One hellish night.

Last night Jon and I had one of the rougher nights in a long time.  Callum woke up around 12:30am and wouldn't (or couldn't) go back to sleep... he stayed awake CRYING straight for two hours.  It was horrible.  Jon and I kept taking turns going in to pat him back to sleep, or rock him, or hold him, or try to get him to take some of his bottle.  As we made it through the second hour, it suddenly dawned on me, that he might - JUST MIGHT - have an ear infection.  :(  The nonstop crying was just not like him, but also, he couldn't get comfortable once we laid him down in his crib.  It was clear he was exhausted - he kept falling asleep on our chests, but the minute we laid him back down, he'd wake up crying again.  I finally noticed the pattern.

So, out of desperation to get my boy to sleep, and to possibly catch some zzz's myself, I propped myself up in bed, in a sitting position, holding Callum so that he could fall asleep on my chest.  He immediately passed out around 3am and I sort of slept, and sort of not slept, until he woke up again at about 5:30am.

BRU.  TAL.

I was a zombie most of the morning (as was Jon) - but determined to get in to see our doctor as soon as I could, to confirm my suspicion.  Thankfully, they said to come on over right away.  Dr. Safir acknowledged my instincts were right, as our poor little baby had a horrible ear infection in his right ear.  Sadly, it's the same ear he had an infection in last time around, not more than a month ago.  So, we're going to treat this one a bit more aggressively and with a more watchful eye, since it definitely seems like Callum is more susceptible to ear infections than your average Joe.

I waited around the pharmacy while Callum slept in my arms, and then got the anti-biotics in him as soon as they were ready.  I also gave him a hit of Ibuprofen when we got to his school, just to help with any swelling and pain he might still have.  That seemed to help quite a bit, as he was in pretty good spirits for the day.  I'm crossing my fingers that the anti-biotics kick in quickly so that he starts feeling better soon.  I hate to think he was in that much pain last night with us as clueless parents not knowing what to do (and letting him cry for TWO WHOLE HOURS before it finally dawned on me what was wrong!).

And, I hate to go another night with absolutely no sleep, or rather, sleep next to a man who has gone another night with no sleep.  ;-)