Baby has RSV
It is a respiratory virus that is going around right now. Only young kids really get it, adults can, but wouldn’t really notice. It affects the smallest bronchials by breaking down the outer (well inner) most layer and causes chest congestion. An adult might just have a lightly raspy cough, a 3 year old would develop a fever possibly, and an infant might have to be put on oxygen.
She’s lost about half a pound, which puts her at about 8lb 12oz right now, and she’s coming up on 3 months old. She is doing extremely well with it, but her cough sounds awful. Our pediatrician gave us his personal cell number to call if she starts wheezing, turns blue, etc. He said he can get her set up with breathing treatment 24×7 faster than we could be seen at the emergency room. Nice guy. He also said that 100% of the cases he’s seen result in a trip to the hospital if the kid is under 1 month. She’s close to that, so he said we’d more than likely be giving him a call.
She’s actually doing well with it, and is happy for the most part. She started to clear up today, but is sounding worse again tonight. I don’t think she’s going to get bad enough to start wheezing though, unless that happens tonight. I think that if she makes it through the night that she’ll pull through on her own. If not it may mean a couple of days in the hospital until it clears up. Fun. Believe it or not I’m not actually nervous about it. I’m confident in our doc as well as what I’ve read that we just need to act when the time comes and the appropriate people will get her cleared up. It is serious, but not the end of the world.