Now that daycare has begun, so has the socializing. It’s great that he can interact with his tiny new human friends because it’s an important step in his development. Meanwhile, he is getting along well with his little classmates and inevitably all of their germs too. The identity of patient zero remains a mystery, for all we know he could have been an initial carrier. The first symptom appeared a couple weeks ago as a small cough and shortly there after he developed a stuffy nose. He was visibly uncomfortable, and had a bit of trouble sleeping. At the time, it was just a little cold that made him slightly more fussy than usual.

We had just finished up a fun filled Saturday and started the bedtime routine when we noticed his nose was getting very clogged. In addition his eyes were getting really watery and his cough sounded much more congested. It was way worse than the week before, it was difficult for him to eat because he couldn’t breathe very easily. Things were escalating quickly. We were equipped with our trusty Bulb Aspirator, but sticking that thing up the nose of a squirmy infant while trying to avoid poking his brain is damn near impossible. We had a thing called the NoseFrida, aka, the Snot Sucker. We saw this thing last year when we were doing our baby registry and both my wife and I were disgusted and shocked that such a device existed. We thought “Ewww, who would want to suck snot out of a babies nose through a tube like a straw? Aren’t there other ways to do that?” Fast forward to having a crying and congested baby that’s hungry, and that thing is a miracle invention. It was after some snot was sucked that we noticed the telltale tint of an infection. Which was accompanied by a temperature of 100.4. We also have the technological luxury of a instant ear thermometer. I highly recommend one, mainly because you can avoid waiting for a reading while dealing with a fussy baby. To make matters worse his watery eyes were building up a greenish gunk just as quick as we wiped it away. To top it all off, he was throwing up like we’ve never seen before. A little baby puke here and there we have gotten used to, in fact it’s pretty much a guarantee. But the sheer volume of liquid being expelled from his tiny body was nothing short of spectacular and exceedingly frightening. It was like something out of The Exorcist. We were pretty worried. Needless to say it was a rough weekend for wife and baby. I managed to sleep a couple winks more than them, but that is not a surprise because I could sleep through the four horsemen of apocalypse galloping around our bedroom.

So Monday morning rolls around and the symptoms are significantly worse. It’s clear that he is going to be missing daycare for the first time. My wife stayed home with him and I went into work. We made an appointment for the pediatrician and I took off early to go with them. It’s a group of about 8 doctors, normally we see the same one every time we go, but because of the last minute appointment we ended up with someone new. This guy stated the obvious and informed us it was a cold, and that we just needed to do a better job of clearing his nose. We told him about the eye gunk, and his response was, “If it gets worse it could be a concern”. We mentioned the insane volume of puking, “He’s not wasting away” the doctor responds. The pediatrician had objections to all of the symptoms. It was as if I was trying to sell him on the shit our son was dealing with and he already had a pre-conceived diagnosis in mind. The entire interaction was extremely unprofessional and unsympathetic. He didn’t prescribe any medicines and sent us away without a solution to his many ailments.

The following day, every issue he had was exacerbated. The eye gunk was so bad, he could barely open his eyes after each small moment of rest he managed to get in between the coughing fits. This was a really brutal superbug of some kind, but he handled it like a champ. Through out it all he still managed to be a happy go lucky little guy. He held up better than I would have under those circumstances. My wife can attest which one of us is the bigger baby when we’re under the weather. I went to work that day and made another doctors appointment as soon as the office opened, this time with our trusted pediatrician. My wife said that he took one look at him at diagnosed pink eye in both eyes and bronchiolitis. He prescribed eyedrops and amoxicillin and told her to get some pedialyte if the excessive vomiting continued. The eyedrops began working almost instantly and within hours his eyes were gunk free. The antibiotics were a thick sticky syrup that tastes like bubble gum. At first he wasn’t too keen on the new flavor, but a few days in he started really enjoying his medicine….maybe a little too much. He stayed home from daycare one more day after that, and Grandma watched him while Mom and Dad went to work.

The most heartbreaking thing we’ve experienced as parents so far was having to watch our little man suffer through the symptoms of such a severe cold. We were constantly wishing we could take the pain and discomfort away while we soothe his woes. The most heartbreaking thing for our bank accounts thus far was having to pay for a full week of daycare even though he only attended two days that week. That’s a contract for you. Luckily he is all better now. It most definetly felt like the longest five days we’ve had since the hospital stay when we welcomed this little goober into our arms. At least his immune system has that notch on its belt, learning, adapting, and most of all strengthening because we damn well know it’s not going to be the last.