When it Rains - it Pours ...

It's been a rough week for the ol' Rosario family. Elliott started the week with a temperature of 102. He can't go into daycare with that mess, so I called off work (again), and made another doctor appointment. We saw a really nice doc who said he may have the start of a couple different things - mainly another ear infection - and asked us to come back in two days. That night was an all-nighter - Eli was so uncomfortable and fussy, so we kept him in bed with us.
The worst thing about living in Germany is there are no 24-hour clinics available to us. If something goes wrong after the on-post clinic closes - your only option is the German Krankenhaus.
The next morning Vic and I both woke up with Flu-type symptoms ... and it was not pretty. It was a long, horrible day that I would not wish on my worst enemy. I'll spare you the details.
We went back to the clinic the following day for E's follow up - he still had a temperature of 102-103. Vic and I were still a little shaky at this point, but feeling much better. The doctor said E looked pretty dehydrated, and we should wait another 24-hours before taking him to the hospital. In retrospect, we should have taken him to the hospital that day, but we waited like the doctor said. I'll also spare you, yet, another rant about Army doctors ...
Anywho, 24 hours passed and the fever wasn't gone so we packed a few things and headed for the hospital. We didn't have to wait long to be seen by the triage nurse. She was not impressed with the Army doctor's orders to wait out the fever. They did an exam, and tested for RSV (which was negative), but decided he needed an IV immediately. He was so dehydrated that they were only able to put the IV in his head ... it was horrible, and I don't know which one of us cried harder.
We ended up staying three nights in the hospital. While the Germans have incredible hospital care ... they are really lacking in the amenity department. No internet, no TV, no type of in-room kid entertainment. Eli was tethered to machines to whole time, so we played A LOT of peek-a-boo, watched Baby Einstein on the tablet ... and in moments of sheer desperation ... I sang and danced around his crib.
He is feeling much better now, and we are happy to be home!!

Right when we got into our room ... before they hooked up his IV ...

Breathing treatments ... which he loved ...

Hospital room with his jail-cell crib ...

Hanging out with daddy on day two ... thank goodness Vic has such an understanding command. They allowed him to take the week off to stay with Elliott. I'm not sure what I would have done without him!

One slab of lunch meat, and some bread. The Germans aren't big on dinner ...

A calmer moment. The nurses were great the whole time, and so nice. They spoke very little English, but Eli loved them ... especially Frau Ursula who would sing German songs to him at night.

Watching Baby Einstein ... he was pulling at his IV, so they fashioned this lovely headpiece for him.

Helping me open my birthday presents!!

Finally IV-free!! They had this awesome ball pit right outside of his room. We couldn't take advantage of it due to his IV, but we let him play for a few minutes while we were waiting on his discharge paperwork.

All-in-all, it was a pretty horrible week. I definitely learned my lesson about trusting my 'mommy' instincts ... even over a doctor's advice.