Here we go again...part two

Jackson had been seeming to be getting better during the week. Then on Friday night he was feeling warm so we gave him some Tylenol before bed. He woke up okay but then throughout the day Saturday was a bit fussy and warm so Larry was keeping him medicated. Before he went to bed that night his temp was 99.6 so we went ahead and gave him something for that and put him to bed. At 12:30am he woke up screaming and his temp was 103.2. We gave him some Motrin and called the on-call nurse from our pediatricians office. She put us through to the doctor on call (Dr. Soble) but by the time she got back to us we had taken his temp again and his temp was down to 102.5. She advised us to keep him home and take him to the pediatric urgent care in the morning as long as he was drinking and "acting like himself." Well after his Motrin really kicked in he was giggling, clapping and literally running around the house. Larry finally got him back down to bed about 3:00am. He then woke up at 6:45am crying while laying on his belly and turing his head back and forth. Usually he is standing up and more yelling for us so I was already concerned. I went in there and he started screaming, really hot and his whole body was shaking. I initially thought he was having a seizure and started freaking out a bit. I layed him down and said "look at mommy" and he looked me right in the eye so I knew that he was just shivering. We took his temp and it was 98.1 (all temps were rectal...sorry Jack). We decided it was time to go to the ER so I was running around getting dressed while Larry called the on call nurse again. She again put us through to the doctor who told us that this is normal for a breaking of fever so as long as everything else was the same she was going to make an appointment for us at the clinic so we could get the first spot which I thought was really nice of her. We all went to sleep again and then when 9am rolled around we also tried to call the clinic to make sure we got an appointment. Now this is just like trying to register for classes by phone (anyone from UW will remember waking at 5am-ish to start calling and the hitting redial until you had to go to class!) or like getting good seats for a show, everyone is calling at the same time. After about 10 minutes of calling we finally got through but the doctor had already made the appointment so we were set to go at 10:10am.

Finally at the clinic, the nurse took his temp and it was 101.2. Then the doctor (Dr. Colombo) looked in his ears and both ears now are red and full of pus. He thinks that the Amoxicillian worked for a few days and then the bug that Jack has may have mutated and became resistant. Now Jack is on a new antibiotic called Omnicef "a bigger gun." He said we should now make our appointment for another week out so it has time to work. I asked him if we should continue giving him his Tylenol and Motrin alternating and he told us that doing that is hard on the kidneys so to only give the Motrin since it is better for pain control. You learn something new everyday...just one more thing to feel guilty about.

While we were at the office the nurse weighed Jackson and his weight was 20 lbs, 8 oz. (20 lbs last Monday) Now I know that it was a different scale and that this would be a big jump for him but it made me feel like our efforts are working. Not that we are really freaking out about his weight because we aren't, too much. I have talked with many people since our appointment that made me feel better about Jackson's weight. Dietitians, lactation consultants, friends and family. The dietitians from my work, and from Larry's clinic basically said not to stop breastfeeding if he wanted to (one of them telling me that since breastmilk is human made it digests and is absorbed easier and that cows milk is not anymore nutritious.), keep feeding him with extra fats and proteins but not "garbage food" and that we should chart him out on the W.H.O. breastfed baby scale. On the W.H.O. scale Jackson is almost in the 15th percentile. They also said that it is normal for breastfed babies to be big at first and then for their weight gain to slow down especially compared to formula fed babies and that they generally have more lean mass and not as much fat. So for now we are going to keep doing the pediasure and diet changes but also keep breastfeeding and let him wean himself when he is ready...or when I'm ready, whichever comes first.

Here are some recent pictures:

This is him today at about 6pm acting so cute and like nothing ever happened.

Sick & sad baby. "I want up."

Laundry bin fun. He came out of his room with his bin and kept getting into it and walking around with it on his head.

Frank rolled around in the chalk rainbow and then had a rainbow on his fur.

Chalk is fun!