Never a Dull Moment

As if Halloween weren't crazy enough, we decided to pay a visit to the Emergency Room too. It was Little Leo's first and probably not last, visit to Children's Mercy last night. I noticed that he began developing a little cough sometime yesterday evening and wasn't overly concerned as Sophia just got over a cold herself...but then Charlie thought he felt warm and took his temp. Well, this is where it got hairy. His underarm temp was 99.4. Many doctors and nurses recommend a rectal temp be taken when the baby has a temp over 99. And this is where things start going down hill...

I must admit that both Charlie and I are, how you say...inexperienced... in this area. We never faced this challenge with Sophia so we were both a bit freaked. I won't give you all the nitty-gritties but just imagine the possibilities with two grown adults, a tube of Vaseline and a very squirmy baby. Hmmm.

After this 30 minute ordeal we dialed up Ask-A-Nurse to give her the low-down and get some further advice. (I love this service by the way...ingenious!) She basically said, take him to the ER, he could have a fever and at his age any fever is serious. Okay, enough said...we loaded up the car and headed out.

We waited almost 3 hours, which didn't really bother me that much as I felt it was to be expected during flu season AND on Halloween, to finally see the doctor. Here is really where my irritation begins and ends...she was complete bitch. Essentially after asking us a bunch of questions she made us feel like idiots for bringing him in, implying that we were stupid not to know better because he was still eating and having wet diapers and then she had the gall to ask us if we just did this because we though he had Swine Flu. Um...HELLO!? He's FIVE WEEKS OLD!!!!! I would expect her to be understanding of such things and that if he did in fact have a fever (which he didn't by the way, once the experts took it rectally they got a better result!) he would need immediate medical treatment! Quite frankly I think we were justified in our visit. We were concerned parents of a very tiny baby AND we called to get a second opinion before just rushing to the hospital. Regardless of all these things, we went to the hospital for a service, not a lecture and she should have placated our fears not patronized us. She can talk about us behind our backs all she wants...vent to your fellow doctors about the over protective parents who brought in a healthy 5-week old all you want, but she should have made us feel better!

Just to spite her we stole two fancy bulb syringes for his nose...we're such rebels! After making it home just before 2 am, we are all exhausted but are continuing to monitor his situation. So far so good! Thank goodness for mothers though, because my mom came over at the drop of a hat last night to stay with Sophia (who thank heavens did not wake up b/c it would have been melt down city when she found out I wasn't home) and Charlie's mom who just picked up Sophia to take her to church and to visit Grandma B. Hopefully Charlie and I can catch up on some sleep and hopefully Leo's cough will clear up in a timely manner and this is the end of that ordeal!