Thursday, November 19, 2009

Sick and Tired

The last week I was home with a tiny sick baby. This was my first real experience with Gabe being sick. It started early Tuesday morning. Gabe woke up for his normal 3 a.m. meal and was very congested. He was snorting and gurgling with every cry. I felt bad for him but there isn’t much you can do. With a baby as young as he is, there aren’t really any medicines that will help with congestion.


I should have known something else was wrong, however, because he wouldn’t go back to sleep. Ry and I assumed it was because he couldn’t breathe well and so he was fussy. We each took a turn that morning and I thank Ryan for his patience. I was with Gabe until about 4:15 am and then Ryan took him until about 5:30 which is when he needed to get up and start getting ready for work. So then I took him back but noticed that he was very sweaty and warm.

I kept him with me until about 6 am because I needed to take a shower so that I could get ready for work as well. Ryan held him while I jumped in and decided to take him temperature. When Ryan took it, it was 99.6 which isn’t really high. I got out of the shower and Ry headed off to work. Me, being the paranoid person that I am, decided to check his temperature again at about 6:30 and it now read 100.4. Now I am worried. Not only is he plugged up like my bathtub drain and can’t breathe because of it, but now he is running a fever. There is no way I am taking him to daycare now.


So I call my work and let them know I won’t be in. (BTW, I work with the most amazing people! They were 100% understanding of the situation. THANKS LADIES!) And then I called my doctor’s office. Gabe’s doctor opens at 7 am which is nice and they worked us in at 8:15 am.
We get there and do all the basic stuff. Listen to his heart rate-sounds good. Take his weight-now at 14 and ½ pounds. (The average weight for a 3 month baby is 12.56 Pounds and Gabe at 10 weeks weighs 14 and 1/2….BIG BOY!) Then they check his temperature-101.6 HOLD ON! That is not normal, nor is it good. So the doctor comes in and listens to his lungs and decides that Gabe needs a chest x-ray. Oh hell. I almost passed out when he had his blood drawn, how am I going to handle this?


And yes, the passing out comment is true. At Gabe’s one month appopintment back on September 21st Gabe had to have his blood drawn to get his PKU test done. So I am holding Gabe while the nurse pricks him in the heel with a needle and starts squeezing blood onto this test card. I am doing okay and I start feeling hot and sweaty. Then my vision quickly starts to get tunneled and as I am asking my sister Becca to take Gabe from me, me knees get weak and my stomach drops. I hurried and sat down and put my head between my knees. Becca said I was really pale and it took me a few minutes to recover. I was glad she was there to help me. So after that, how I am supposed to take him for a chest x-ray? I am going to be sick!



I walk over to the area of the clinic that does x-rays. The technician is nice and tries to explain to me that because babies can’t sit up, nor will they hold still that there is a “device” they use to help to get the x-ray. He went on about how it works and more about why but I quit listening when I saw the contraption. It looks like a torture device. And good ol’ Google had an image of one.



There are a few things wrong with this that I would like to point out. First, the room appears to be brightly lit-this is not the case. The room was almost dark. Also this baby is facing out-in real life, they face a wall so the machine can take a picture of their back. And lastly, and most important, notice how calm this baby is. THIS WOULD NEVER HAPPEN! The baby in this picture must have been given a valium to keep him this still. The plexy-glass sides of this torture device are cold and when the stuff a baby into this thing when they aren’t feeling good, the cold doesn’t help. Poor Gabe was hungry, sick, cold, and probably scared and I couldn’t do anything to help him. He just sat there screaming, which the technician informed me was really a good thing because it means his lungs are working and they will get good images. Sorry but that doesn't make me feel any better about my screaming baby. It just makes my boobs and my heart hurt.


So after that they take a flu test on him and they send us on our merry way. Turns out Gabe didn't have the flu. Do I feel like I put him through hell for nothing? A little. But he won't remember it so I am okay. I say this but years later when he is in therapy, he will being this up. And then I will really feel like an ass.


He is doing much better now. Still a little congested and snorts when he eats. It makes me laugh which makes me sound kind of mean. The point of this blog was to share my first experience with Gabe being sick and it is turning out to be more proof that I am a HUGE jerk. I should probably stop talking now.


Here is proof that Gabe is doing better. And do you notice his onesie? It says "I LOVE MOMMY" and yes, that is a shameless plug for myself. If child services ever shows up at my house I wil put down my crack pipe, take the beer away from Gabe, and put this onesie on him. It is my proof that I am a fit parent. What kid would wear this if it wasn't true?

1 comment:

Baby Mama said...

Those contracptions are called Pigastats. I used to use them too. If you don't use them you have to take about 10 pictures to get a good one. The babies end up getting a lot more exposure to radiation,which is not good. Trust me your xray tech did the right thing. They are really scary, it sounds like you did pretty good though. I'm proud of you.