The first sickness

Goodie! Today we braved the crowds of elderly at our family doctor to get the Little Man (hereafter referred to as LM) checked out. He has been sick for a couple of days with a little congestion and for awhile a little bit less of an appetite. When my hubby came home yesterday and informed me that one of the girls who was in the church nursery with him Sunday night was in the hospital with pneumonia, we became a little more than worried about LM's illness. Especially since he had started to develop a rattle in his chest while breathing and a cough that just sounded, well, pathetic. Usually LM's sound sleep in his own room is most conducive to sleep for all of us, but last night was a tough night getting to sleep for mommy and daddy. Every time he coughed both of us sat up again, looking at each other and wondering, "Should we be going to the emergency room?" Now I will say that sometimes the internet is good for calming fears in doing a general search of symptoms. You can look at a reputable site and say, "Well, he's only got one of these 12 symptoms, so he should be fine waiting for a doctor's appointment tomorrow." But when you start to read all the comments (guilty) and see how even though Sally only had a cough she had a severe illness, or Johnny only missed 2 nursing sessions, but suddenly the next day he was extremely dehydrated and ended up in the hospital, you start to panic. (I do not use Web MD's symptom checker anymore for this very reason. To quote Guys with Kids, "The internet ALWAYS leads to Crohn's disease!") But finally we decided since he did not have a fever and wasn't vomiting or anything, we would wait until morning. Even with the decision made, hubby and I both probably laid awake until at least 2 am, wondering if we had made the right choice.

When we woke up this morning around 8, it wasn't actually to an alarm but to the sound of high winds and rain quite suddenly pelting the side of our apartment. It was actually so alarming that I had to check the weather to make sure we weren't in the midst of a tornado (we weren't. Mom worry strikes again). I promptly called our doctor and made an appointment for 11 am. We arrived at the doctors with only 2 minutes to spare until our scheduled appointment (once again, trouble getting out of the house on time) only to sit in the waiting room for an HOUR. Now I know doctor's get backed up and all, but that was just a little ridiculous. I would have gladly waited an hour for myself, but every time LM coughed a rattle-y cough it put a little break in my heart. I suppose it is part of my new mom-dom, but I couldn't help selfishly thinking, "Why can't the doctors just take us first?! My baby is sick! And he needs to nurse! And he's going to want to nap soon!" Of course, LM himself was in good spirits for being sick and in a strange environment. He just sat and played with his toys like nothing in the world was wrong. And once we actually got to see the doctor, it only took him about 2 minutes to say, "Oh yeah, he looks like he has a sinus infection." He's already taking after his Daddy. Hubby gets them 6 or 7 times a year from allergies. But on the positive side, he should be totally recovered within a week and a half. And, it wasn't pneumonia! So hurray for that. So now he is just sitting next to me and playing with some toys, trying to master the great art of sitting upright by oneself. And the dog is licking up his pools of drool from our couch (gross, I know), so that is my cue to go. 'Til next time!