Life with Ava

I knew I'd catch whatever she had - and I did. With a vengeance.

I came home from work yesterday, fed Ava and handed her over to J for a Daddy night. I crawled onto the couch and covered up before falling asleep around 7ish. J handled the bath before handing her to me where she finally fell asleep with me on the couch. J must have taken her to bed at some point because she wasn't there when I woke up. I still feel awful and am planning on pretty much the same thing tonight. Well, after I paint the black X on the front door indicating the plague lives here.

I googled my symptoms this morning. Dr. Google tells me I have rabies. I think it's probably just a nasty cold/virus thing.

Ava went to the doctor yesterday. I finally got worried enough to take her as she isn't getting much better and there's still snot, coughing, and eye drainage everywhere (especially on my shirts - it looks like slugs have crawled across the left shoulder of every piece of clothing I own). Unfortunately we were not able to see her regular pediatrician and ended up seeing another in the practice.

I hated this doctor pretty much on sight.

For some reason she had already decided that Ava must have an ear infection. I did not think this was the case. I was more worried about a sinus infection and/or allergies because her eyes are bloodshot and puffy and she's draining green stuff from eyes and nose. Anyway, the doctor never once looked in her eyes, nose, or mouth and was only focused on her ears.

The problem with that is that Ava had earwax buildup and the doctor said she couldn't see the eardrums. She cleaned one out and tried the other - that was traumatic enough for Ava who was crying like her heart was breaking. I had to hold her down while she was stiff as a board, shaking and screaming. After all that the doctor said she couldn't get it all so the nurse needed to do an ear wash. I held Ava for this, telling the nurse it didn't matter if I got wet, but it was no less traumatic for her. After 2 ear washes I told the nurse that we were done - no more. That freaked the nurse out and she went to get the doctor, to whom I promptly reiterated that we were finished and they would not continue down this path with Ava as it wasn't working anyway. She argued a bit with me but I was in mama bear mode and not having it so she eventually gave in and visualized her ears as best she could.

After it was all over the doctor kept apologizing to me and trying to explain herself. The problem was that Ava just wanted her out of the room and was not calming down while the doctor was in there. I finally told the doctor that Ava was just mad at her and asked her if she could please stop trying to touch her and talk to her so I could get her calmed down. Stupid doctor just kept saying that she didn't want Ava to be mad at her. Duh - you just held her down and stuck things in her ears. What do you expect??

The results: Ava does not have an ear infection and I was sent home with instructions to use benadryl for the next few nights. Yep - pretty much exactly what I was doing anyway.

I took her back to daycare where I gave her an extra afternoon bottle and rocked her for a while. I put her in a swing before leaving and she slept for about 90 minutes. Poor thing was just worn out. It was a rough day for both of us.