Poor sick baby!

Co-mingling: To blend, mix, merge, or integrate.

In vet med, we use this term to refer to a load of mixed calves that have been brought from different ranches and combined into a new herd, sharing all kinds of germs and disease. These cattle often become sick due to stress and being exposed to different illnesses.

And so it is at daycare. Ugh.

The first time he was at daycare in May, he got a wicked cold that proceeded to cause a conjunctivitis. Mommy got a horrible cold and a soar throat and was prescribed antibiotics from a bonehead MD that wouldn't listen to me when I told him I was nursing. Before I got a clear answer on if I could even take them, I felt better. So now I have a back up Z-pack, just in case.

This time, he ended up with a nasty viral enteritis. And disgusting, green, ropey nasal discharge. I normally only have to change a dirty diaper every 3-5 days, which is normal for a breast fed baby (milk is highly digestible). I changed 6-8 dirty diapers every day for 5 days. It's hard to tell if he was vomiting, but there was defiantly an increase in spit-up. I'm fairly certain he got dehydrated; there was no way I was keeping his ins and outs balanced. Each time I called his pediatrician I got conflicting or different instructions. First just feed him as regular, then don't feed him until the diarrhea stops, then add culturelle, now just pedialyte, Benadryl for his nose. *sigh*

He missed daycare Friday and Monday, and we kept him home from church Sunday. But we made it through, he's starting to have more regular diapers, acting like he feels better and sleeping for 3-4 hour stretches, instead of waking me up 5 or 6 times a night. And yeah, I feed him each time he wakes, just because I'm worried that he still needs fluids, so all of our sleep training is flying out the window.

Oh, and did I mention that he gave it to everyone at the clinic? They dropped like flies each day. We have decided to start keeping track of all of his illnesses by giving them their own alphanumeric system and see how many sicknesses we get this year. This will be the first and we're calling it C1H1.  Super glad he goes to daycare (extreme sarcasm here).