Oh No!

Do you know what isn't cool?

Other than taxes, tornadoes and turmoil?

Ear infections.

And Caleb has one.

  As I mentioned in my last critically-acclaimed post, Caleb stayed home on Friday for the purpose of keeping him healthy.  In this attempt, we completely and utterly failed.  For this failure, I blame the cats.

  By Saturday, Caleb had a nasty cough.  It wasn't one of those cute coughs, either, but the type of cough that sounds like there is something more than air coming up.  Sounds disgusting, right?  Every time he coughed, Rachel and I would look at each other with feelings of sorrow upon our faces--it sounded so sad and, more importantly, so not healthy.  I thought that my attempt to keep him healthy by keeping him home had failed, so I kicked the cat.  (editor's note:  Keith didn't actually kick the cat.  No cats were harmed in the writing of this post.)


  By Sunday, it wasn't getting any better (the cough, not the Republican primary), so we decided to take him to the doctor on Monday morning.  Caleb wasn't running a fever (he can't run at all, actually, now that I stop to think about it.  I suppose we could say that he hadn't caught a fever, but anything his hands intersect with is just as much dumb luck as it is concerted effort on his part.), and he was smiling and playing at church, but the cough sounded serious.

  So Rachel took him to the doctor on Monday morning, and the doctor was pleased that he didn't have a fever, looked in one ear and saw that it was fine, looked in the other and promptly declared, "Oh.  I think I see the problem."

  Turns out Caleb has an ear infection.  Luckily, we caught it before it got too painful for him, meaning that he's asleep right now, rather than awake and screaming in pain, which means we'd probably be on our way to the hospital because, well, what else do you do with a screaming baby at midnight?  (editor's note:  Keith never even thought the word 'Benadryl' as a possible response to that question.)  The doctor said that while fluid was building up in Caleb's ear, it hadn't yet started to exert pressure on the eardrum, meaning that it wasn't causing much pain, only making fluid drain down his throat, leading to the cough.

  The downside is that we have to put Caleb on antibiotics.  I hate the thought of putting him on antibiotics at such a young age--I know how harmful they can be to your digestive tract.  While they kill the bad bacteria, they also kill a lot of good bacteria.  (While 'a lot' is not a very scientific number, it's a rough estimate)  I worry that they may harm his stomach for the time being, but there's no alternative that doesn't end in screaming baby, pain, and a trip to the hospital.  The infection needs to be dealt with, so we'll do this and move forward, hoping that the antibiotic doesn't do too much harm.

  So we're grateful to have caught it in time, to spare him the pain as well as sparing us the 3 a.m. screaming baby problem.  (Note:  this is when you know your doctor understands children--when he states that Caleb won't start crying at four in the afternoon or 8 the next morning, when the solution is fairly easy, but at 3 in the morning, when nothing else is open)

  Hopefully, in the morning Caleb will be cured, the sun will be shining, Rachel will have had a full night's rest, Keith will have determined how to be a faithful pastor, the world will be at peace and Uncle Sam will offer to give Keith a red, white and blue Ferrari to help spread the spirit of patriotism in our fair country.

  (I will be perfectly happy if only the first three happen.  The fourth and fifth are dreams of mine, and I don't really want a Ferrari.  I'd just feel guilty driving it.  Although the first week would be glorious.)