In the hospital

At Cooper's pediatrician's office they took his temp (which was still a fever even though he had Tylenol a couple hours earlier), checked his pulse and oxygenation level, and counted his respirations several times. Dr.M looked at his ears and his throat as well.

He has an ear infection, which explains the screaming all night and the fever. He has a red/sore throat and his voice is hoarse - we're not sure if that is from a sore throat to start with or if it got that way from screaming all night. His respirations were too fast, too many times that they counted. After Dr.M consulted with a doctor at the hospital, it was determined that since Cooper is still recovering from his aspiration pneumonia, these new infections and symptoms (ear,throat, congestion, and fast respiration) put him at higher risk of dangerous respiratory distress and requires precautionary overnight observation. We were sent to the hospital from the doctor's office.

Since arriving, Cooper has had an IV installed, his nose suctioned out by a tube that they inserted and pumped out samples to test for RSV and the flu, a chest x-ray, a pulsox monitor put on his toe to monitor breathing and oxygen levels, and he's getting IV antibiotics for the ear infection. Oh, and blood was drawn for lab workups.

Last time we were here the IV installation and first blood draw was awful - the nurses struggled and the baby freaked out and I got queasy and almost passed out. THIS TIME, was a different story. I distracted him with a rattle which he ignored and when the IV needle went in Cooper grunted and wimpered for a second but no screaming or crying! Instead, and this is the crazy part, he turned his head toward the nurse that put the IV in and smiled at her and started 'talking' to her. She said that in her 26 years of doing this, that was a first. I couldn't believe it.

We should get the results of the chest x-ray and bloodwork in the morning.

I'm on a pullout chair/cot and Cooper is fast asleep on my chest. He woke up crying/whimpering in pain earlier so they gave him some tylenol and back to sleep he went but when I try to put him in the crib he wakes up and cries so he's on me instead. They brought me extra pillows so I can surround us with them for extra safety while he sleeps on me.

The pediatrician says that if the labs come back looking good (x-ray too - though they expect it to still show the pneumonia), we'll probably get released tomorrow with antibiotics (and probiotics for the side effects).fingers crossed for normal test results.

The hospital's internet service is messed up so I'm writing this using my cell/blackberry.

OK, that's all for now. I'm going to try to rest with Cooper now. I will post another update on Saturday.

Thanks for your prayers and positive thoughts!!!