Poor Baby

My poor baby woke up last night about 10:45 screaming, crying and writhing in pain and was totally inconsolable. He was clutching at his left ear and rubbing and pushing along his left jawline. He was acting the same way that he did last summer when he had a double ear infection with a perforated ear drum. After about 45 minutes of this we called the pediatrician's exchange and spoke to a nurse from Children's Hospital who was taking the calls. She asked some questions and prescribed some numbing ear drops that I ran out to get at the pharmacy. With some ibuprofen in him, he finally calmed down enough to fall asleep while I was picking up the drops. He woke up this morning right before 8, much calmer. He was hungry and asking for breakfast so I took that as a good sign. In the meantime, he has a doctor's appointment at 10 this morning and is taking the day off from school for some R and R. He ate a little bit of breakfast and easily agreed to more ibuprofen and ear drops - things he REFUSED last night (but were forced into him except for the ear drops which he was asleep for by the time I got home so we skipped those). If he does have an ear infection, he'll get antibiotics and be as good as new within a day or two. He tends to respond pretty quickly to antibiotics so I'm not too concerned. He's pretty tough. It just made for a very long night for all of us.

Incidentally, I evidently have magic kisses. Just before I went to the pharmacy last night Ben had me kiss and kiss and kiss his jawline area just under his ear for several minutes, and it seemed to really calm him and make him feel better. I also vigorously rubbed his back at the same time. I guess I really *do* have magic powers!