Mommy's Worried, Baby's Fine
So. Last night was sort of exciting.It started out as a normal night with lots of promise. Bunny and I came home. She had some supper and a bath and then we woke up Daddy. Then, the whole family sat down to watch NCIS (insert obligatory Mark Harmon is sexy comment here). After that, Bunny was playing while we watched William H. Macy as The POTUS in The Unit (it isn't NCIS, but it is still good - alas, no Mark Harmon). Bunny soon had a bottle and went to bed. Mommy had big plans about working out and going to bed. That didn't happen.
Forty-five minutes after falling asleep, Bunny woke up screaming. And I mean screaming. She did not stop crying when I picked her up. She did not stop crying when I tried to offer her a bottle. She refused a bottle, tylenol, and even refused to be held. Although, she also refused to be put down. She screamed and screamed and screamed some more. Twenty minutes in, I called Dial-a-Nurse because this sort of behavior is very uncharacteristic. She could not be pleased, something was most definitely wrong. After jumping through hoops over the phone and giving them the same information three times (something I am convinced all medical professionals do to check that you are mentally okay or to distract you from the screaming baby) and chatting with the nurse for 25 minutes, Bunny was still screaming.
The nurse said that ordinarily if a child is crying for an hour they would suggest a trip to the ER. Since we live 15 miles from a hospital and Bunny had been crying for 45 minutes, we hopped in the car. All of us. Prince Charming opted to join us in our adventure instead of going to work as normal. Naturally, the minute we put her in the car she got quiet and while not happy, at least wasn't in pain.
As I have said before, I haven't done this before. I'm a nervous new mommy. This means that I made an executive decision to go to the ER anyway. Sure, she wasn't still crying, but 45 minutes of crying is highly unusual for Bunny Boop. Five minutes is unusual. I decided to err on the side of caution.
The entire drive, I'm doing a mental investigation. What did she eat? How much did she drink? Poopie diaper? Wet diaper? Good Lord, what if I've made some serious blunder in my parenting and it is all my fault and something very serious? I'll never forgive myself. What if we get there, the doctor takes one look at her and says, "She's fine. Maybe she had some gas. Babies cry, you know" and sends me home with that look that says I'm an over-reacting new mother? What if they take one look at her and want to med-flight her to Madison for surgery?
My mind is at its most creative when under stress. And there is no stress like a mother worried about her cub.
Prince Charming, of course, was my rock. He was probably worried (or he would have gone to work), but you wouldn't have known it by looking. He's calm, business-like, even. I'm all mind whirlygiggin' and nervous fingers fumbling and tapping.
We arrived at Divine Savior (I'd never been there before) and they started asking us all those same questions again. Bunny wasn't crying, but anybody could tell by looking at her that she wasn't happy. She was tired too. 45 minutes of screaming will exhaust anybody. We finally see the nurse who really pisses Bunny off by taking her temperature the "old-fashioned" way. I have never done this. The under the arm method and ear method work just fine. I'm afraid Bunny saw this (what else can you call it) intrusion quite unacceptable. She was not a happy camper after that.
From there, they took us into yet another room and we finally saw a doctor. He listened to her lungs (this made her angry), looked in her ears (hell hath no fury), and finally checked her throat (Good God Man!) and we had to hold her down through all of it. It is no wonder I have white-coat syndrome; Bunny is starting to get it too.
The doctor made his diagnosis and the remedy: An ear infection and antibiotics. We gave her a dose right there in the examining room before we left and then took our baby home. She was back asleep shortly after 11 p.m. and I was asleep by midnight.
She slept peacefully the rest of the night and woke up smiling, joking, and laughing this morning, thankfully.
I'll tell you, I was really worried. In fact, I was more worried when my alarm clock rang and I realized that she had slept through the night.
Freaky paranoid mom that I am.
Labels: Bunny Boop
