection (right ear) – Jan. 9, 2012 – treating with omnicef
• Note: I’m about 98% sure there was another surprise diagnosis somewhere in there that we left untreated, but I can’t remember exactly when that was. Our philosophy (with our doctor’s blessing) has always been that if it isn’t bothering her/she has no symptoms, we can leave it to clear up on its own.

In my mind, the number from December through October was not that big of a deal, which is why I was surprised when our pediatrician mentioned tubes then. But looking at December through October, and now October through today? Maybe I’m an overprotective mama bear, but that looks like an awful lot of ear infections.

We tried to talk to the pediatrician today about tubes, but she wasn’t Nora’s doctor–our doc is out for a few weeks on some kind of medical leave, and won’t be back for another two weeks. This doc today said she likes to be very conservative about tubes, and personally, wouldn’t recommend them at this time. But in our minds, she doesn’t know Nora. And while I respect her as a member of the medical community, I would feel better about it if we heard it from our pediatrician.

We now have 10 days of an antibiotic, and then we go for a recheck again in 14 days–thankfully, our pediatrician is supposed to be back in the office that week, so we scheduled the appointment with her in the hopes that she’ll actually be back and up for seeing patients.

In the meantime, we are just torn. We want the tubes. We don’t want the tubes. Aside from the pain and discomfort the infections cause Nora, our two biggest concerns are: 1) We don’t like to have her on antibiotics so often, and 2) We’re worried she could potentially have some mild hearing loss from having fluid in her ears so frequently, which could be affecting her language development. At this point, I think what we really want the most is just a hearing test. We just need the referral to the ENT to get a consult and figure out exactly what we’re dealing with. If there’s no hearing loss? I think we’ll be comfortable waiting a while longer to see if she’ll grow out of it. If there is hearing loss? I think our baby is getting tubes.

Blah-biddy blah blah. I’m honestly just as tired of talking about it as I am of seeing my little one suffering. As always, we do enjoy the extra snuggle time. Last night, we couldn’t get her back to sleep when she woke up at 8:30, so we brought her into our bed with the iPad and let her watch a good chunk of Toy Story 3 while lying there with us. Just precious.

Tonight, we have antibiotics that are hopefully doing their thing, and a baby who is (at least for now) sleeping peacefully in her crib, so we can at least give it the two weeks to see what the recheck brings. But I do find myself wondering if we’re just delaying what is inevitable. Only time will tell.

Annnndd… I just heard her over the monitor. My poor baby. We made it until 9:15 tonight. *sigh* Perhaps we will watch Tangled on the iPad tonight. :) Goodnight!