The Ear Infections

Gwen is prone to ear infections.

Two weeks before the holidays, Gwen turned into a monster child. She was due for some more teeth, so we automatically attributed the 3 day scream-fest to getting some knew molars. On the fourth morning, Gwen woke up in the most incredible mood, jumping up and down in her crib, laughing and calling for me to come get her. YAY! It's over! It only took me a couple of seconds to realize what had actually been the source of all the agony and terror. Gwen had an ear infection.We didn't realize Gwen was having any issues with her ear as is wasn't red nor was she tugging or pulling at it. But the fluid dripping from her ear was a tell-tale sign of infection. The poor girl was crying for those three days because of all that fluid building up in her middle ear and putting pressure on her eardrum. Seeing the fluid dripping from her ear meant that the pressure got to be so much that her ear drum perforated. I felt like such a bad mother. I immediately made up for it by packing up some treats and going to the walk-in clinic where we waited a 2 hours to see a doctor. He confirmed my suspicion and sent us off for antibiotics. (Such a lucky mother am I to have a child who actually likes her medicine!) After 10 days of meds, Gwen's ear was cleared up. YAY!

Christmas Eve. Gwen starts getting cranky and restless. We checked her mouth and sure enough she's getting two of her top molars. That was probably the worst night we have ever had with her. So rough. Gwen woke up Christmas morning in such a good mood, laughing and playing. I checked her  mouth and saw that the two little whities had poked through, but I also notice that Gwen's ear was leaking again. Another ear infection!!? But this time, it wasn't a clear fluid dripping out, but a thick green goop. It looked like goobers were coming out of her ear. YUCK!

With another round of antibiotics, Gwen recovered pretty quickly, and we haven't had any more issues....until today.

Gwen was really cranky last night. Inconsolable. This morning she woke up happy, and I noticed her ear leaking AGAIN! For goodness sake! Can't she/we get a break!? I've taken her to the doctor, and he was concerned with how often she's getting these infections, as it's not giving her eardrum any time to heal. I think that Gwen is more prone to ear infections as she was formula fed. I truly hope breast feeding works out better with our next child than it did with Gwen.

All of this crazy-ness has really made me so thankful for our wonderful Health Care program. Gwen has been referred to a EarNoseThroat Specialist at the Foothills Hospital. I hope we can get this one nipped in the butt for good. We are so blessed to live in such an amazing country and province. I love the medical professionals here in Calgary (or at least, the ones I've met so far). I feel we are very well taken care of.