Sick of being sick

This is what our life has been full of for the past few months. Medicine droppers. As you can see, we've started quite an impressive collection of different shapes, colors, and sizes of droppers to give Haley medicine. It began with an ear infection and it all went downhill from there.

We first noticed something wasn't quite right with our daughter when she became unusually whiny. She's a very happy baby, even when she's sick, so it was extremely unusual that she began whining as much as she did. Me being the parent that shrugs most things off as just having a "bad day" decided that she was just tired. My husband, who is quite the opposite (he made me ask the pediatrician if Haley's hiccups were normal when she was a newborn) talked me into taking her in for a check up. It turns out that my poor, newly minted 1-year old had a double ear infection.

Haley had never had an ear infection before, so I knew it was only a matter of time until they found her, especially with the history that my husband had as a child - multiple ear infections, 8 sets of tubes, and several surgeries. No worries though, they'd give her some medicine and everything would heal up I thought. A week and one antibiotic later, we were back to visit Haley's pediatrician only to find out that both ears were still infected. Fast forward 4 more antibiotics, an allergy medication, several bad diaper rashes, 3 shots, and a partridge in a pear tree later and my poor baby still has yet to shake the double ear infections, and now she has pneumonia from all of the drainage. This poor girl can't catch a break.

To her credit, she is a trooper and she handles things better than I would if I had a double ear infection, allergies, and pneumonia at the same time. It amazes me how much such a little person can put up with and still keep a smile on her face. I just hope she doesn't have to put up with it much longer. She has an appointment with a specialist on Monday to look at her ears and decide whether or not she needs to get tubes put in. At this point, I just want whatever will make her feel and hear normally again. I just wish it hadn't come to tubes, even if thousands of other children across the world have been in her same tiny shoes.