We have had colds going around and around our house for a couple weeks. As when anyone in this house gets sick they get a lecture about germs, washing hands, how long and how often to do it, the best way to cough, blowing noses, and anything else sick related. I also tell them to stay away from the baby! It is so sad when babies get sick because they are extra miserable. Since they can’t have medicine to help them feel better you have to find other way to comfort them and help them to get better. When this recent round of colds hit, everyone knew STAY AWAY FROM THE BABY!
Well after a week or so of my 4 year old having it, my 7 year old started to get it. I also felt a twinge of sore throat so I started on my Zicam regimen (I am a BIG believer in Zicam) and my sore throat went away and I felt better. After a couple days my husband got it, the other kids still had it and my sore throat was back (it did go away again and I didn’t ever get sick!). I also noticed that my baby’s nose was starting to get drippy. DARN! MY baby had caught the cold.
He did a very good job at staying happy through the nastiness of being sick. His nose was running like a faucet and had a little fever here and there. He was still a delightful baby. After over a week of having his cold it started to settle into his chest. I then started to get worried about bigger problems – pneumonia, bronchitis- things like that! I started google those things and of course you start seeing horror after horror!
We are not big doctor people. Unless something is seriously wrong we will just wait it out or figure it out ourselves. We have insurance, we just don’t feel like we need to go to the doctor at the drop of a hat. So the tug of war began in my head. Do I take my baby or not? How do I know if it is serious enough to take him? What if he is fine? What if he isn’t? I then started thinking about several stories of families that have lost loved ones, not necessarily to illness, but they were gone. If something was seriously wrong with my baby and I had refused to take him to the doctor because we aren’t doctor people, I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself. We made the decision to take him to urgent care just to make sure all was well.
After all their checking, weighing, poking and prodding my baby is fine. His cold is just lingering but it isn’t in his lungs. He sounds worse than he is. Sure it is annoying to have needlessly spent $200 for a doctor visit when nothing serious is wrong, but the peace of mind knowing my baby is fine is priceless! Making sure he keeps that adorable smile on his face is worth it!!
Do you have these battles in your head as well? Whether it is about going to the doctor, or other aspects of parenthood?
