Make it a double!

We hit a pretty major milestone yesterday! While Tycho has had his fair share of colds and other nasties, we had yet to deal with an ear infection, which I've heard is no small feat.

So of course, we were long overdue for such a travesty of health. He had a little fever the day before, but we attributed that to teething as he was sticking his fingers in his mouth and wincing whenever he tried to eat. But when the daycare called my work number yesterday at 2:30 the next day, I knew something was up -- they never ring unless there's something wrong:

"Yeah... so, Tycho? You're going to need to pick him up. His temperature is 101.7."

(I'd say emphasis here is mine, but they were pretty surprised by the reading, too.)

Note that, because of health regulations, they need to test a temperature using an underarm or temporal thermometer, so I already figured those numbers were probably lower than what his actual body temperature was. I gave myself a moment to panic, took a few cleansing breaths, packed everything up, and took the five-minute drive to daycare, during which I scheduled an appointment with his primary care pediatrician.

By the time I got there, he was in a provider's arms, crying and sticking his finger in his ear. I grimaced... please don't tell me this is an ear infection. As I took him into my own arms and pressed my lips to his cheek, wet with tears, I could feel him burning up; I'm honestly surprised that his clothes didn't ignite from his body heat.

I thanked the providers, gathered all his things, and we headed off home to pick up Matt and straight to the pediatrician from there.

I'm really glad now that I made the appointment. When they checked his temperature (anally, which I'm sure he loved...), it was a blazing 103, and a check of his ears revealed not one, but two infected ears. The doctor tried to make light of it -- "It's your lucky day, bud, both ears are infected!" -- but he knew how serious it was. We were prescribed antibiotics on the spot and were told to give Motrin every six hours if the fever was over 102.

Fortunately, despite being visibly miserable from when we got home to bedtime (he didn't even eat dinner, and we fed him his favorites of olives and coconut milk ice cream), Tycho enjoyed his bath and managed to sleep through the night. He's home with Matt today, blowing raspberries and watching Spongebob, so he's clearly on the mend. And I'm loving the picture updates I'm getting!

Diaper parts and toys strewn about and a child watching baby-equivalent trash TV (meep). Don't judge.

As for me? I celebrated his first ever double ear infection last night with a double serving of Corona. Cheers!