Mommyhood 101

Ah, the New Mommy learning curve. Always interesting, but never so frustrating as when your baby is sick. Is it just a cold? Do we take him to the pediatrician and pay the copay so they can tell us it’s a virus and it will have to work itself out? We don’t want to be THOSE parents—you know, those hyper-worried-see-the-ped-for-the-slightest-sniffle parents. But our boy is sick—he’s snotty and crabby and crying for no reason and just not himself. He’s not pulling on his ears or running a fever, but he’s just…off.

Sigh. It’s SO HARD when they can’t tell you what’s wrong! Two weeks ago this was the situation, and after a few days of CB being a cranky booger factory we decided we should take him to the pediatrician just to be safe. Of course it helps that his Aunt Kiki, who watches him while I’m at work, texted me to tell me that her bf (that’s “boyfriend” for those of you not up on textese) just wasn’t himself. She’s an experienced Momma and she knows CB as well as I do—she knows when things aren’t right. So when we notice AND Aunt Kiki says that something’s wrong, then it’s to the pediatrician we go. So we went, thinking it was just a cold but lo and behold, it was an ear infection. Our poor baby! Not once did he pull on his ears and he didn’t have a fever, so we were caught by surprise. So he went through 10 days of antibiotics, got better, but then started with the runny nose again. Great. So we waited, then took him in 3 days ago—nothing. But we were told that ear infections can recur, so we should continue to watch him. And give him fluids, and use a cold mist humidifier, etc. etc.
Then for the past two days he’s been back to Cranky Booger Factory mode and grabbing his head/face and crawling around while rubbing his forehead into the carpet. Tylenol helps, so that’s good—but something’s still not right but…do we go back? We were just at the pediatrician’s office! But he’s getting worse and he is NOT himself and something is hurting him and even though he doesn’t have a fever we just know something is wrong.
So UB took him back to the pediatrician today and…drum roll here…it’s ANOTHER ear infection! Poor, sweet CB!! Did I mention that it’s SO HARD when they can’t tell you what’s wrong with them? I hate feeling so helpless and so stupid. Ugh. Although I am feeling better about this week’s doctor visits (we weren’t crazy!), I still hate that my baby isn’t feeling well. I hope this run of antibiotics kicks the infection and that we don’t have another back-to-back run. I’m thankful that we caught it now so he’ll be back on track for Thanksgiving. And I know there are so many more awful things that could be wrong with him that aren’t, so I don’t mean to complain. This is part & parcel of the Parenthood gig. In a few years I’ll be the experienced one who can encourage new moms to trust their instincts about their baby’s health. But for right now I’m in the Figure It Out phase, muddling through with all the questions and self-doubt that come with being a newbie.
So thank you, Kiki for the support & corroborating observations.
Thank you UB for taking time away from work to bring our CB to the pediatrician.
Thank you, Lord for an otherwise healthy baby boy and for my wonderful support system.  Thank you for the learning curve.  I wouldn't trade it for anything...