Doctor vs No-Doctor

I would have thought that by my third child I would better understand when a baby has an ear infection. Unfortunately, I am still completely clueless regarding this aspect of parenting.  For the amount of money I have spent on going to the doctor for what I thought was an ear infection, but was really just a fussy baby, I could have purchased one of those ear-checkers myself.

So last night the scenario repeated itself again. Yesterday after lunch Nathan refused to take more than 20-40 minute naps, for the rest of the day. He would be exhausted, I would lay him down, and about a half hour later he would wake up. Happy as can be......for another hour before he would get fussy again and the process would repeat itself.

Last night he woke up  a total of five. Yup five times. Beginning at 11:00 and continuing throughout the night. Why don't you let him just cry it out? You may ask. We have. Oh, we have. During that painful process he has lost his voice twice. Started only waking up once a night for a few days and the digressed back to twice a night. Then repeated that cycle over again. But never in a good long while has he woken up five times.

This morning, his nap only lasted 30 minutes. Again.

So do I take him to the doctor? Or do I wait? Of course, this happens on a Friday (It is always a Friday!) I usually like to wait, because one night could be a fluke, right? But if I wait and there is a bad night then either 1- I have to pay double the co-pay to go in on weekends. Or 2- Wait until Monday and get no sleep this weekend.

And if I wait until Monday, then why not wait until Wednesday because I have his six-month appointment scheduled then anyway? But do I really want to put up with a fussy baby until Wednesday? Or should I take him in today? When, in all likelihood they are going to find nothing wrong. Again

Pity my family. They have to actually deal with me like this.