RSV

An infant girl at Sophie's daycare went to the hospital the other day because she was having trouble breathing, and she tested positive for RSV. Time for dueling Wikipedia quotes:

"In the United States, 60% of infants are infected during their first RSV season, and nearly all children will have been infected with the virus by 2-3 years of age." - Great, so it's nothing to worry about, right?

"The Centers for Disease Control consider RSV to be the 'most common cause of bronchiolitis and pneumonia among infants and children under 1 year of age.'" - Well, shit.

The truth is that it's a very common infection and generally nothing to worry about, except for the immune compromised and babies who were born premature. But it can settle in the lungs fairly easily, which is apparently what happened to Sophie's classmate.

So I'm taking her to the doctor this morning, and we'll see what he/she says. She slept quite well last night, though it was hard getting her to sleep. I think part of what helped her sleep was that we had three humidifiers and a kettle going, which brought the humidity in the house up to about 45%. The nurse on the 24 line was kind enough to give us some warning signs to look for, and S's respiratory rate is normal, and her skin color is good, so I'm not exactly freaking out.

But there's this rattle in her chest that chills my bones. Here's hoping it's nothing.

Update: Well, it's not exactly nothing, but her blood oxygen levels are good and the doctor thinks she looks healthy. A lung x-ray shows some inflammation of her bronchial tubes, but there's not much we can do except wait for her to get better. Basically, it's what we already knew. She has a bad cough, and we need to keep an eye on it. The difference is that I have some very specific things to look out for now.

Health Update Plus Thanksgiving Plans

Sophie went to the doctor yesterday and has a sinus infection. We're giving her antibiotics twice a day, and it should clear up quickly.

As far as Thanksgiving goes, the plan right now is 95% to go to my parents for Thursday dinner, and then about 50-60% to go to Oxford for Saturday dinner. The percentages are rough estimates based on how Sophie is feeling over the next couple of weeks.

Sophie's had a cough for about a week now, and just last night she started tugging at her ears, so it's off to the doctor with her. Hopefully it's just teething, but she might have her first ear infection.

I'll keep y'all posted.

Last night was a bit rougher. She still slept, but was restless all night.

Oh, and Mary, if you're reading this before you head south, I really recommend going through St. Louis, but if you want to go through eastern Tennessee, gas up in the country, and avoid the big cities. All the media sources I can find say to expect gas shortages in all big cities in that part of the country for at least the next two weeks.