[plantmommy]

Good for you for standing up against the spinal. It amazes me how quick they are to want to do that.

My ds was in the ER a few nights ago also, as our ped wanted his chest listened to and pulse-ox taken since he seemed to be having trouble breathing and was making really wierd noises. They checked pulse-ox 3 times, listened to his chest 4 times, and both were fine. They also wanted to do a chest xray, spinal, take a urine test, the RSV swab, give him a shot of abx, etc. And the PA said he would call our ped AFTER all the results came back.

We left AMA.

We don't know if it is/was RSV (he's doing much better now) but since his chest sounded fine and his pulse-ox was good, and RSV is a virus, we figured we'd just take him home and keep an eye on him. Our ped was very supportive and said she'd have told us to do just what we did, if we'd called her.

RSV is much more dangerous for premies, and in older babies although it's not fun, it's not as risky. Hopefully Benjamin will get over it just fine. RSV does present as a cold in older kids and adults, so that's probably what you and dd have, as well.

 

[plantmommy]

Oh, I should say it all seemed extra stupid in our case, as ds is 3.5 months old now, and about 19 lbs.! Outside the age where the spinal should be a first resort. (Although I don't agree it ever should be)

He was also sick at 13 days, but it was during office hours, so we took him to our ped., who opted to give him the shot of abx and wait for bloodwork to come back. He did, at that time, have a bacterial infection brewing, and that's when a spinal would have been indicated. However, the abx knocked out the infection and he was better within 24 hours. Our ped wouldn't do one except as a last resort, even in a baby that age where it was indicated.