Christina got her first ear infection this week — just in her right ear, but still. . . .  I wish she hadn’t gotten one at all, but I guess I ought to be glad that she made it this long without one.

Last week, she ran a fever for several days — nothing hot enough to be overly concerned about and she was in good spirits for the most part.   Over the weekend she seemed to be all better, but then by Monday she was starting to be out of sorts.  This was the fussiest we’ve ever seen her, and we had no idea what was causing it.  (She started screeching when upset, as well as arching her back and banging her head — it just really wasn’t like her at all.)  We’ve both seen other babies who were fussier than this on an everyday basis, and we know we’re very lucky in that regard, but we both agree that we prefer her normal happy self.  She had also been eating less than normal, barely wanting more than a taste of whatever we were eating.

On Wednesday she was fussier still, and a couple of times I noticed her holding/brushing/pulling her right ear.  I couldn’t just wait any longer to see if it was going to go away on its own, so I called Dr. Bekker (Our Homeopath), and he told us to bring her in.  I picked the kids up from school a few minutes early and brought them along with us; they liked the waiting room, and they kept Christina entertained while we waited, so that worked out well.  Actually, they liked the waiting room well enough that they wanted to stay out there when it was time to take Christina into the exam room.  I showed Angelina which room we’d be in if they needed me (Alexander was too busy playing), and took Christina in.

The exam itself didn’t take all that long:  he weighed her (16.03 lbs), looked in her ears and throat, and asked some questions about what’s been going on with her.  (I always try to think of everything that might possibly be related to whatever problem we’re coming in for, but he always has more questions; I really like how thorough he is.)  We moved from the exam room to his office (again with a time-out for me to tell the kids where we’d be), and Dr. Bekker opened the door so the kids could see us.  (I thought that was pretty understanding of him; I hadn’t asked, since I didn’t even realize that the room had a door that opened directly into the waiting room.)  He made some notes, asked a couple more questions, and went over to his cabinet and pulled out a remedy for her.  She didn’t want to open her mouth for it, but we finally got it open enough to sprinkle it in; she smacked her lips and looked at Dr. Bekker with a very surprised expression — she apparently hadn’t been expecting something so sweet!  (I have to wonder what she was expecting; it’s not like we’ve given her anything that tastes bad. . . .)

Dr. Bekker sent us home with an alternate remedy to try if she wasn’t feeling better by morning, but it turned out to be unnecessary. Christina seemed to be feeling a bit better that afternoon, and she slept much better that night.   We made another trip down to pick up another dose of her remedy for that afternoon, and she seems pretty much all better now.

I’ve never heard of a baby recovering from an ear infection so quickly!  I already believed that homeopathy was a good thing, but this was much better than I’d ever anticipated.

On a slightly different note, I’m going to be asking Dr. Bekker about vaccinations.  I fully anticipate that he’ll be against them — a position I’m finding myself more strongly in after doing some research — and I’m hoping that he’ll have some sort of literature that I can use to support our stance when people question us about it.  I think I’ll probably do another post about that, but it’s much too late to get into it tonight. . . .