6 weeks

6 weeks old and sick as a dog.  Poor little baby!!  Just before he turned 6 weeks Tanner started coughing and was horribly congested.  I decided to take him into the doctor and it turned out to be RSV.  In one way we were lucky because he never developed a fever.  If he had, it would have meant automatic hospitalization for someone his age.  Plus tests galore to find out what was wrong, probably including a spinal tap.  (We did that when Kirstie was a baby and don't want to do it ever again!)  So since we had a diagnosis early, we could avoid all those tests.  That was the good news.  The bad news: since he was so young there really was nothing we could do for him.  The poor little boy was so miserable.  He would have horribly scary coughing fits that seemed to go on forever.  In actuality they were only 3-5 minutes, but it seemed like eternity.  I learned that babies do not know how to breathe through their mouths, so when he was so congested and couldn't breathe through his nose, it was pretty scary.  The first few days I took him to the doctor in the morning and then again in the evening for the pediatrician to check him out before she went home for the night.  (Have I ever mentioned how much I LOVE our pediatrician?)  He would get all the snot suctioned out each time we went in.  The dr also gave us a "prescription" to take him to a respiratory therapist up at Alta View Hospital to have his nose suctioned out any time, any day.  Unfortunately we had to do this many times.  Poor little Tanner started flinching every time someone came anywhere near his nose!  Nights were the worst.  He couldn't lay flat because he would become too congested, wouldn't be able to breathe and would have a coughing fit.  If he slept in his swing or bouncer too long, he'd slide down too far into his blanket and his face would be covered.  So, we slept in bed with us, propped up on the boppy pillow.  Needless to say, no one got much sleep.  His coughing fits were also always worse at night.  I'm still amazed that he never threw up or anything while coughing.  

After being sick for 12 days, he finally started to feel better.  We went a couple of days without having to see the respiratory therapist.  Then it all started again.  First a few coughs, then the congestion, and then it hit hard again.  We got another "prescription" from the dr for more nose-sucking sessions.  A couple of the therapists began to recognize us when we came.  Finally after more than 3 weeks of battling this darn RSV, he finally got better.  

Although as I write this almost 6 weeks later, this poor boy is once again congested.  But I think he might have allergies or something.  He sneezes like crazy, is congested-- mostly at night, and is always rubbing is nose and eyes like they are bothering him.  Hopefully this doesn't last long.