Brayden Thomas is 1 Year Old!

I am finally posting Brayden's 12 month post. He turned 1 on Sunday, the 8th, and what an interesting day it turned out to be. We had big plans for that day. It was Mother's Day and Brayden was supposed to be dedicated at church. After church, I wanted to go out to eat and take him somewhere fun like the zoo or something. When Brayden woke up that morning, he was very unhappy and seemed to be in immense pain. Normally he wakes up, takes his bottle, and is ready to go. That morning, he woke up and took his bottle and then laid his head on my shoulder and screamed without ceasing. I knew he was in serious pain and I also knew he could not stand in front of the church to be dedicated screaming at the top of his lungs. I was very upset about him not being dedicated, but I knew I had to put his needs first.

He has struggled with an ear infection since February so there was no doubt in my mind that that was causing the pain. He had just finished a round of antibiotics the previous Friday and it was obvious it was having no affect. Anytime he is in pain like that, I just shoot some Motrin in him and pretty much instantly he is fine. So, that morning I gave him a dose of Motrin. 15 minutes later, he was still screaming. I figured since we had given him Motrin so much, it wasn't working as well as it should. Then, I gave him half of another dose. (I know I'm a bad mom but I could not stand to see him in pain) We called the doctor and made an appointment to go up to Children's South. He wasn't screaming by the time we got there, but he just laid listlessly on my shoulder in the waiting room instead of wanting to get down and play with the toys. When they took his temperature (& it's rectally so he normally screams), he just laid there and didn't move. It was absolutely heartbreaking to see him like that. The doctor came in and gave him a shot and a prescription for ear numbing drops. He also had to get 2 more shots on Monday and Tuesday. We had already been referred by the pediatrician to an ENT because Brayden needed tubes and his appointment for that was Thursday. His 1 year appointment was Monday. Needless to say, when we go to the doctor's office now, he screams when we walk in the exam room because he's had a rough week dealing with doctors.

So, my lunch out for Mother's Day was stopping by the Burger King drive thru. Brayden eventually started feeling better and we started playing with some of the toys he got at his party. We blew the pool up he got and were very tempted to leave it in the living room as a playpen. :)

He will be getting tubes in his ears Monday so hopefully his ear problems will be a thing of the past!