Dylan had an eventful day. So did mommy. Please allow me to explain.
Last night Dylan had a cough, but it sounded like just a cough that was caused by too much saliva from drooling. So I put him to bed and didn't think much of it.
Until midnight. Dylan woke up and was coughing. Not just regular coughing, this cough sounded like a barking seal. (Cute, I know, but when I tried to get him to balance a ball on his nose he just looked at me).
He wouldn't nurse, which is odd because he loves to nurse at night. He doesn't usually even open his eyes. He fusses, I nurse him, and he falls right back to sleep.
Last night though, he was hard to calm down. And he was up a lot coughing.
Then he was up for good at 5 am. Dylan needs to get the memo that 5 am is not acceptable. The sun isn't even up at 5 am.
So daddy took Dylan downstairs and let me sleep.
It was amazing. I haven't had a nap without Dylan sleeping next to me in a couple weeks. Ah....mazing.
Then Dylan was getting fussy and daddy brought him up to nurse. Then we all took a nap. Daddy got 1/4 of the bed, I got 1/4 and Dylan took half. How can someone who fits in my arms take up that much room?
Dylan was still coughing, but I was sure that it was just a cold or something.
Dylan and I then got ready and attended The Great Cloth Diaper Change. It is a global event that took place today. Moms and babies all over the world changed their babies at the exact same time and we are hoping to set a world record and get in The Book. No, not that book, the Guinness Book of World Records.
Well, Dylan and I mingled a little bit, but I kept him in his sling and tried to keep him away from other babies.
I decided that Dylan sounded awful and that he was not getting better. In fact, the cough was getting worse by the minute. And people were starting to stare. You know, the kind of stare that says, "Lady, stop letting your child hack all over me and my child and take your germ infested baby to a doctor." Yeah, that look.
So I took Dylan to the UT walk in clinic. It is located in a building at the furthest point possible from my house while still being in the city limits. I got there and was so excited to see that no one was in the waiting room. Odd, but I walked in.
There was a nurse sitting at the desk ready to check us in. I couldn't believe my luck. I have never seen a walk in clinic this empty.
I signed Dylan Ple..... and the nurse asked how old Dylan was. I smiled and said "7 months today!" in an excited voice.
The "I hate my job and want to make everyone else hate life" nurse smiled an evil smile and told me that they didn't treat kids younger than 2.
Crap.
Nurse Ratchet told me that Children's Hospital had a non urgent walk in. The good news was that it was another 20-30 minute drive and my son was ready to cough up a lung.
I got back on the interstate and called Children's to find out where the clinic was. The operator told me that they only had an ER. No walk in.
Of course. Nurse Ratchet got the last word. Witch.
So I called Jeff and told him that I was sick of running all around town. I was just going to take Dylan (who was now coughing uncontrollably in the back seat) to the Children's Hospital ER.
I arrived and was almost brought to tears. There were only 3 people waiting. This meant that Dylan would be seen before his first birthday.
The triage nurse took his vitals and asked some routine questions and then Dylan let out a huge cough and flung his lung across the room. Okay, only the first part is true. The nurse looked at him and said "Wow, sounds like he has croup." I of course freaked out and almost fainted before the nurse told me that it was nothing serious, but it was good that we came when we did. *Sigh of relief*
I sat back down in the waiting room for about 45 seconds before they called Dylan back.
For those of you that don't believe in God, hear this. The waiting room at a Children's Hospital is usually as crowded as Disneyland on a Saturday in the middle of Summer. The fact that we got called back so quickly almost made me faint a second time. Proof that there is a God and that he does care that my baby is sick and that I cannot handle another child being stuck in a hospital.
Okay moving on.
Dylan got a breathing treatment, that he hated and screamed over for 30 minutes. Yeah, that was fun. And he got a chest x-ray, that he also hated and screamed about for 15 minutes. And he got an oral steroid that tasted like cherry that he hated and tried to spit back out on his mommy.
We had to wait around for 2 hours to make sure that the breathing treatment worked and that he didn't relapse.
This was okay with me. The hospital had cable. Mommy watched tv while Dylan laid on my lap and played, and cried, and played, and cried, and screamed, and nursed, and cried more.
We finally got discharged. The nurses and doctor were wonderful and Dylan was already feeling better, I could tell.
As soon as I buckled Dylan into the car seat, he fell asleep.
He is now asleep in his room, with a humidifier, on an elevated mattress, in a cool room, with a dose of Motrin in his little body.
And that was our day.
The best part? Little man is contagious and so we will not be able to go to church tomorrow. I was so looking forward to going. But instead, we are going to celebrate at home. Perhaps I will even let Jeff take me to Bojangle's for lunch. Either way, I am glad.
And so was Dylan. Little man smiled every time he coughed up a lung.
No comments:
Post a Comment